Harold Hardscrabble

by G. D. Dess

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Pub Date Mar 31 2017 | Archive Date Jul 15 2017

Lone Wolf Books

General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction

Description

A contemporary novel that recounts the journey of its ordinary, quietly charming protagonist Harold, whose search for self-realization goes extraordinarily wrong. It is today’s American tragedy.

Harold Hardscrabble, by G. D. Dess, is a sympathetic novel filled with philosophical musings on the state of society and our place within it. The story captures the feelings of frustration and helplessness that many of us experience in our daily lives. These sentiments are embodied in the contemplative, quietly charming protagonist, Harold, who, like Walter Mitty, lives largely in his own world of thoughts and dreams. We follow Harold’s transformation from a dreamer to a man of action as he struggles to discover how to live a meaningful life in a materialistic world.

Harold copes admirably with the many disasters and injustices that assail him on his life’s journey; but when he is finally overcome by circumstances beyond his control, he is forced to take matters into his own hands to attain justice for the all the misfortunes he has been made to suffer. This is a story of a quest for self-realization that unfolds slowly as it builds to its ineluctable, explosive climax.

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Advance Praise

Harold Hardscrabble reveals author, essayist, and critic of contemporary literature, G. D. Dess as a novelist with a natural flair for engaging storytelling and an impressive ability to bring the reader into a fictional world with real world identifications. Unfailingly entertaining from cover to cover, "Harold Hardscrabble" is unreservedly recommended, especially for community and academic library Literary Fiction collections. —Midwest Book Review

“Crisply literary and reminiscent of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in tone and circumstance, the happenstance and sweet resilience of [Harold] are what anchors Dess's winning fable and make it every bit as entrancing, quirky, sad, and darkly humorous from start to finish.” —BookLife Prize in Fiction

Harold Hardscrabble is a thoughtful and well-written observation of the human condition. Dess pushes members of the modern world to question many things and consider that maybe even something unlikely could come to be true. —Red City Review

Harold Hardscrabble is smartly written, informed by the philosophies and ideas of various documents and writers, including Karl Marx, David Foster Wallace and Noam Chomsky. —Blue Ink Review

Harold Hardscrabble is a sympathetic novel filled with philosophical musings on the state of society and our place within it, on balancing intellectualism with everyday success, and on overcoming the sense of simply being a cog in the machine. —Foreword Clarion Reviews

Harold Hardscrabble is an excellent, philosophical tale that explores the life of a brilliant, troubled man and his ups and downs. The existential crises that haunt the titular character make him sympathetic and worth rooting for. The story bobs and weaves but never fails to hold the attention of the reader. A fine read. —Manhattan Book Review

Harold Hardscrabble reveals author, essayist, and critic of contemporary literature, G. D. Dess as a novelist with a natural flair for engaging storytelling and an impressive ability to bring...

Marketing Plan

National publicity campaign

Online publicity campaign

Advance distribution of digital PDF via NetGalley to reviewers and media

National publicity campaign

Online publicity campaign

Advance distribution of digital PDF via NetGalley to reviewers and media

Available Editions

EDITION	Hardcover
ISBN	9780998558905
PRICE	$28.95 (USD)

Additional Information

Average rating from 11 members

Featured Reviews

Beverly M, Reviewer

"We live in the society of the spectacle," created by the internet, media, television, etc. "These companies have no reason for existence other than to make money from advertising."

Harold Hardscrabble is one of the brilliant idea men for a marketing services business but has become disenchanted with his career and feels out of control in his life. He has been existing in a 'morally ambivalent fog.' Where did all those high ideals of his youth go, the ones they talked about for hours in college before they became part of the 'system'...the 'status quo?'

Told in third person narrative solely from Harold's point of view, I would call this work introspective as Harold examines his life and what he has contributed to the world. A series of unfortunate events leaves Harold's life in a tailspin. "The lack of belief in facts has made knowing if anything is true impossible." He is in pursuit of meaning and justice and his rights as an individual in society.

This book is for anyone concerned with the direction in which our culture is headed, concerned with the tracking of our likes and interests through social media sites on the internet, concerned with being manipulated for commercial purposes. "We are consumers in the strategic outlook and balance sheet of these organizations and networks."

When I finished the book, I was startled by the number of sections I had highlighted; I could fill this review with any number of quotes that I found meaningful. Mr. Dess provides much food for thought as well as a few book suggestions for further reading.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an arc of this important new book.