The Broom of the System

Wallace's first novel, a comic and playful story set in an alternate 1990s Cleveland. Lenore Beadsman, a young switchboard operator, tries to find her great-grandmother, who has vanished from a nursing home along with other residents. Around her are a possessive boyfriend who runs a publishing company, a talking cockatiel, a therapist and a strange assortment of relatives. The book plays with language, stories and the question of how much our selves are made of what others say about us. It is inventive and funny, with a young writer's energy.