Nick McDonell Knihy

Mikovi je sedmnáct a žije s otcem, matku už nemá. Na rozdíl od ostatních členů newyorské zlaté mládeže nekouří, nepije ani nefetuje. Místo studia na prestižní univerzitě se rozhodne poznávat život, což zahrnuje dodávání drog svým vrstevníkům, kteří žijí v prázdných rodinných sídlech a hledají vzrušení. Nová módní droga "dvanáctka" spojuje umělý svět smetánky s drsnou realitou černého Harlemu. Kolem dodávky této drogy se rozvíjí spirála násilí, která vyvrcholí apokalyptickým závěrem silvestrovské party. Děj je mrazivým podobenstvím o generaci, která byla připravena o dětství a dobrovolně vynechala dospívání. Román zachycuje dnešní mladé lidi z velkoměstské společnosti, kteří žijí v dostatku, ale přesto trpí. Strohá, úsečná stylizace bez sentimentu a pocitu existenciální beznaděje, kterou autor mistrně evokuje, přispívá k přesvědčivosti této výpovědi o moderním světě, v němž hrozí ztráta duše.

From national bestselling author Nick McDonell, The Council of Animals is a captivating fable for humans of all ages—dreamers and cynics alike—who believe (if nothing else) in the power of timeless storytelling. “‘Now,’ continued the cat, ‘there is nothing more difficult than changing an animal’s mind. But I will say, in case I can change yours: humans are more useful to us outside our bellies than in.’” Perhaps. After The Calamity, the animals thought the humans had managed to do themselves in. But, it turns out, a few are cowering in makeshift villages. So the animals—among them a cat, a dog, a crow, a baboon, a horse, and a bear—have convened to debate whether to help the last human stragglers . . . or to eat them. Rest assured, there is a happy ending. Sort of. Featuring illustrations by Steven Tabbutt

McDonell's third novel takes readers into Harvard through its dormitories and dining halls, into its elite finals clubs and lecture halls. "An Expensive Education" is a smart, relentless novel set at the troubled intersection of ivory academia and realpolitik.

"A bold and moving exploration of the American elite that exposes how the ruling class-even when well-intentioned-perpetuates cycles of wealth, power, and injustice Growing up on New York City's Upper East Side, Nick McDonell was surrounded by luxury-sailing lessons in the Hamptons, school galas at the Met, and holidays on private jets. It was this rarified life that he explored in his early novels, but then left behind as a war correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Quiet Street, McDonell returns to the sidewalks of his youth, exhuming his own upbringing, and those of his wealthy peers, with bracing honesty. Through summer safaris and winter ski trips, ill-omened handshakes and schoolyard microaggressions, fox-hunting rituals and sexually precocious tweens, McDonell examines the ruling class in painstaking detail, documenting how wealth and power are hoarded, encoded, and passed down from one generation to the next. Crucially, he also demonstrates how outsiders-the poor, the non-white, the suburban-are kept in the dark. Searing and precise yet always deeply human, Quiet Street examines the problem of America's one-percenters, whose vision of a more just world never materializes. Who are these people, how do they hold on to power, and what would it take for them to share it? Quiet Street pursues these questions through the highly personal, but universal, experience of growing up and coming to terms with the culture that made you"-- Provided by publisher

Mike was a lucky child: a vacation house on Long Island, famous family friends, an Ivy League education, and also an older brother, Lyle, who looked out for him. It's 2001, and Mike is a summer intern at a magazine in Hong Kong. Sent on assignment to Bangkok, Mike finds the city electric with violence and hedonism. Nothing goes according to plan. When terrible news about his brother arrives from home, Mike rushes back to the States. Lyle is unstable and suffering from visions of an imaginary third brother. And then, a clear September morning is broken by catastrophe. While the Twin Towers burn, Mike makes an epic trek through the ghostly streets of New York to find and save Lyle. From Patpong to the World Trade Center to Harvard Yard, as his life and country come apart, Mike struggles to find his footing and go on. The joke, it turns out, is on him