Twenty Grand - Rebecca Curtis

I've been looking for a new female writer to latch onto and tattoo on my body. With Aimee Bender on hiatus, Charlotte Bronte dead and the oppressive heat hindering my efforts in finding one on my own, I put the quest in the hands of the all-knowing Daniel Goldin. Thusly, I have welcomed Rebecca Curtis into my library. The characters are all a fraction away from transformation, mostly all do drugs in basements and seem to attract a myriad of venerable persons. My attraction to them is obvious.


The excitement which follows the discovery of mutual appreciation for a quaint debut paperback is immeasurable. Twenty Grand may be the 'lullabies for little criminals' of 2007.

"...Curtis's command of language, her nuanced and subtle, deceptively offhand gift with the interplay of character and dialogue, give the piece a lush dreaminess wonderfully at odds with its mundane, even dreary setting."
-Elizabeth Hand, Village Voice

"In our culture of self-improvement, we'd like to believe that every problem has a solution, that it's up to the individual to "heal the hungry self." Unfortunately, as this book reveals, for most of us it's not that neat; individualism is the root of unhappiness in Curtis' dystopian America, where everyone puts himself first. Real loneliness can not be relieved by blind dates or self-help books, but a good book -- as that character in "Big Bear, California" knows all too well -- can make a real difference."
-Malena Watrous, San Fransisco Chronicle

"If you're interested in the strangeness and sorrow of life — in the small and large interactions that are sometimes horrifying, sometimes merely cringe-inducing and occasionally lovely — you'll find much to admire in "Twenty Grand."
-Curtis Sittenfeld, The New York Times Book Review