{"product_id":"martin-and-john-a-novel-9780374203115","title":"Martin and John: A Novel","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMartin and John: A Novel\u003c\/strong\u003e by Peck, Dale. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780374203115.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this auspicious debut, Dale Peck weaves together two sets of stories to create a compelling portrait of an artist in our time. The first is told episodically by John, who flees an abusive father and becomes a hustler in New York City. Its 1982, and at the age of nineteen John falls in love with Martin, who soon becomes ill with AIDS. They leave New York for Kansas, where Martin dies two years later. In his struggle to regain his own health, John obsessively orders his existence. He begins to keep a journal and then to write stories.\nInterwoven with this narrative is a second set of stories, penned by John. Each has a first-person narrator named John; each centers on a couple named Martin and John, who are always, it turns out, different characters. John knows he is HIV-positive, but through his writing he learns to accept the prospect of a life that, however brief, has at least been examined. In the end, the \"Martin and John\" stories illuminate the frame narrative, embodying Johns belief - and the authors - that \"every fiction is opposed to some truth.\"\nIn luminous prose and with a frankness about sexuality rarely seen in contemporary fiction, Dale Peck has written a haunting, heartrending novel that establishes him as one of our most daring young American writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Douglas \u0026 McIntyre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67913588637749,"sku":"ByrdShop_0374203113","price":57.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780374203115.jpg?v=1793948434","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/martin-and-john-a-novel-9780374203115","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}