Lightning Rods

More than ten years after the release of her acclaimed debut novel The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt's second novel is an unflinching satire on a modern day America. Joe is a failing salesman, desperate for success. Pushing an unneeded product on an already satisfied clientele, his dissatisfaction with life leaves him little more than his bizarre personal fantasies, until these fantasies give him an idea that will see him rise to entrepreneurial brilliance.

With its roots steeped in the idea of the American dream, Lightning Rods brilliantly explores an America dominated by ambition, achievement, and the overhanging spectre of litigation and corporate machinations. DeWitt's manipulation of language seduces the reader as Joe's idea for tackling sexual harassment in the workplace becomes in turns more and less ridiculous, more and less believable, as the novel continues. DeWitt's persuasive narrative becomes a sales pitch in itself as she explores the power of language and suggestion, both on the self and those we meet.

Funny and provoking, Lightning Rods is a searing look at corporate life and beyond. The novel effortlessly drifts between the practised language of sales and self deception, and an original and unsentimental portrayal of human behaviour and desire.