My American Unhappiness

"Bakopoulos has invented a man for all rainy seasons-a horny, heartbroken cousin of Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe." -Tom Piazza

"A winning distraction, a smart entertainment." -New York Times Book Review

A clairvoyant when it comes to the Starbucks orders, a renegade when it comes to bureaucracy, Zeke asks almost everybody he meets, "Why are you so unhappy?" The answers he receives-a mix of true sadness and absurd complaint-become the core of an obsessive project, "The Inventory of American Unhappiness," a project that becomes all the more personally meaningful as he follows steps outlined in a women's magazine on finding the perfect mate. Incisively tapping the voice of one of the most charming-and deluded-narrators to come along in years, Dean Bakopolous captures our zeitgeist with lacerating wit and a big heart, confirming Jonathan Miles's (author of Dear American Airlines) claim that "there's no such thing as unhappiness when you're holding a Dean Bakopolous novel."

"Hilarious and heartfelt . . . This funny-sad novel seems to take elements of the author's own life . . . and twists them in a funhouse mirror-with delightful results." -NPR