“OMFG, I nearly up and died from laughter when I read Flatscreen . This is the novel that every young turk will be reading on their way to a job they hate and are in fact too smart for.” —Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story Indie-lit star and Faster Times editor Adam Wilson delivers the gleefully absurd, effortlessly heartwarming story of one young man’s struggle to shake off the listless, sexless, stoned mantle of suburban teenage life and become something better. Fortunately (maybe) for Eli, his apathetic quest finds a catalyzing agent in one Mr. Seymour J. Kahn, a paraplegic sex addict and two-bit silver screen star who initiates a mad decent into debasement and (of course) YouTube stardom—a transformation from which there will be no going back. Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2012 : There is a deep undercurrent of American literature dedicated to the misanthropes, rejects, madmen, and drunks of society. Flatscreen is a hilarious, worthy addition to this freakish subgenre. The main character, Eli Schwartz, is a stoned, bathrobed, doughy slacker. He befriends a suicidal paraplegic sex addict twice his age, fantasizes about the Hispanic girl who parks cars at his synagogue, mooches off his parents, and gets ridiculed, beat up, and shot at (mostly by his friends and family). Through it all he ponders the ageless questions of Buddhist monks and angst-ridden teens: What’s the point of life? Is anything inherently meaningful? Should I try to be a good person or not? And most importantly, who should play me in the Hollywood adaption of my life? – Benjamin Moebius *Starred Review* Eli Schwartz at 20: jobless, pudgy, leading an aimless, often drug-addled existence. Into his life comes the larger-than-life Seymour Kahn, an Orson Wells–like, wheelchair-bound former actor. A raconteur and raunchmeister who shares Eli’s fondness for drugs, Kahn becomes a kind of reverse role model and failed father figure for Eli, who, in the meantime, is struggling to find, well . . . what? A job? A girlfriend? Love? Longing? Meaning or purpose in his feckless life? Actually he’d settle for some sex, but that’s seldom forthcoming, despite his fevered fantasies. In his first novel, Wilson, editor of The Faster Times, has written an antic, amusing, ribald coming-of-age novel. Though secondary characters seem interchangeable and, frankly, forgettable, Eli himself is a well-rounded (!), endearing though sometimes exasperating protagonist. The author’s use of sentence fragments and Eli’s occasional stream-of-consciousness ruminations that flicker like images on a flatscreen TV bring a briskness and energy to a novel that otherwise might be mired in Eli’s inanition. Despite a veneer of the ironic and snarky, the novel offers a foundation of genuine caring, affection, and—yes—love. An auspicious debut that promises, in Wilson, a standout addition to a new generation of writers. --Michael Cart Adam Wilson's debut novel, Flatscreen , has been billed as a comedy of barely post-adolescent confusion, but there's far more heartwreck than hilarity in these rambunctious pages. If you smashed The Catcher in the Rye into Jesus' Son , you might have something close to Flatscreen , a narrative of wayward youth for our beguiled new century. —William Giraldi “Adam Wilson is a gutsy, funny, and often beautiful writer, and Flatscreen is one of the most hilarious and commanding debuts I’ve read in a long time.” - Sam Lipsyte “OMFG, I nearly up and died from laughter when I read Flatscreen . This is the novel that every young turk will be reading on their way to a job they hate and are in fact too smart for.” - Gary Shteyngart “An auspicious debut that promises, in Wilson, a standout addition to a new generation of writers.” - Booklist (starred review) “A frequently funny subversion of the coming-of-age story…the voice is strong and the characters indelible…” - Kirkus Reviews “[Wilson’s] prose is relentless, and his world view is on fire. Flatscreen is a wickedly funny, absurdly engaging debut. I’d recommend it for fans of Sam Lipsyte and anyone looking for an unconventional coming-of-age story.” - Jami Attenberg “Reading Flatscreen in public without cracking up was a challenge, one that I did not meet, and I frequently looked like a crazy person reading the book. Wilson balances heartbreak with humor in a way that is affecting and real. In the book we meet Eli Schwartz, college dropout, failed Hebrew, and culinary master. Eli’s struggle to assert himself in a digitized world, as a fleshed out man, is as scary-real as it is funny. Eli longs for what all twenty-somethings long for, a sense of belonging, to be loved, worshiped. Flatscreen is a treasure. Bravo, Mr. Wilson!” - Zach Sampinos, Sam Weller's Books, Salt Lake City, UT (March 2012 Indie Next Pick) “Wilson expertly crafts explosively hilarious scenes ranging from a Viagra/Oxycontin/cocaine-driven meltdown during a high school football game to the