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Patrick Wensink

Broken Piano for President Paperback – February 11, 2012

by Patrick Wensink (Author)

3.8 45 ratings

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The international bestseller at the center of the "World's Nicest Cease and Desist" from Jack Daniel's.

Featured in the New Yorker, New York Times, Forbes, London Telegraph, Esquire, The Atlantic, NPR's Weekend Edition and more.

Ever drank too much and forgot what happened? Don't be embarrassed. Deshler Dean faces this problem every day of his life.

Dean is far more brilliant and productive when he's blackout drunk. In the last few months alone, he has invented a hamburger more addictive than crystal meth, scored a six-figure record contract for his terrible art rock band, and started dating a woman he doesn't even recognize. Worse yet, he has become entangled in the biggest war since the Allies took on Germany.

When rival fast food chains duke it out for control over Dean's burger-inventing genius, Dean and his band mates plunge into the absurd world of corporate paranoia and greed. As the violence of the burger wars spills out onto the streets, it's up to them to win over the hearts (and stomachs) of the American people and save the country from the equivalent of a deep-fried nuclear warhead.

Print length

372 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Lazy Fascist Press
Publication date

February 11, 2012
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.83 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1621050521
ISBN-13

978-1621050520
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"I like Patrick Wensink's work so much my heart had to issue its own cease-and-desist order."- Gary shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story - "The greatest book about competing burger franchises since The Grapes of Wrath."- Amelia Gray, author of Threats: A Novel -"Patrick Wensink reads like Christopher Moore on very strong acid."- Greg Olear, author of Fathermucker - "Deliciously dark and funny."- LouisvilleCourier Journal

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lazy Fascist Press (February 11, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 372 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1621050521
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1621050520
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.83 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #9,498,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38,050 in Fiction Satire
- #110,496 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3.8 45 ratings

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About the author

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Patrick Wensink

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Patrick Wensink is the bestselling author of five books for grownups. Most recently, he is the author of the celebrated children's book GO GO GORILLAS (Illustrated by Nate Wragg).

His work also appears in the New York Times, Esquire, Oxford American and others.

His next book will be 2018's GORILLAS GO BANANAS.

He lives in Portland, OR with his family.

Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5

45 global ratings

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Bradley

More Than Just a Trademark-Infringing Cover

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2012

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This book is a bizarro fiction novel. Bizarro fiction is a literary genre where weirdness is the primary characteristic. Since this book has become very well known due to the news story about the cease and desist letter (regarding the cover design) from Jack Daniel's going viral, the book will be many people's first introduction to bizarro fiction. Because of this, I was a bit worried that the book wouldn't be any good and people would be turned off from reading more bizarro. I'm happy to report this isn't the case. Broken Piano was a great read and my favorite Patrick Wensink book. It makes an excellent introduction to the bizarro genre because it does not take its weirdness as far as many other bizarro books.

Usually stories feature main characters who are active rather than passive (meaning they do things do things to move the story forward rather than have things done to them and for them). When a main character is passive, it almost always means that it will be difficult for a reader to maintain interest in the story. This book features Deshler Dean, a man who has no control over his life because nearly everything he does that is important is done while he is blackout drunk. He has no memory of these events, nor does the reader read about them as they're happening. Like Deschler, the reader finds out what happened through the consequences of Deschler's actions while drunk. He is an extremely passive character. The fact that the book is great rather than terrible because of this is a testament to how fantastic it is. Also, there's a fantastic Red Harvest/Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars vibe going on with Deschler doing things while drunk such as making each of the book's two fast food companies believe he's working for them and sabotaging them by playing them against each other.

Highly recommended for fans of Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, and Christopher Moore.

2 people found this helpful

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Tom Treweek

My head is still reeling

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2017

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Like so many others, I found Broken Piano for President thanks to the infamous cease and desist letter from Jack Daniel's, but my joy from reading that letter from the Tennessee whiskey juggernaut didn't extend to actually reading the book. I must have started it a half dozen times before it took. When you're dropped into a character's life, and neither one of you know what's going on, it's going to be a rough start. It felt like it took at least 25 pages just to realize the title referred to a song performed by the protagonist's band, even though it was first mentioned on the first page.
And when you do finally get into the story, you have something that feels like The Hangover mixed with Johnny English mixed with Fast Food Nation, as told by the staff of Mad Magazine. That's going to be a hit with a lot of people, but it didn't quite work for me. And I've never seen "fourth wall breaks" work in a novel, even after getting to the end of this book.
But the story is fun for it's bizarre twists, even if it doesn't end up having any underlying meaning. I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad I'm done reading it. I'm really glad to move on to something different.

3 people found this helpful

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Gary A Brown

Another Satisfied Customer!

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2012

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This book has already had a number of favorable reviews, so I'll skip the preamble and tell you why this book affected me personally. Throughout it's pages, the protagonist references The B*tthole Surfers, a band with which many people may not be familiar, but a band which formed one of the corner stones of my adolescence. The Surfers are a band that cannot be called GOOD by any conventional estimation, but they are undeniably unique and bad-trip inducing. I recall taping their music on a cassette before going to skate badly in someone's driveway. The Surfers embody something juvenile yet unmitigated. Something raw yet transcendent.

Their music is the kind of thing that 3 young guys might sit around in a basement jamming on, thinking they were really doing something special, while their parents bang on the floor so they will turn their amps down. It's the kind of thing the 3 main characters of THIS book spend their time jamming on in the basement. And it is also the feeling of complete dissociation that this books invokes in the reader. Faking your way through life -- we all do it, but it is rare that we see it so eloquently confirmed for us on the page. My hat's off to Mr. Wensink. You made me feel like a young poseur again.

2 people found this helpful

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Ross E. Lockhart

Come for the Cliff Drinker, Stay for the Soundtrack

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2012

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Patrick Wensink's Broken Piano for President is a wryly-funny rock-and-roll novel tackling cheeseburgers, assassinations, marketing, and the collapse of the American Dream. Provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, Broken Piano for President is on its way to becoming a genuine pop culture phenomenon.

Focusing on the misadventures of Deshler Dean, punk rock singer and alcohol-soaked marketing savant, Broken Piano for President is a perfect novel for anyone who's ever woken up with a hangover and a head wound... particularly if said head wound belongs to someone else. But this review isn't about the novel, it's about the audiobook, and at just an hour and seventeen minutes long, the Broken Piano for President audiobook is an apéritif to the full novel's weekend of reckless binge drinking. The reading itself lasts about an hour; the remaining seventeen minutes features instrumental tracks by True Neutral (Brian Miller of the band Foot Village). That's not to say that there isn't plenty to enjoy here; this is, after all, a five-star review. Read by the author, over a driving synthesizer-heavy instrumental score, Broken Piano for President gives listeners plenty to enjoy. Wensink's voice is pleasant and sonorous, and the excerpts he reads are funny and draw you into Deshler's booze-complicated world. But it is just a taste, a dram of whiskey to whet your appetite, and is liable to leave you wanting to order the full novel.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

R. A. Harris

Can't believe this hasn't been reviewed yet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2012

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You know this is that book that got famous for the cease and desist letter Jack Daniels sent to Patrick Wensink about the cover right? Then why haven't you bought it already? Oh, you don't buy things purely on the fact that they are popular? Well, how about a five star review?!

The plot is outlined above, and it is great. It is about fast food, conspiracy, rock and roll, creativity, alcohol, health, satire, friendship, love, relationships and trust. Deshler Dean is most creative when he is flat out drunk. Cue hilarity, espionage, rock and roll, satire, friendships, love and adventure.

One thing that the news didn't pick up on was how AMAZING this book feels. Sure, it looks fantastic, but it feels EVEN BETTER.

Seriously, the books great, just buy it already.

3 people found this helpful

Bryan

Limited edition?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2014

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I haven't read this yet!
I bought it due to the copyright issues the author encountered with Jack Daniels, it could become a collectors item one day!

One person found this helpful

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