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Bed-Stuy Is Burning: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Do the Right Thing meets The Bonfire of the Vanities in this thrilling novel set over the course of one cataclysmic day when riots erupt in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood.
Aaron, a disgraced rabbi turned Wall Street banker, and Amelia, his journalist girlfriend, live with their newborn in Bedford-Stuyvesant, one of the most dynamic and historically volatile neighborhoods in New York City. The infusion of upwardly mobile professionals into Bed-Stuy’s historic brownstones belies the tension simmering on the streets below. But after a cop shoots a boy in a nearby park, conflict escalates to rioting—with Aaron and his family at its center.
Pulled into the riot’s vortex are Antoinette, devout nanny to Aaron and Amelia’s son; Jupiter, the single father who lives on their block with his son Derek; Daniel, Aaron’s unhinged basement-unit tenant; and Sara, a smart local girl, broiling with confusion and rage. As the day unfolds, these diverse characters are forced to reckon with who they are and what truly matters to them.
With mordant wit and compassion, Platzer conjures a sharp-eyed, fast-paced, and empathetically rendered narrative about a changing neighborhood and its residents, as they struggle to raise children, establish careers, and find love, fulfillment, and meaning. Bed-Stuy Is Burning offers a window into an array of complex lives and deftly wrestles with the most pressing issues of our time with unflinching focus, wisdom, and hope.
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“Platzer, a writer and educator who lives in Bed-Stuy, is aiming high here, addressing race-related violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, gentrification, and other volatile topics. He succeeds in presenting multiple perspectives of dramatic yet familiar situations.”
— Booklist
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“At once a heart-stopping portrayal of a day of violence and a deeply realized portrait of the five people at its center.”
— Ann Packer, New York Times bestselling author -
“Savvy, heartfelt, and utterly engaging…A Bonfire of the Vanities for millennials, it is a marvelous, and daring, debut.”
— Alice McDermott, New York Times bestselling author -
“Platzer’s take on race, religion, class, and politics—all the subjects you’re not supposed to discuss—is sure to get people talking.”
— Vanity Fair -
“Offers a suspenseful, well written, and empathetic story filled with wit, wisdom, and hard truths….An engaging, timely, and provocative read.”
— Jewish Book Council -
“In a story tinged with biblical allegory, Platzer also serves up some delicious set pieces for his supporting players…Expertly paced, eminently readable.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“The author effectively creates a tense, realistic situation…the prose is energetic, and Platzer is obviously committed to exploring these contemporary urban issues.”
— Library Journal -
“Platzer…turns his sharp eye onto present day Brooklyn: the simmering tensions of race and privilege, of cultural appropriation and identity politics, and of course real estate.”
— David Gilbert, author of & Sons -
“The debut of a fully mature literary voice that has the mordant wit of Franzen, the dazzling smarts of Roth, and the compassion of Tolstoy.”
— Rafael Yglesias, author of A Happy Marriage
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About Brian Platzer
Brian Platzer has an MFA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and a BA from Columbia University. His writing has appeared often in the New Yorker’s ”Shouts and Murmurs” and McSweeney’s “Internet Tendency,” as well as in the New York Times, New Republic, Salon, and elsewhere. He teaches middle-school English in Manhattan.
About Donald Corren
Donald Corren is an audiobook narrator and a New York actor with leading credits on and Off-Broadway, as well as numerous television appearances. On Broadway, he costarred with Judy Kaye in the critically acclaimed production of Souvenir, and replaced Harvey Fierstein in the seminal production of Torch Song Trilogy. His Off-Broadway appearances include The Soap Myth, Dietrich & Chevalier, The Last Sunday in June, Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night, and the original New York production of Tomfoolery. His television credits include eight seasons as forensic tech Medill on NBC’s Law & Order, as well as his current role as Dr. Kurian on Syfy’s Z Nation.