{"product_id":"manual-for-how-to-live-magnificently","title":"Manual for How to Live Magnificently","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis debut collection turns the ordinary into sweeping tragicomedy, probing the small, daily confrontations that shape a life well lived.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a debut collection at once deeply felt and delightfully playful, Ernie Wang presents ordinary people struggling with challenges that confront many today: how to find steady, meaningful work; how to manage when our healthcare system fails us; how to navigate thorny relationships with lovers, with friends, with children; how to keep one’s dreams alive, and how to let them go. The thirteen stories in \u003ci\u003eManual for How to Live Magnificently\u003c\/i\u003e are intriguingly linked, with narrators becoming players and players becoming narrators. Several stories feature cameos by the irrepressible seventy-something Mabel Rogerson, who serves by turns as catalyst, comic relief, and means to catharsis. The book toggles among dramatically different locales—Dayton, Ohio; Las Vegas; Disneyland; Kamisoshigaya, Japan—drawing them thematically into a shared orbit. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough each of Wang’s offerings has heft and poignancy, the stories also serve up superb comic set pieces. A fake fortuneteller forgoes his crystal ball in favor of a snow globe; a priest moonlights as a professional wrestler named the Grim Preacher; a troubled lawyer who reluctantly cat-sits for a friend winds up finding solace with Killer and Hoedaddy. Revelations are reached at the male strip club Dayton Dix, or during a ritual spanking at Hofbräuhaus just off the Las Vegas Strip, or on Captain Hook’s flying galleon during a theme park ride. And almost everyone eventually ends up at Applebee’s. When storylines converge in a terrifying tragedy, Wang takes the opportunity to explore the complexity of family, to deepen our understanding of sacrifice and the many ways people demonstrate love for one another.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Acre Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57298329731416,"sku":"9781968209100","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781968209100.jpg?v=1781780460","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/manual-for-how-to-live-magnificently","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}