{"product_id":"the-double-bind-by-chris-bohjalian","title":"The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian PAPERBACK VERY GOOD","description":"\u003cp\u003ePaperback in Very Good (VG) condition. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"BookPageMetadataSection__description\" data-testid=\"description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedText\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-testid=\"contentContainer\" class=\"TruncatedText__text TruncatedText__text--5 TruncatedText__text--expanded\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eIn Chris Bohjalian's astonishing novel, nothing is what it at first seems. Not the bucolic Vermont back roads college sophomore Laurel Estabrook likes to bike. Not the savage assault she suffers toward the end of one of her rides. And certainly not Bobbie Crocker, the elderly man with a history of mental illness whom Laurel comes to know through her work at a Burlington homeless shelter in the years subsequent to the attack.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his moments of lucidity, the gentle, likable Bobbie alludes to his earlier life as a successful photographer. Laurel finds it hard to believe that this destitute, unstable man could once have chronicled the lives of musicians and celebrities, but a box of photographs and negatives discovered among Bobbie's meager possessions after his death lends credence to his tale. How could such an accomplished man have fallen on such hard times? Becoming obsessed with uncovering Bobbie's past, Laurel studies his photographs, tracking down every lead they provide into the mystery of his life before homelessness -- including links to the rich neighborhoods of her own Long Island childhood and to the earlier world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great Gatsby,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewith its larger-than-life characters, elusive desires, and haunting sorrows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a narrative of dazzling invention, literary ingenuity, and psychological complexity, Bohjalian engages issues of homelessness and mental illness by evoking the humanity that inhabits the core of both. At the same time, his tale is fast-paced and riveting --\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Double Bind\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecombines the suspense of a thriller with the emotional depths of the most intimate drama. The breathtaking surprises of its final pages will leave readers stunned, overwhelmed by the poignancy of life's fleeting truths, as caught in Bobbie Crocker's photographs and in Laurel Estabrook's painful pursuit of Bobbie's past -- and her own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBehind\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Double Bind\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile Bobbie Crocker, the photographer in\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Double Bind,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis fictitious, the photographs that appear in the book are real. They were taken by a man named Bob \"Soupy\" Campbell, who, as Chris Bohaljian explains in his Author's Note, \"had gone from photographing luminaries from the 1950s and 1960s to winding up at a homeless shelter in northern Vermont.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBohaljian's viewing of Campbell's work after the photographer's death provided an inspiration for\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Double Bind\u003c\/i\u003e. \"We tend to stigmatize the homeless and blame them for their plight,\" Bohjalian writes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We are oblivious to the fact that most had lives as serious as our own before everything fell apart. The photographs in this book are a testimony to that reality.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"BookPageMetadataSection__genres\" data-testid=\"genresList\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ChipList\"\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"TruncatedItems TruncatedItems--ul\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"TruncatedItems__item TruncatedItems__item--visible\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ChipList__item\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ex Libris Used Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40755086557375,"sku":"EXL002177","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0562\/5675\/7951\/products\/126807.jpg?v=1632403277","url":"https:\/\/www.exlibrismichigan.com\/products\/the-double-bind-by-chris-bohjalian","provider":"Ex Libris Used Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}