Chinese Takeout

<p>From the author of the cult classic <em>The Fuck-Up</em> comes a vicious new tale of art drugs love and death on the Lower East Side.</p><p>Orloff Trenchant is a painter who sells books on West 4th Street in Manhattan and is obsessed with mastering his craft. Desperate for cash Or agrees to take a commission no one else will touch: he has three weeks to carve a headstone for a recently deceased restaurateur -- a Chinese takeout box. As Or attempts to make his deadline he navigates among a toxic mix of fellow artists struggling gallery owners bloodsucking art dealers his politically active friends and a haunting addict poet whose life is more out of control than Or's own.</p> <p>Nersesian's prose is sparkling and hypnotic in this brutal and comic story that will make you wonder if life and art are two different things.</p>