Fobbit - Hardcover

Abrams, David

3.52

2,120 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846557216 ISBN 13: 9781846557217

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2013

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HardCover. Pub Date :2013-04-01 Pages: 384 Language: English Publisher: Harvill Secker Fobbit f?-bt. noun. Definition: A US soldier stationed at a Forward Operating Base who avoids combat by remaining at the base. esp. during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011). Pejorative.Staff Sergeant Chance Gooding works for the army public affairs office and spends his days tap-ping out press releases to try to turn the latest roadside bomb into something the public can read about while eating their breakfast cereal. He is most definitely a Fobbit.Fobbit takes us into the cha-otic world of Baghdads Forward Operating Base Triumph. The FOB is the back-office of the battlefield - where the soldiers eat and sleep between missions. and where a lot of Army employees have what looks suspiciously like an office job. What goes on at the FOB doesnt exactly fit the image of war that the army and t...

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Review:

"As funny, disturbing, heartbreaking and ridiculous as war itself" (New York Times Book Review)

"Fobbit is sharp; a well-observed and worthwhile contribution to the growing body of fiction generated by the conflicts of the past decade and lacking in the overwrought pretension of recent similar novels" (Patrick Hennessey The Times)

"Abrams has a definite comic talent and a lively turn of phrase" (Sam Leith Guardian)

"[Hilarious]... It is the rare writer – indeed, the rare person – who can step outside of himself and see with cold clarity the humor and pathos of his situation and then bring the reader to the same understanding. David Abrams is such a writer" (Karl Marlantes, author of Matterhorn)

"Fobbit blends fiction and journalism, an apt reflection of literary influences combined with [Abrams’s] experience in an Army public affairs team... Though absurd, these Dickensian characters are all so skillfully wrought that we quickly accept their idiosyncrasies... What’s most intriguing about this work is that, at its center, it is both a clever study in anxiety and an unsettling expose of how the military tells its truths" (The Washington Post)

"There’s a lot of fun and wit here and the portrait it offers of a certain kind of American soldier, and a certain kind of war, is both valuable and accurate" (Thomas Quinn Big Issue)

"[Abrams has] a genuine sense of humor...and a productive sense of irony to go with it. Fobbit is an impressive debut and holds out promise for more good things to come" (Los Angeles Times)

"Fobbit is fast, razor sharp, and seven kinds of hilarious. It deserves a place alongside Slaughterhouse Five and Catch-22 as one of our great comic novels about the absurdity of war" (Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here)

"When it comes to war literature, a comic novel will always do a better job with the big picture" (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Fobbit, an Iraq-war comedy, is that rarest of good things: the book you least expect, and most want. It is everything that terrible conflict was not: beautifully planned and perfectly executed; funny and smart and lyrical; a triumph. This debut marks the arrival of a massive talent" (Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng)

Book Description:

'The Iraq War’s answer to Catch-22' Publisher's Weekly

A Notable Book of the Year - New York Times Book Review

One of Amazon.com's Top 100 Best Books of 2012

Shortlisted for the LA Times First Novel Award

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