Two Bronx boys take radically different paths in a novel about the limits of genius and the loss of home, by a “terrifically gifted” author (Anita Shreve,
New York Times
-bestselling author of
The Stars Are Fire
).
Ralph Silverman was a childhood buddy, a foreign film buff, a victim of bullies, a boy genius. He held long conversations with his pet parakeet and spent countless hours on a computer, creating mesmerizing music and solving problems in philosophy. He was a friend of great scholars and the son of a wealthy outer-borough businessman with shady associates and a second family. And, as he begins to take over the story from the narrator, he has found himself in South Florida, physically abused and then expelled into an unfamiliar world—with a broken pair of glasses, no money, and no shoes—by the distant cousin his sister left him with before disappearing forever.
From the celebrated author of
Searching for Bobby Fischer
,
Anything is Good
is a hypnotically compelling tale of a man haunted by the fate of his childhood buddy, and of that friend’s pleasures and misfortunes as he navigates an unhoused life—a life more complex and dramatic than a bypasser might ever imagine.
Praise for Fred Waitzkin’s previous books
“Very few writers can deliver a story with this much heart…a great novel.”—Sebastian Junger
“Waitzkin’s propulsive narrative makes for compelling reading from first page to last.”—Gabriel Byrne
“A gem of a book.”—
The New York Times