Start Without Me, is the latest novel from Brooklyn resident Joshua Max Feldman. The author of the critically acclaimed novel, The Book of Jonah, is back with a mesmerizing tale that unfolds over one Thanksgiving day. Feldman explores questions of love, choice, disappointment, and hope in the lives of two strangers whose paths cross by chance.
Adam is a former musician and recovering alcoholic who is home for the first time in many years. Surrounded by his parents and siblings, nieces and nephews—all who have seen him at his worst—he can’t shake the feeling that no matter how hard he tries, he’ll always be the one who can’t get it right. Marissa is a flight attendant whose marriage is strained by simmering tensions over class and ambition. Heading to her in-laws’ home for their picture-perfect holiday family dinner, her anxiety is intensified by the knowledge she is pregnant from an impulsive one-night-stand. In an airport restaurant on Thanksgiving morning, Adam and Marissa meet. Over the course of this day fraught with emotion and expectation, these two strangers will form an unlikely bond as they reckon with their family ties, their pasts, and the choices that will determine their way forward.
With remarkable wit, fluid prose, and authentic dialogue, Feldman offers sharp insight into addiction, failure, familial expectations, and unexpected friendship as he examines the struggle to know and be our best selves. Hilarious and poignant, Start Without Me is a thoughtful and entertaining page-turner that will leave its indelible mark on your heart.
Join Joshua Max Feldman for a reading and signing of Start Without Me
Tuesday, October 17, 7PM
61 Local
61 Bergen Street
Free Admission
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