Expensive People

Joyce Carol Oates#8217;s Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. In Expensive People, Oates takes a provocative and suspenseful look at the roiling secrets of America#8217;s affluent suburbs. Set in the late 1960s, this first-person confession is narrated by Richard Everett, a precocious and obese boy who sees himself as a minor character in the alarming drama unfolding around him. Fascinated by yet alienated from his attractive, self-absorbed parents and the privileged world they inhabit, Richard incisively analyzes his own mismanaged childhood, his pretentious private schooling, his #8220;successful-executive#8221; father, and his elusive mother. In an act of defiance and desperation, eleven-year-old Richard strikes out in a way that presages the violence of ever-younger Americans in the turbulent decades to come. A National Book Award finalist, Expensive People is a stunning combination of social satire and gothic horror. #8220;You cannot put this novel away after you have opened it,#8221; said The Detroit News . #8220;This is that kind of book#8211;hypnotic, fascinating, and electrifying.#8221; Expensive People is the second novel in the Wonderland Quartet. The books that complete this acclaimed series, A Garden of Earthly Delights , them, and Wonderland , are also available from the Modern Library