Abundance

By: Jakob Guanzon

Narrated by: George Newbern

Evicted from their trailer on New Year's Eve, Henry and his son, Junior, have been reduced to living out of a pickup truck. Six months later, things are even more desperate. Henry, barely a year out of prison for pushing opioids, is down to his last pocketful of dollars, and little remains between him and the street. But hope is on the horizon: Today is Junior's birthday, and Henry has a job interview tomorrow.

To celebrate, Henry treats Junior to dinner at McDonald's, followed by a night in a real bed at a discount motel. For a moment, as Junior watches TV and Henry practices for his interview in the bathtub, all seems well. But after Henry has a disastrous altercation in the parking lot and Junior succumbs to a fever, father and son are sent into the night, struggling to hold things together and make it through tomorrow.

In an ingenious structural approach, Jakob Guanzon organizes Abundance by the amount of cash in Henry's pocket. A new chapter starts with each debit and credit, and the novel expands and contracts, revealing the extent to which the quality of our attention is altered by the abundance - or lack thereof - that surrounds us. Set in an America of big-box stores and fast food, this incandescent debut novel reveals the inequities and anxieties around work, debt, addiction, incarceration, and health care in America today.

©2021 Jakob Guanzon (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Accurately portrays the daily struggle

I think 99% of people can relate to The time line of Henrys life and all the struggles he faces.
Trying to do the right thing is subjective and once you realize that you’re on your own and life is stacked against you, it’ll ring your bells.
Anyone who has trouble being selfless, or doesn’t understand what hand to mouth means shouldn’t bother with this book.

Don’t read for face value

I loved the complex layers of the story. At face value this is a story about a father trying to provide for is family through a marginalized social network.
However, I found myself identifying with the characters because of the human, social and economic struggles. Beneath that layer is wink to government failures.
I want to listen again.

I could not stop listening

As disaster followed poor decision, and poor decision followed disaster, I could not help but root for and sympathize with this representative American man, and woman in their quest for normalcy and success. This beautiful expose of poverty, addiction and inequality broke my heart and reset my current understanding of life in many American cities. I had forgotten how massive some of our societal and cultural obstacles can be today and how easily one can slip into the abyss.

Crushing, subtly elegant, excellent narrative structuring

This book creates a beautiful, and agonizing portrayal of poverty in America as a father struggles to fight for the wellbeing of his child while ruminating on the events and figures in his life that have brought them to the narrative’s present; a point closer to the brink of total collapse.
Brilliantly structured, tormentingly suspenseful for the genre, gently descriptive and harrowingly human, this book is a sleeper that is fully deserving of any acclaim it receives.
Hats off to the reader as well - I feel that the spirit of the author’s intent was well captured in their timbre and cadence.