Flatscreen: A Novel

Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2012: There is a deep undercurrent of American literature dedicated to the misanthropes, rejects, madmen, and drunks of society. Flatscreen is a hilarious, worthy addition to this freakish subgenre. The main character, Eli Schwartz, is a stoned, bathrobed, doughy slacker. He befriends a suicidal paraplegic sex addict twice his age, fantasizes about the Hispanic girl who parks cars at his synagogue, mooches off his parents, and gets ridiculed, beat up, and shot at (mostly by his friends and family). Through it all he ponders the ageless questions of Buddhist monks and angst-ridden teens: What’s the point of life? Is anything inherently meaningful? Should I try to be a good person or not? And most importantly, who should play me in the Hollywood adaption of my life? –Benjamin Moebius