Press
Dear Editor:
Joshua Braff perfectly captured the pitch of the dysfunctional family in his debut novel The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green. The book was chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover pick, landed on the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list and received incredible praise from reviewers and authors alike. Kirkus called it “a scarifyingly funny debut,” and USA Today raved “A funny, heart twisting story…[Braff writes] with wry humor, assured prose and a keen sensitivity to the emotional minefields of familial relationships…Braff deftly captures the monumental and the miniscule moments of everyday life.”
His second novel PEEP SHOW (Algonquin Books; June 1, 2010; Trade Paperback Original; $13.95; 272 pages) is a coming of age story about a boy trapped between the two worlds of his separated parents. At age seventeen David Arbus is forced to make a choice – stay with his mother and sister and live by the rules of their Hasidic sect or follow his father and help him run the family’s porn theater in the heart of 1975’s seedy Times Square. Jacob goes with the latter, but is heartbroken that his decision means cutting off contact with the rest of his family.
Braff breathes life into the Times Square of old while providing a window into the closed yet oddly similar worlds of severely ritualized Judaism, and burlesque driven smoke and mirrors. From the costumes to the aliases to the loyalties of history, we meet everyone from crude strippers to sexy shop merchants, to eccentric Hasidic loyalists, and the children they raise. PEEP SHOW is a fast paced, comedic novel you will not be able to put down.
Joshua Braff is the author of The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green. He lives in California with his wife and two children.
We hope you enjoy his second novel, PEEP SHOW, as much as we did and look forward to talking to you soon about bringing it to the attention of your readers.
All best,
Michael Taekens
Director of Publicity
Algonquin Books
Michael@algonquin.com
919-967-0108 x. 14
Gretchen Koss
Tandem Literary
Gretchen@tandemliterary.com
212-629-1990 ext.1