Commonwealth Book

Joey Goebel s biggest and funniest novel yet, about red state politics, family traditions, and what happens when the common man fights back. Somewhere in the middle of America dwells Blue Gene Mapother, a trashy, mullet-headed Wal-Mart stockboy-turned-flea-marketer who staunchly supports any American war effort without question. Besides patriotism, little enlivens him except pro wrestling, cigarette breaks, and any instance in which he thinks his masculinity is at stake. Curiously, he is also a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country; brother to John Hurstbourne Mapother, an up-and-coming politician who decides that Blue Gene's low-class style could be useful, not harmful to his Congressional campaign. Through dark humor and cinematic story-telling, this small-town epic winds through flea markets to mansions to abandoned Wal-Mart buildings, all the while dramatizing the deranged, absurd relationship between the high and low class of America.Read More