The Bachelor

A Novel

By: Andrew Palmer

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

A “witty and wise” (People) debut novel about love and commitment, celebrity and obsession, poetry and reality TV.

“Palmer’s novel wryly tracks an earnest interrogation of art and selfhood.” (The New Yorker)

Reeling from a breakup with his almost fiancée, the narrator of Andrew Palmer’s debut novel returns to his hometown in Iowa to house-sit for a family friend. There, a chance flick of the TV remote and a new correspondence with an old friend plunge him into unlikely twin obsessions: the reality show The Bachelor and the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Berryman. As his heart begins to mend, his fascination with each deepens, and somewhere along the way, representations of reality become harder and harder to distinguish from real life. Soon he finds himself corresponding with multiple love interests, participating in an ill-considered group outing, and trying to puzzle through the strange turn his life seems to have taken.

An absorbing coming-of-age tale “that marks the debut of a significant talent” (Kirkus Reviews, starred), The Bachelor approaches - with wit and grace - the high-stakes questions of an over-connected world: If salvation can no longer be found in fame, can it still be found in romantic relationships? In an era of reality TV, where does entertainment end and reality begin? And why do we, season after season, repeat the same mistakes in love and life?

©2021 Andrew Palmer (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This unassuming, sharp novel quietly questions love and the nature of perception in an overconnected world.” (The Seattle Times)

“Encountering fish in a barrel, Andrew Palmer opts not to shoot but to watch, really watch. His ridiculously good debut is an intelligent, tender, surprising, and earnest examination of American love and loneliness. I wanted the book, just like the TV show, to keep going and going.” (Chris Bachelder, author of The Throwback Special)

“Andrew Palmer’s debut is a fantastically original chronicle of romantic mishap and artistic ambition. In its counterintuitive pairing of reality TV and confessional poetry, this book asks sneakily profound questions about the underlying structures of desire that dictate our lives. I loved it.” (Andrew Martin, author of Early Work)

Unique novel

This title isn’t supposed to be a page turner; the genre, if this fits into one, is confessional literature, and deals with issues discovery and loss and the vicissitudes of love and the narrator’s romantic uncertainty, all juxtaposed against the ridiculous, cliched formula of television’s “The Bachelor” series, described by the narrator in a deadpan way which I found hilarious. I’ve never read (or in this case listened) to a book like this, and for the first 6 straight hours I listened to I was continually surprised and delighted. Thereafter, however, the author’s sureness that his readers will be interested in the endless minute details of his other character’s lives struck me as inconsiderate, and for that, I docked it from 5 to 4 stars. Would definitely recommend it though, and look forward to this author’s next book. The narration was spot on and seemed like the author read it himself. I’ll look for him, too.