The Most Amazing Thing [Hardcover]

Robert Grudin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2001

The Most Amazing Thing, is the extravagant narrative of Desmond Ruck, a midlife down-and-outer who stumbles into a big-crime shootout, escapes in a van filled with billions, and journeys across America in a series of bizarre encounters and close escapes. Safe at last, Ruck embarks on a number of outsized philanthropic ventures. But his largesse and compassion get him into really big trouble.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Grudin is a modern Emerson." -- John H. Finley, Jr

Grudin "blends biting social commentary with a fantastic adventure for an unruly, often hilarious romp through American culture." -- Eugene Register-Guard, 12/9/01

From the Publisher

The Most Amazing Thing is a book in the great tradition. Like the work of Swift, Fielding and Twain, it gouges at the underside of politics, business and religion. But the author's sword is double-edged, striking not only at the dishonesties of power but also at the chronic American naivete and moral laziness that allow these evils to remain in place. Few authors deal with these problems as aggressively as Grudin, and few present them with so much healing laughter.

The Most Amazing Thing was named a finalist in the 18th Benjamin Franklin Awards in recognition of excellence in Independent Publishing. As one of three finalist in the Popular Fiction category, The Most Amazing Thing was highlighted for excellence in editorial and design merit by a panel of book industry experts including buyers at wholesale and retail levels, librarians, book critics, design experts and independent publishing consultants.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 386 pages
• Publisher: Knowhere Pr (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965899519
• ISBN-13: 978-0965899512
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,378,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Grudin (born 1938) is an American writer and philosopher.

He is the author of the metafictional novel "Book", "Mighty Opposites: Shakespeare and Renaissance Contrariety", "The Grace of Great Things: Creativity and Innovation", "On Dialogue: An Essay in Free Thought", "Time and the Art of Living", "The Most Amazing Thing", and "American Vulgar: The Politics of Manipulation Versus the Culture of Awareness".

He graduated from Harvard, and earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship for 1992-1993. Until 1998 he was a professor of English at the University of Oregon.

He is the author of the Encyclopedia Britannica article, "Humanism."

His latest book, "Design and Truth," was published by Yale University Press in April, 2010. Favorably reviewed in the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times, it appeared in paperback and Kindle editions in 2011.

His next book, Boccaccio's Decameron and the Ciceronian Renaissance, co-authored with Michaela Paasche Grudin, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012.

He is currently completing a trade book on Shakespeare.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Adventure, November 23, 2003

By 

"anabellabella" (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Most Amazing Thing (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book. The most amazing thing about it is the author's imagination. It concerns the adventures of one Desmond Ruck, a man bigger than most physically and larger than most morally. He stumbles upon a Bill-Gates-size fortune in negotiable bonds and a beautiful South American bookkeeper somehow connected to it, who keeps disappearing into the clutches of assorted nefarious groups from whom he keeps trying to rescue her. If I found a trillion dollars, I don't know what I'd do with it. But Desmond Ruck knows what to do with it. No futile attempts to reform campaign finance or to enjoy himself kicking up his heels in Cannes. He is a rescuer. At the same time, he is a practical man (actually a carpenter), so, once he gets past some pretty awful situations and figures out how to cash in some of those bonds, he goes in for practical rescues. He rescues people. First, a paraplegic old geezer, then a pair of brutally isolated and abused teenagers, and then -- working his way up -- the inhabitants of a bawdy house (he provides them with college scholarships) and an orphanage (he provides it with a luxurious boarding-school ranch in the Southwest), and so on. At the end, after putting Desmond through an incredible series of misadventures, the author manages to wrap up every single solitary detail, every surreptitious subtext and sidelong glance, into a smashing conclusion that kept me smiling optimistically for days.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly amazing book, December 8, 2001

By 

DD of NYC (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Most Amazing Thing (Hardcover)

This book immediately captures your attention and makes you smile. The hero is just so darned likable. I thought it was going to be the story of how the initial grabber resolves itself, but no such predictability here. It soon becomes clear that this is as much saga as story, as much fable as fiction, and the odyssey just won't stop. It's a ripping good yarn that works on myriad levels. I recommend it with enthusiasm to anyone needing an escape, an excuse, a hero, a redemption, a purpose, or a good laugh.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Amazing novel --, September 29, 2005

By 

Mark L. Biskeborn "Author of Mojave Winds bis... (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Most Amazing Thing (Hardcover)

This most amazing novel guides you through a colorful world that captures the imagination. Before you begin reading about Desmond Ruck's adventures, find a comfortable chair because your mind will ignore your body. Like some spiritual master with a bottle of Wharton's, you'll be transported into a new dimension. It's a wheel squealing ride across America's Highway to Heaven.
Think the fast pace of the Da Vinci Code, only more intense, as if Hunter S. Thompson wrote this adventure while still in Vegas, then Gunter Grass added his Rabelaisian sauce, and Mark Twain polished it up while in a good mood.