{"product_id":"why-visit-america","title":"Why Visit America","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEqual parts speculative and satirical, the stories in\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy Visit America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eform an exegesis of our current political predicament, while offering an eloquent plea for connection and hope.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe citizens of Plainfield, Texas, have had it with the broke-down United States. So they vote to secede, rename themselves America in memory of their former country, and happily set themselves up to receive tourists from their closest neighbor: America. Couldn't happen? Well, it might, and so it goes in the thirteen stories in Matthew Baker's brilliantly illuminating, incisive, and heartbreaking collection \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy Visit America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe book opens with a seemingly traditional story in which the speculative element is extremely minimal--the narrator has a job that doesn't actually exist--a story that wouldn't seem much out of place in a collection of literary realism. From there the stories get progressively stranger: a young man breaks the news to his family that he is going to transition--from an analog body to a digital existence. A young woman abducts a child--her own--from a government-run childcare facility. A man returns home after committing a great crime, his sentence being that his memory--his entire life--is wiped clean.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs the book moves from universe to universe, the stories cross between different American genres: from bildungsroman to rom com, western to dystopian, including fantasy, horror, erotica, and a noir detective mystery. Read together, these parallel-universe stories create a composite portrait of the true nature of the United States and a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThrough the Looking-Glass\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e reflection of who we are as a country.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Matthew Baker","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52070297370945,"sku":null,"price":1350.0,"currency_code":"PKR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3087\/9041\/files\/93_fc54d77a-b61c-49d9-be76-7e32852899b4.webp?v=1786373197","url":"https:\/\/www.bookemporium.pk\/products\/why-visit-america","provider":"The Book Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}