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THIS IS HOW IT STARTS

Grant Ginder

A Novel

In the tradition of Jay McInerney, Grant Ginder's phenomenal debut novel follows one post-collegiate idealist on his quest to fit in with and then distance himself from Capitol Hill's up-and-coming political and social elite who work hard but party harder.

Echoing with razor-sharp commentary, This Is How It Starts deftly captures the escapades of moneyed, socially and politically connected recent graduates. Secrets are currency, the sex is bipartisan, and rules and boundaries are obsolete. Taylor Mack may have graduated from Princeton, but his Laguna Beach upbringing has inadequately prepared him for life among D.C.'s movers and shakers. Entertaining mishaps aside, Taylor soon discerns how to play the game and learns the cost of being an insider in a town that is unyielding in what it will take from a person in exchange for granting him a margin of knowledge and power. Grant Ginder graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he edited 34th Street, the school's humor and culture magazine. He currently works as a speechwriting associates at the Center for American Progress. He lives in New York City.

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Book Published 2009-06-01 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

"In wickedly beautiful prose, Grant Ginder gives us a twenty-first century morality tale that rivals any novel I've read in a long, long time. This Is How It Starts is a funny, sad, and heartfelt debut by one of America's best new writers."

"How to describe This Is How It Starts? A harrowing coming-of-age story? Yep. An irresistible romantic comedy? Yep. A riveting look at the dangerous world of personal, professional, and sexual politics inside the Beltway? Yep. But it's more than that. It's also incredibly witty, slick, hilarious, and full of the struggle and passion of youth. With just his first novel, Grant Ginder, has inserted himself into the pantheon of visionary American heartbreakers somewhere between Jay McInerney and Joshua Ferris."

"An engaging, insightful, wonderfully self-deprecating narrator holds our hand through an insider's tour of the Capitol--and not the same one you rolled your eyes through in third grade. As young congressional staffer Taylor Mark navigates the architectural marvels, mediocre restaurants, "society" events, and revolving-doored bedrooms within which our elected leaders chart the course of history, Ginder's cozy, original prose paints in the corners and gives us a portrait of disillusionment that is at turns brutal, poignant, shocking--and always hilarious. "