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The Portable Veblen
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)

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Average Rating
Published:
Recorded Books, Inc. 2016
Format:
OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen
Edition:
Unabridged
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its pages, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now. A young couple on the brink of marriage-the charming Veblen and her fiance Paul, a brilliant neurologist-find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other's dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate tete-a-tete with a very charismatic squirrel. Veblen (named after the iconoclastic economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term "conspicuous consumption") is one of the most refreshing heroines in recent fiction. Not quite liberated from the burdens of her hypochondriac, narcissistic mother and her institutionalized father, Veblen is an amateur translator and "freelance self"; in other words, she's adrift. Meanwhile, Paul-the product of good hippies who were bad parents-finds his ambition soaring. His medical research has led to the development of a device to help minimize battlefield brain trauma-an invention that gets him swept up in a high-stakes deal with the Department of Defense, a Bizarro World that McKenzie satirizes with granular specificity. As Paul is swept up by the promise of fame and fortune, Veblen heroically keeps the peace between all the damaged parties involved in their upcoming wedding, until she finds herself falling for someone-or something-else. Throughout, Elizabeth McKenzie asks: Where do our families end and we begin? How do we stay true to our ideals? And what is that squirrel really thinking? Replete with deadpan photos and sly appendices, The Portable Veblen is at once an honest inquiry into what we look for in love and an electrifying reading experience.
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Street Date:
02/15/2016
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781501905353
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Elizabeth Mckenzie. (2016). The Portable Veblen. Unabridged Recorded Books, Inc.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Elizabeth Mckenzie. 2016. The Portable Veblen. Recorded Books, Inc.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen. Recorded Books, Inc, 2016.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Elizabeth Mckenzie. The Portable Veblen. Unabridged Recorded Books, Inc, 2016.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Anne Arundel County Public Library11
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
27cf417a-723d-fe35-5f60-31cc7070717b
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Sep 24, 2020 12:04:03
Date Updated:
Sep 24, 2020 12:04:03
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 08:34:15
Last Metadata Change:
Mar 21, 2024 07:34:10
Last Availability Check:
Mar 24, 2024 08:34:18
Last Availability Change:
Mar 21, 2024 07:34:11
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 29, 2024 04:05:49

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title
The Portable Veblen
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An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its pages, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now. A young couple on the brink of marriage-the charming Veblen and her fiance Paul, a brilliant neurologist-find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other's dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate tete-a-tete with a very charismatic squirrel. Veblen (named after the iconoclastic economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term "conspicuous consumption") is one of the most refreshing heroines in recent fiction. Not quite liberated from the burdens of her hypochondriac, narcissistic mother and her institutionalized father, Veblen is an amateur translator and "freelance self"; in other words, she's adrift. Meanwhile, Paul-the product of good hippies who were bad parents-finds his ambition soaring. His medical research has led to the development of a device to help minimize battlefield brain trauma-an invention that gets him swept up in a high-stakes deal with the Department of Defense, a Bizarro World that McKenzie satirizes with granular specificity. As Paul is swept up by the promise of fame and fortune, Veblen heroically keeps the peace between all the damaged parties involved in their upcoming wedding, until she finds herself falling for someone-or something-else. Throughout, Elizabeth McKenzie asks: Where do our families end and we begin? How do we stay true to our ideals? And what is that squirrel really thinking? Replete with deadpan photos and sly appendices, The Portable Veblen is at once an honest inquiry into what we look for in love and an electrifying reading experience.
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        Starred review from September 21, 2015
        A marriage proposal opens this offbeat and winning novel by New Yorker contributor and author McKenzie (Stop That Girl). Thirty-year-old Veblen Amundsen-Hovda, ���independent behaviorist... and freelance self,��� has only known Paul Vreeland, a 34-year-old neurologist, for three months. This might explain Veblen���s feeling of trouble, ���as if rushing toward a disaster,��� when she says yes to his marriage proposal. Veblen, a Palo Alto resident, is named for Thorstein Veblen, an economist from the beginning of the 20th century, popularly known for coining the term conspicuous consumption; our heroine Veblen shares some of his concerns and critiques about modern capitalism. Paul, who is finding his footing as a scientist of note and growing ambition (his device for treating traumatic brain injury is fast-tracked by a powerful pharmaceutical company), is anxious to cast off his hippie upbringing and live a life with all the traditional hallmarks of success. We learn the differences between these two at the same time as they do, meeting their eccentric and dysfunctional families for the first time (including Veblen���s mother, Melanie, a narcissist to end all narcissists), and seeing how they respond to situations that grow increasingly out of their control. McKenzie writes with sure-handed perception, and her skillful characterization means that despite all of Veblen���s quirks���she���s an amateur Norwegian translator with an affinity for squirrels���she���s one of the best characters of the year. McKenzie���s funny, lively, addictive novel is sure to be a standout.

      • premium: True
      • source: AudioFile Magazine
      • content: Narrator Julia Gibson approaches Mckenzie's characters with intimate understanding, granting even the most unlikable figures layered, complicated portrayals. The story is a bizarre whirlwind, tackling issues related to identity, the thin line between quirkiness and madness, familial relationships, government corruption, and the quest to craft one's own future. Gibson's pacing works to usher the lengthy piece forward, and her range is a gift in a narrative that has so many moving parts. She gives grace to the spacey but good-natured Veblen, hits the hard notes on Veblen's mother's haranguing speeches, leans into the self-righteousness of Paul's inner monologues, and embraces a bevy of other characters with zeal. It's a surreal, jarring listen, and Gibson makes it worth the trip. K.S.B. �� AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
popularity
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An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its pages, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now. A young couple on the brink of marriage-the charming Veblen and her fiance Paul, a brilliant neurologist-find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other's dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate tete-a-tete with a very charismatic squirrel. Veblen (named after the iconoclastic economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term "conspicuous consumption") is one of the most refreshing heroines in recent fiction....
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