{"product_id":"i-dont-smoke-enough-to-quit-an-epic-of-diminished-proportions-9781589881716","title":"I Don't Smoke Enough to Quit: An Epic of Diminished Proportions","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Dreesen presents an unusual and welcoming memoir-in-verse, an epic colloquial journey through his childhood in a chaotic, eight-kid family as they ran a 24-hour highway truck stop and popular roadhouse in Nebraska. . . Dreesen expertly plays with language, cadence, texture, emotion, memory, and facts to impart the sense that all our knowledge is 'second hand, ' full of miscomprehension of other people and their perceptions, and yet our experiences are precious, our stories illuminating.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I'm still marveling at not only the artistry of this book, the playful erudition of it, the sheer entertainment of the storytelling, but also the life (harrowing and joyous) and place that inspired it. If that life wouldn't create a writer, I don't know what would. The details are terrific . . . Dreesen has captured a time and a place perfectly.\"--Ladette Randolph, Editor-in-chief, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Ploughshares\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"And what I'm about to tell you can't be told\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003estraight, so needs to be contained by form, \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003efor the tale is messy and meandering, \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eif not downright weedy and windy\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eas all the characters who blew through our lives\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eback then and who we had to bend into, \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003egrimacing and hunched over, holding hands\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eso as not to lose one another, sieve.\"\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn his imaginative memoir-in-verse, Robert Dreesen captures the stop-and-start rhythm of growing up in his family's 24-hour truck stop and drinkin' and dancin' bar alongside the Pan-American Highway in northeastern Nebraska. In a life that can be described as picaresque, Kenny, Rose, and their eight kids make their way through a world rich with farmers and ranchers, writers and painters, drunks and ne'er-do-wells, horses and dogs, imagined visits from poet-sages, insufficient money (but not poverty), fights, siblings, honor, booze, and the Missouri River.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert J. Dreesen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul Dry Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/07\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 221\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.00w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781589881716","brand":"Paul Dry Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42713416138889,"sku":"9781589881716","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_79444783-eb8b-43bb-9634-079b3bd98100.jpg?v=1719610640","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/i-dont-smoke-enough-to-quit-an-epic-of-diminished-proportions-9781589881716","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}