Discount

"[A]n acerbic spoof of corporate retail giants . . . the novel displays . . . considerable storytelling gifts...the result is an eye-opening romp of narrative." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Set in the American Southwest, Casey Gray's ambitious tragicomic debut novel follows a group of customers and employees through the twenty-four hour work cycle inside a classic American institution—The Superstore. With a cast of characters including Ernesto, a local gang member struggling to choose his day job over a desultory life as a drug dealer; Wilma, a grandmother working double shifts to support her family; and Keith, a high school student with a penchant for filmmaking, Gray offers a humane and contemporary portrait of life on the suburban fringe. Discount is a triumphant and big-hearted novel you won't soon forget. "Fans of Jonathan Franzen and T. C. Boyle, Sam Lipsyte and Jonathan Tropper will flock to Gray's hearty satire of rampant consumerism and corporate arrogance." — Booklist (starred review) "With this novel, Casey Gray leaps into the American literary landscape as an author who cannot be ignored." —Robert Boswell, author of  Tumbledown, Mystery Ride, Crooked Hearts, and  Century's Son "By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, personal and political, and all in the very best ways." —Antonya Nelson, author of  Funny Once "Unsentimental but huge-hearted,  Discount is concerned only with literature's bottom line—honesty and empathy." —Chris Bachelder, author of  U.S.!, Lessons in Virtual Tour Photography, and  Bear v. Shark   "This book is an Altman film. . . . Gray combines a complex vision of the wide heart of America with an eye for all the things that are constantly wounding it." —David MacLean, author of  The Answer to the Riddle Is Me