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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
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SHRIVER

Chris Belden

In this charming, clever, and darkly satiric novel set at a writers’ conference, one man finds himself caught in a whirlwind of literary pretention, a suspect in a criminal investigation, and hopelessly in love with a woman who thinks he’s someone else.
Mistaken for a famous but reclusive author of the same name, lonely Shriver attends a writers’ conference at a small Midwestern liberal arts college. Completely unfamiliar with the novel he supposedly wrote and utterly unprepared for the magnitude of the reputation that precedes him, Shriver is feted, fawned over, featured at stuffy literary panels, and barely manages to play it cool. Things quickly go awry when one of the other guest authors suddenly disappears and Shriver becomes a prime suspect in the investigation. Amidst eager fans, Shriver must contend with a persistent police detective, a pesky journalist determined to unearth his past, and a mysterious and possibly dangerous stalker who seems to know his secret. But most vexing of all, Shriver’s gone and fallen in love with the conference organizer, who believes he’s someone else.

When the “real” Shriver (or is he?) appears to claim his place among the literati, the conference—and Shriver’s world—threaten to unravel.

Filled with witty dialogue, hilarious antics, and a cast of bizarre and endearing characters, Shriver is at once a touching love story, a surreal examination of identity, and an affectionate tribute to the power of writing.

Shriver was first published by Rain Mountain Press, a small, independent publisher.

CHRIS BELDEN was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including American Fiction, SN Review, and Skidrow Penthouse. He is co-author of the feature film Amnesia, and has also written extensively for the stage. He received an MFA from the Fairfield University MFA Program, and has taught writing at Fairfield University, as well as at such nontraditional venues as senior centers, soup kitchens, and a maximum security prison. Belden lives in Connecticut with his family.
Available products
Book

Published 2015-09-29 by Touchstone

Book

Published 2015-09-29 by Touchstone

Comments

Chris Belden's Shriver is as hilarious and smart as Michael Malone's Foolscap, as wise and sympathetic as Stoner. Academic farces don't come any better.

When I started reading Shriver, I thought, Uh-oh another writer writing about writers writing. But, no, not this novel. The character Shriver in Beldens novel is a writer who is not a writer. (You will have to read it to find out.) This picaresque and piquant satire of writers, academics, their quirky characters and content-lacking conferences is reminiscent of David Lodges satiric spins on academe. Darkly comic, Shriver also reminded me of Martin Scorseses inversion of The Wizard of Oz in the movie After Hours the obstacles, the quirky characters, the plot turns and pivots. But Beldens world is rural rather than urban. Despite its ability to laugh at the writing world and its daffy denizens, Shriver nonetheless ultimately affirms the essential importance of the word.

A send-up of academia and literary pretension, as well as a poignant exploration of writerly insecurity.

In Shriver Chris Belden has written a fast-paced, wildly inventive novel that is somehow both hilarious and thought-provoking. In fact, I couldn’t stop wondering when I last read a book so enjoyable. Zbigniew Herbert famously compared lit-conferences to the 10th level of hell, well, if he could’ve read Shriver he would’ve added a level.

A man afflicted with a strange ocular disability and a decidedly quirky response to the smell of books falls prey to a case of mistaken identity (or is it imposter syndrome?) that hauls him well out of his comfort zone, delivering him to a world that is as odd as it is authentic. Chris Belden‘s Shriver delivers intrigue, a cast of bizarre characters who are also somehow bizarrely believable, and moments of slapstick comedy that are laugh- out-loud funny—all the while exploring the deeply human need for meaning and connection. Read this book!

Chris Beldens Shriver is a hoot, a farce about mistaken identity set at a writers conference where facile poets and pompous novelists declaim, carouse and, possibly, commit murder. In a style somewhere between Evelyn Waugh and Mel Brooks, Beldens satire lampoons all things literary but also, amazingly, convinces us to care about the fools that these mortals be.