Extraordinary Adventures: A Novel - Hardcover

Wallace, Daniel

3.52

1,100 ratings by Goodreads

9781250118455: Extraordinary Adventures: A Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 125011845X ISBN 13: 9781250118455

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2017

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**Wallace named the Harper Lee Award winner for 2019 by the Alabama Writers' Forum**

**One of PopSugar’s Best 2017 Spring Books for Women**

A large-hearted and optimistic novel, Extraordinary Adventures is the latest from the New York Times bestselling Daniel Wallace.

Edsel Bronfman works as a junior executive shipping clerk for an importer of Korean flatware. He lives in a seedy neighborhood and spends his free time with his spirited mother. Things happen to other people, and Bronfman knows it. Until, that is, he gets a call from operator 61217 telling him that he’s won a free weekend at a beachfront condo in Destin, Florida. But there’s a catch: the offer is intended for a couple, and Bronfman has only seventy-nine days to find someone to take with him.

The phone call jolts Bronfman into motion, initiating a series of truly extraordinary adventures as he sets out to find a companion for his weekend getaway. Open at last to the possibilities of life, Bronfman now believes that anything can happen. And it does.

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About the Author:

DANIEL WALLACE is the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he directs the Creative Writing Program. He is the author of the novels Big Fish, Ray in Reverse, The Watermelon King, Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician, and The Kings and Queens of Roam. He was named the Harper Lee Award winner for 2019 by the Alabama Writers' Forum.

Review:

Finalist in the 2018 The Morning News Tournament of Books

“As refreshing and original as his earlier novels...Daniel Wallace is one of those rare and wonderful writers who make it look easy.” ―The New York Times Book Review

“Offbeat giddiness...antics ensue, some racy, others more endearing, but definitely none ordinary.” ―The Atlanta-Journal Constitution

"Funny and warm and optimistic...this novel is bighearted in a way that will stay with readers for a long time." ―Birmingham Magazine

"Quirky and heartwarming." ―Our State

“Extraordinary Adventures is a charmer .... clever, whimsical, fun to read and has just a touch of the unexplainable which Wallace likes so much.” ―Alabama Public Radio

"A large-hearted and optimistic novel." ―BookBrowse

"Quirky and whimsical." ―The Florida Times-Union

"A rollicking crash course in loving―and in living a little." ―Garden and Gun

"Daniel Wallace’s new novel, Extraordinary Adventures is just what the title says. Extraordinary for Bronfman, anyway. And a lot of fun for the rest of us, too...Trust me, Bronfman is just the kind of guy you want to have a beer with (make his water) just so you can listen to his stories ― a somebody after all.?" ―The Salisbury Post

"Extraordinary Adventures fits solidly into the picaresque genre...as with much of Wallace’s fiction, the overarching theme here seems to be the celebration of difference and the importance of resisting an impulse to complacency that has become more and more commonplace in American life." ―Chapter 16

"The result is something much more than a remix of 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin,' a concoction of off-kilter humor that turns achingly poignant." ―StarNews

"Witty, winsome, and wise...a sweet, satisfying diversion." ―Booklist

"Extraordinary Adventures is a terrifically funny novel, populated by terrifically funny, truly human characters. And yet, Daniel Wallace’s humor never feels cruel―even the most damaged characters still seem to have the possibility for love, for change, and for redemptions, big and small. I liked these people, and I liked passing time in this world." ―Gabrielle Zevin, author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

"A sweet-tempered, funny, surprisingly poignant romantic tale." ―Kirkus Reviews

"A hilarious testimony to our propensity for reinvention, and an affirmation of the possibilities lurking right under our noses. Through the cumulative force of his warmth, wit, and humanity, Wallace manages to transform the ordinary life of poor, guileless Bronfman into an extraordinary adventure." ―Jonathan Evison, author of This Is Your Life Harriet Chance!

“Ignatious Riley, Forrest Gump, Sugar Mecklin . . . add to this list of unforgettably lovable Southern characters the name Edsel Bronfman, the thirty-four-year-old boy meets world in Daniel Wallace’s funny and tender new novel. Extraordinary Adventuresleaves no doubt that, if the rest of the world had only half the heart of a writer like Daniel Wallace, we’d all be in much better shape." ―M. O. Walsh, author of My Sunshine Away

“?A timely reminder of the transformative powers of friendship,this big-hearted story about an unlikely Casanova is the perfect companion for readers craving adventure on the high seas of suburbia, along with major laughs.?” ―Courtney Maum, author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without Youand Touch

“Daniel Wallace writes with terrific verve. Extraordinary Adventures is a funny, attuned, and generously humane book." ―J. Bradford Hipps, author of The Adventurist

"Edsel Bronfman is one of the most peculiar and inhibited characters I've ever met. At first I was amused by him, then alarmed by him, then terrified for him. At one point, he almost broke my heart, and I realized I'd fallen completely in love. Daniel Wallace's Extraordinary Adventures is deliciously funny, moving, and generous, and Edsel is unforgettable." ―Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama and Georgia Bottom

"Extraordinary Adventures is soulful, funny, wise, and surprisingly sexy. Young Edsel Bronfman has the world before him, if only he can discover how to live in it. This is a novel about finding one's way without a map while searching for the lost places of the human heart. While readers will be reminded of Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of Poets and Annie Proulx's The Shipping News, they won't soon forget Edsel Bronfman and his extraordinary adventure." ―Wiley Cash, author of This Dark Road to Mercy and A Land More Kind Than Home

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