About the Book
Meet Finkie Finkelstein: businessman from New Jersey, lovingly obsessed fan of Old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra. To Finkie, Frank is the model of a man -- elegant, sophisticated, talented, with charm to spare. Finkie has modeled his life after his idol; he's seen all the movies, bought all of the records, even formed his own little Rat Pack at work. All his life decisions are made with Frank in mind. Now if only he could let Frank know how much he means to him... Through a series of letters to his idol, Finkie's life unfolds; a life where Sinatra is center stage, while all the rest takes a backseat. In "Sinatraland, " Finkie's trials are numerous: a failing marriage, a strained relationship with both his daughter and his brother, an ill-fated affair with an office coworker. But as long as Frank comes out with a new record or film, there's always hope.
By turns riotous and poignant, "Sinatraland" lays bare the funniest and most twisted corners of the male mind and brings back to life America's most beloved bad boy. "Sinatraland" introduces Sam Kashner as a sparkling new voice in literary fiction.
Review :
Helen Schulman author of "The Revisionist" Smart, humorous, original, Sam Kashner's "Sinatraland" deftly explores the peculiarly tragic aspects of an obsession with a celebrity -- "the" celebrity, Sinatra -- in a moving, romantic, epistolary, tour de force.
James Ellory Ring-a-ding! "Sinatraland" is the postmortem on Frank Sinatra. Sam Kashner pokes, probes, dissects, and undermines the myth and takes us on a deep dunk into the sewer of American pop culture. This is an indictment of the Voice and a gorgeously wrought hymn to the finger-popping twentieth-century loser.
Jonathan Yardley "The Washington Post" Uncommonly original and engaging...a smart, funny, knowing novel about what it's like to be a certain kind of American man.
Madison Smartt Bell Sam Kashner's first novel is weirder than it sounds, but with wit and charm to match its strangeness. By turns hilarious, perverse, surreal, and genuinely touching, "Sinatraland" is what one might call an incomparable debut.
Mark Rozzo "Los Angeles Times" If you were still with us, Frank, you'd sleep the sleep of kings knowing that the art of book writing is safe in [Sam Kashner's] hands.
Robert Plunket author of "My Search for Warren Harding" and "Love Junkie" Regardless of how you feel about Frank Sinatra you will gleefully devour "Sinatraland." It's the Old Blue Eyes legend writ small, transferred to the oddly romantic life of "Finkie" Finkelstein. Harrowing, sad, and very funny, it charts the darker and more complex corners of the twentieth-century male psyche.
Robert Taylor "The Boston Globe" Quirky...intelligent...very funny.
Helen Schulmanauthor of "The Revisionist"
Smart, humorous, original, Sam Kashner's "Sinatraland" deftly explores the peculiarly tragic aspects of an obsession with a celebrity -- "the" celebrity, Sinatra -- in a moving, romantic, epistolary, tour de force.
Jonathan Yardley"The Washington Post"
Uncommonly original and engaging...a smart, funny, knowing novel about what it's like to be a certain kind of American man.
Madison Smartt BellSam Kashner's first novel is weirder than it sounds, but with wit and charm to match its strangeness. By turns hilarious, perverse, surreal, and genuinely touching, "Sinatraland" is what one might call an incomparable debut.
Mark Rozzo"Los Angeles Times"
If you were still with us, Frank, you'd sleep the sleep of kings knowing that the art of book writing is safe in [Sam Kashner's] hands.
Robert Plunketauthor of "My Search for Warren Harding" and "Love Junkie"
Regardless of how you feel about Frank Sinatra you will gleefully devour "Sinatraland." It's the Old Blue Eyes legend writ small, transferred to the oddly romantic life of "Finkie" Finkelstein. Harrowing, sad, and very funny, it charts the darker and more complex corners of the twentieth-century male psyche.
Robert Taylor"The Boston Globe"
Quirky...intelligent...very funny.
James ElloryRing-a-ding! "Sinatraland" is the postmortem on Frank Sinatra. Sam Kashner pokes, probes, dissects, and undermines the myth and takes us on a deep dunk into the sewer of American pop culture. This is an indictment of the Voice and a gorgeously wrought hymn to the finger-popping twentieth-century loser.
