After Wayne Fencer, a recent film school grad, attends his ex-girlfriend's funeral, he struggles to come to terms with her suicide and the startling news that she was pregnant with his child. Desperate to understand and haunted by regret, Wayne begins a journey that takes him up and down the East Coast (on foot) and across the American West (in an RV), finally arriving at the Costco Soulmate Trading Outpost in the middle of the Black Rock Desert. Along the way, Wayne's journey becomes a series of meditations on modern life, drawing on everything from the ancient philosophy of Siddhartha Gautama to a visit with Gregorio Fuentes, Hemingway's fishing guide and inspiration for
The Old Man and the Sea. A dazzling exploration of love, death, escape, home, and maturation set in the era of information overload,
Attention. Deficit. Disorder. is highly original and exhibits an unforgettable voice that is Listi's alone.
In this inventive and moving debut, a young man embarks on a search for meaning after he attends the funeral of an ex-girlfriend and learns that she was pregnant with his child at the time of her suicide.
"It's not easy writing lightly about heavy things, but Brad Listi makes it look effortless.... Attention. Deficit. Disorder. is a wild American picaresque."
-- Stewart O'Nan, author of The Good Wife