List Price: $23.00 Details

Save: $9.00 (39%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Friday, November 18 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, November 15. Order within 2 hrs 18 mins

Only 1 left in stock - order soon

[{"displayPrice":"$14.00","priceAmount":14.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"iIyG0hrBcvze18Iluj3acLzFDWNdGpLXcaq7xqGCsQ1jAwW7NEyr2RVkm2C8wKPsiwx6RN%2FJjN5i6fIczyAAeubE2syiZjsTHLPa%2FkNgxzr6o4cGZQh4v58qhNzoB2uhf4VEGeFJBh84rolR3GHLBdf5Q4SKOAehvy2wlU7aPaOYR%2BnMX8NMteNeF6BSskJv","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$0.96","priceAmount":0.96,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"0","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"96","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"tSngVgmagwW7mnkGUIUeBYVGiAdFqubJCiVJR03enjLARFqCxYAMca4dFknUVthBroDzZa7FkWUQ1%2Bh2NGZJiUDKnjFssBu24xKmN8vazQVhnTf%2FluiG8O1n4qrhemyMGk%2Bmk5Kc5Hmcihh5yPAmoAwwVzXtVaefOM2B2rhX1sY%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$14.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

Book Wrld

Details

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

Book Wrld

Return policy: Returnable until Jan 31, 2023

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$3.99 delivery November 21 - 28. Details

Or fastest delivery November 17 - 22. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by midtownscholarbookstore

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$12.00
+ $5.99 shipping

Sold by: ejunggust

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Ben Ehrenreich

The Suitors: A Novel Hardcover – March 14, 2006

by Ben Ehrenreich (Author)

13 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$14.00

$12.00

$0.96

Paperback

"Please retry"

$4.95

$26.97

$4.25

Enhance your purchase

Very loosely based on The Odyssey, this wildly inventive, skillfully crafted novel follows the eyebrow-raising exploits of one woman's much-maligned, ill-fated suitors.

While the Odysseus character (herein named Payne) gallivants around, waging war and otherwise taking his time on the voyage home, the Penelope character (now Penny) finds herself surrounded by a motley crew of ne'er-dowells eager for nothing but her attention. She, however, cannot be bothered with anything but her memories of Payne. That is, until the mysterious arrival of a man whose origins no one on the scene can quite divine. When Penny starts taking a shine to him, the tenuous calm on the home front quickly starts to unravel. Full of ideas but with never a dull moment, The Suitors heralds the debut of an exciting new literary voice.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Counterpoint
Publication date

March 14, 2006
Dimensions

5.75 x 1 x 7.5 inches
ISBN-10

1582433356
ISBN-13

978-1582433356
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Explicitly comparing itself to The Odyssey, Ehrenreich's first novel owes less to Homer's epic than to Joyce's. With his linguistic acrobatics, caustic wit and mix-and-match structure, Ehrenreich (son of activist journalist Barbara) shows the stirrings of an original talent. Set in a never-never land equal parts contemporary America and classical antiquity, the book centers on the romance of the Ulysses and Penelope–like lovers Payne and Penny. Payne gathers a loosely organized rabble of flunkies to assist him in building a palace for Penny, and soon mobilizes them into an army to fight for glory and riches. After a period of happy pillaging, Payne disappears on the warpath, and Penny and her suitors are left alone, wondering if their leader will ever return. Bound by their collective love (and lust) for Penny, the suitors begin to bicker, sinking into sadness and delusion. Ehrenreich is less concerned with his deliberately ramshackle plot than with the glories of his language. With a talent for literary mimicry, he tries on a multiplicity of voices (some more successful than others). As the story proceeds and echoes Homer more closely, the novel's wit ebbs, but for those with a lust for American modernist fiction, Ehrenreich's will be a journey they'll gladly take. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Regular LA Weekly contributor Ehrenreich leaves journalistic prose far behind in a richly imagined novel loosely based on Homer's Odyssey and inspirited by a dazzling display of verbal gifts. The suitors of the title are the parade of prospective lovers who line up on the doorstep of heroine Penny (i.e., Penelope) after her husband, Payne, abandons her. As the novel's Odysseus figure, Payne has built a protective palace around his wife, then promptly assembled an army to fight overseas. In his absence, Penny becomes surrounded by lustful ne'er-do-wells but pines only for Payne until a mysterious stranger appears to capture her fancy and set the stage for her husband's dramatic return. Ehrenreich's odd mixing of psychological insight and full-blooded characterizations with frivolous plot twists and riotous action may not be to everyone's taste, yet it makes for some delicious occasional black comedy. Any resemblance to Homer's classic is mostly superficial, but Ehrenreich's prodigious, Joycean prose establishes him as a writer to watch. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Counterpoint; 1st edition (March 14, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1582433356
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1582433356
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1 x 7.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,706,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #186,083 in American Literature (Books)
- #188,886 in Historical Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
13 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Ben Ehrenreich

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star		38%
4 star		24%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star		24%
1 star		13%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Disappointing...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 8, 2009

Verified Purchase

There were some intriguing blurbs (as was no doubt intended) that lured me to this book. "A modern-day Odysseus...", "...prodigious, Joycean prose..."," its daring not to be safe--not to be another well-made boredom turned out from trade schools." So, I had high hopes, and approached the book with the idea that this might be the new Thomas Pynchon. Alas! Dashed hopes for sure. The book certainly lacks the erudition of Pynchon, and the prose is so far from Joycean. And the Odysseus connection is most strained. Likewise, any possible satirical connection with the previous American administration, and its love of endless war.

No, I found a book in which the characters rambled, no particular motivation, just so much "Brownian motion" as they float on the surface of the non-story. Actions replete with meaningless descriptions of clothes worn, and meals ate. Particularly distressing is the gratuitous violence, whose glorification comes easy to those that have never experienced the real thing. I strained, and kept asking myself, "Am I missing something here"? and save for a few pithy observations on the male-female relationship, I eventually answered: "No." The one book that it reminded me of is William Burrough's "Cities of the Red Night," which was produced by the drug-induced fantasies of a man with far too much money, and who used it poorly. A book I thoroughly detested. Yet, in looking at the reviews of the later book, seems like a lot of people like it, so I'm willing to leave the door open for reconsideration.

Which is the main reason I'm willing to give the book a 2-star rating, an extra star for "reconsideration," as well as to encourage the author along the path of his inclination: no cute "trade school" books for the masses, and Pynchon's "mantle" still awaits.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon customer

An enigma, poetry, and the odyssey rolled into one.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2010

Verified Purchase

I've been wanting to read this novel since I read a short story by Ehrenreich in McSweeneys about an odd couple meeting in an aquarium in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. Although it's far from my idea of the perfect novel and I can see how it might be construed as pretentious, I think Ehrenreich has a very unique, and poetic voice. I love the way this book and the short story I read seem to teeter somewhere between a surreal nightmare, a daydream, and everyday reality. It's not for everyone, but if you are looking for something different and you appreciate the craft of writing, it might be just right for you!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 20, 2006

I guess I'm not Ehrenreich's target audience. I was attracted to this book because of the notion of retelling the Odessey with some modern slant. Great idea. Potential in there. But that's not really what this novel is about. Any links to the Odyessey are purely superficial.

Sorry, but as far as I can tell this novel was written to convince people that the author is terribly clever. It's not about character. Not about plot. The characters never speak like real people. There's an emphasis on sex in a way that seems typical of young men's fantasies. There was a moment not too far in when the author says, with deprecating self-indulgence, that he wishes the story could end here. Thing is, so did I. But it's obvious at that point that he's going to carry on for as long as he can. It's highly self-indulgent stuff, probably best enjoyed by friends of the author. I say it's mostly about the author being clever, but when a whole book seems focussed on convincing you of that it starts to ring a bit hollow.

I know that there are some folks out there that will like this - but not many. I guess it's highly "literary". He does have some great blurbs on the back by authors that I admire. Okay. Maybe I missed something. But if you like a good story about real people stumbling through life... Well this probably isn't the book for you.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cotton Mather

Infantile Meansering

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 17, 2016

Read Homer's "Odyssey" and then read the first ten pages of Ehrenreich....then you will begin to understand what decline of a civilization really means.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Definitely worth reading

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 9, 2006

While the plot loosely follows the Odyssey, the book at times reminded me of Orwell's Animal Farm, except it's much less heavy-handed. Ehrenreich displays a sly, acerbic humor and he's wickedly on-target as he mocks nationalism, war, and the human condition. That's what makes this book so good - it's full of unique gems of insight that sparkle throughout. Ehrenreich adeptly mixes humor and sorrow, joy and gloom with a deft touch. An exceptional first novel, and I look forward to more books by this author.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

R. Potter

Science Fiction

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 15, 2007

Of all the books I ordered for my son, this was clearly the best written and most interesting conceptually.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

bestia

breath-taking!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 27, 2011

The Suitors takes off from the bloody and seldom-mentioned ending of the Odyssey -- when Odysseus comes home and slaughters all of Penelope's suitors and serving maids. It's a love story, a grand adventure-- and sometimes a laugh riot-- that puts me in mind of the early David Mitchell, before he decided to become so tediously historically realistic. As a general rule, I'm a little wary of "experimental" fiction, but in this case the experiment is a brilliant success!

Helpful

Jenny Schmid

Beautiful, wild and otherworldly

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2010

This is one of my favorite books and I really can't find much else in this genre, whatever genre it may be. It is trippy and associative, moving between some sort of reality and dark allegory. The characters morph and the scenes change in such a dream-like way. This book is turbulent, sexy, strange and moving. I am (impatiently) waiting for the next book by this author.

Helpful

Buy new: $14.00$14.00 FREE delivery: Friday, Nov 18 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Book Wrld

Buy used:: $0.96

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

The Suitors: A Novel Hardcover – March 14, 2006

Enhance your purchase

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Booklist

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Ben Ehrenreich

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Buy new:

$14.00

FREE delivery: Friday, Nov 18 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Ships from: Amazon

Sold by: Book Wrld

Buy used::

$0.96