How I Won A Nobel Prize

A hilariously sharp comic novel that, with astonishing wit and intelligence, skewers the burning issues of our times, from a remarkable and original new fiction voice.

A surprising, incisive, refreshingly irreverent debut novel about a young physicist who finds herself exiled to an island research institute that gives safe harbour to ''cancelled'' artists and academics, throwing her into crises of work, marriage and conscience. Helen, a graduate student on a path to solve high-temperature superconductivity and thereby save the planet, is one of the best minds of her generation. When her irreplaceable advisor''s student sex scandal is exposed, she must choose whether to give up on her work or accompany him to RIP, a research institute off the Connecticut coast, which grants safe harbour to professors that other institutions and society have sent packing. Founded by a nefarious billionaire, RIP is a libertarian, libertine dream, a place where the disgraced and deplorable operate at the top of their fields with impunity and, indeed, every comfort. Unwilling to abandon her work, Helen decides to join her advisor at RIP, bringing along her partner, Hew, who is deeply uncomfortable about being there. As she settles into life at the institute, Helen develops a crush on an iconoclastic older novelist, while Hew gets involved in an increasingly violent protest movement, the rift between them deepening until both face major - and potentially world-altering - choices. Impudent, wise, anchored in character and provocative without being polemical, How I Won A Nobel Prize approaches our contemporary moral confusion in a genuine and fresh way, examining the price we''re willing to pay for progress, the ways we all hedge our ethics and what it means, in the end, to be a good person.

Autorentext
Julius Taranto’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Phoebe. He attended Yale Law School and Pomona College. How I Won A Nobel Prize is his first novel. He lives in New York.

Klappentext

*'Taranto's hilarious, provocative debut novel . . . switches seamlessly between psychological realism and diabolical farce . . . The novel's peculiar genius lies in how you're never entirely sure where Taranto's sympathies lie.' - The Times/The Sunday Times,* 'Books of the Year'

'Sometimes you read something new and immediately think how brilliant it would be for a book club. How I Won a Nobel Prize by Julius Taranto has all the hallmarks of a book that will set sparks flying . . . Appreciate the accumulating tension of the psychological drama, and laugh out loud at the one-liners.' - Vogue**

Julius Taranto's wickedly satirical and refreshingly irreverent debut novel, a young physicist follows her mentor to an island research institute that gives safe harbour to 'cancelled' artists and scientists.

Helen, a graduate student on a quest to save the planet, is one of the best minds of her generation. But when her irreplaceable advisor's student sex scandal is exposed, she must choose whether to give up on her work or accompany him to RIP, a research institute which grants safe harbour to the disgraced and the deplorable.

As Helen settles into life at the institute alongside her partner Hew, she develops a crush on an older novelist, while he is drawn to an increasingly violent protest movement. As the rift between them deepens, they both face major - and potentially world-altering - choices.

Hilarious, provocative and thought-provoking, How I Won A Nobel Prize approaches the issues of our times in a genuine and fresh way, examining the price we're willing to pay for progress and what it means, in the end, to be a good person.

'A stunning new talent, announcing itself fully formed' - Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn