Abundance

A wrenching novel of family, poverty, and inequality in America

Set in the fluorescent aisles of Walmart and the booths of Red Lobster, in discount motels and trucks, Jakob Guanzon’s debut novel Abundance reveals the inequities and anxieties around work, debt, addiction, incarceration, and health care in America today.

Henry and his son, Junior, are down to their last few dollars and living in their truck, only six months after being evicted. But there is still some hope: today is Junior’s birthday, and Henry has a job interview tomorrow. To celebrate, Henry treats Junior to dinner at McDonald’s, followed by a night in a real bed at a motel and for a moment, as Junior watches T V and Henry practices for his interview in the bathtub, all seems well. But after Henry has a disastrous altercation in the parking lot and Junior falls ill with a fever, father and son are sent into the night, struggling to make it through tomorrow.

Fierce, empathetic, and ingeniously structured—Guanzon organizes Abundance by the amount of cash in Henry’s pocket, beginning each chapter with his latest debit or credit—Abundance reveals the extent to which our quality of life is altered by the abundance, or lack thereof, that surrounds us.