House of Cards: Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions - Hardcover

Dickerson, David Ellis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594488819 ISBN 13: 9781594488818

Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover, 2009

Synopsis

Describes how the author's long-awaited dream job at Hallmark was challenged by his fundamentalist upbringing and social awkwardness that made it difficult for him to write relatable card sentiments, in a whimsical account that chronicles his bumpy journey toward maturity.

About this title

About the Author:

David Dickerson is a comic, storyteller, crossword constructor, former greeting card writer, and self-proclaimed "word nerd." He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in American literature from Florida State University. A regular contributor to NPR's This American Life, he has written for The Atlantic Monthly and The Gettysburg Review. His puzzles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Games magazine, and Time Out New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

Dickerson was a struggling 20-something with a creative writing M.F.A. when he submitted a writing portfolio to Hallmark in part because he had an idea for a novel set at a greeting card company. He takes the job of writing those cards, but what seemed like a natural outlet for his highly verbal sense of humor quickly degenerates in a profoundly alienating environment, where his self-acknowledged ridiculously intense and enthusiastic personality rubs almost everybody the wrong way. The tone is set early—Oh Jesus, I just sent out a cry for help, Dickerson thinks at his first holiday party, and everybody heard it, and no one is coming to save me. His personal life isn't any better, as he struggles to maintain a long-distance relationship with the only woman he's ever dated while coping with the frustration of being a 28-year-old virgin. The behind-the-scenes material is diverting (you'll never be able to read the word special on a card again without smirking), but it's the broader drama of the profoundly un-corporate Dickerson's doomed efforts to fit into the corporate world that gives the memoir its staying power. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1594488819
• ISBN 13: 9781594488818
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384