Friends. Family. Housekeepers. All's Fair in Love, War, and Knife Selling.
Check your dignity at the door as you stride across the welcome mat with Jay Hauser in this insightful and strangely touching story about young love, fear, manipulation, and the lengths we go to to succeed in a world that values charisma, competition, and acceptance above all else. Set on the elite campus of Dartmouth College and in the well-heeled reaches of the Detroit suburbs, this twisted and affecting coming-of-age novel provides a startlingly authentic and often hilarious glimpse of life through the eyes of an indulged and misguided young hustler.
Jay Hauser is wrapping up his first year at Dartmouth when he takes a summer job selling knives door-to-door to prove to Isabelle, the great love of his life, that he is charming enough to pull it off. His quest quickly becomes a dark obsession as he works his way up the knife-selling ladder trying to win the summer sales competition and lands neck-deep in an absurd subculture that is harder to break away from than he could ever have imagined. As sophomore year looms on the horizon, Jay's summer "break" has evolved into a hazy bender spent lying and scamming his way through all the places -- and people -- he once called home. Knifeboy marks the arresting debut of a fine young writer who reveals the unnerving reality of a ravenous generation in a lavish and unforgiving world.
Industry Reviews
No, this debut novel is not about street gangs or plastic surgeons but about a door-to-door salesman involved in hypercompetitive cutlery sales.Jay Hauser has just completed his first year at Dartmouth. He's trying to decide what "cool" fraternity to join, but in the midst of this major life decision he has a summer to contend with. Challenged by a potential girlfriend that he's not cut out to be a successful knife salesman because he's not "charming" enough, he vows both to woo customers with his charm and to beat the competition. Working out of his home in the Detroit suburbs, Jay starts hitting up his divorced parents, his grandparents, his friends' parents and even his maid, trying to persuade them all to purchase expensive sets of Bladeworks knives. He hones his selling strategies and even develops a few of his own outside the scripted ones provided by the company. Horatio Alger - like, after the first "push period" he finds himself as the most successful salesmen in his region. Jay's response is to become even more competitive, hoping eventually to overtake Jorge Acu-a from Puerto Rico or perhaps even the legendary Reid Tallenger, who's made more than $800,000 over the course of his career. Bladeworks managers are so impressed by Jay's sales record that they break precedent by inviting him to speak at one of the summer sales meetings, hoping he'll inspire others during the traditionally slow days of late summer. (The motivational motto Jay comes up with is "Kick Ass in August.") Meanwhile, Jay is trying to balance the demands of his social life by maintaining a sexual relationship with his girlfriend Brooke while pursuing Isabelle, a girl he'd originally tagged as "not hot enough."This mildly comic novel seems to have been written almost solely with an eye to film adaptation, probably an Adam Sandler vehicle. (Kirkus Reviews)
