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The Wagers
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
13 posts | 6 read | 7 to read
When Theo Potiris performed his stand-up comedy act on Conan at 25, he thought he'd hit it big. But ten years later, he's still spending his days working at his parents' grocery store, bicycling to the local open mic, and writing letters to a girlfriend who lives halfway around the world. Theo's desperate for a break. But when he brings his thirteen-year-old niece to the horse track to place a birthday bet--a Potiris family tradition--the goddess of good luck strikes her instead, in the form of a small fortune. Try as he might to be happy for her, Theo's shock and envy finally push him out of the family nest, away from his comedy dreams and toward a new calling. First: a mysterious corporation called The Rabbit's Foot, which carefully quantifies and cashes in on luck. Then: to a gang of vigilantes, who recruit Theo to help them steal luck from those who carry more than their fair share. The Wagers is a literary motorcycle chase, carried by stylish prose and delightful invention. But it's also an investigation of work and purpose, happiness and art, the randomness of good fortune, and all the ways we choose to wage our lives.
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Creadnorthey
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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Pickpick

I liked the wildness of this- the twist of fancy like a wedge of lemon could be sour at the times Michaels transitions between realism and surrealism, but mostly fantastic because Michaels can certainly write. If this hasn‘t been optioned for a Netflix series sign me up. This could be a gold mine if we‘re lucky. 🍀

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review
keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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Bailedbailed

The first half of this novel was very interesting, but then it just became too weird. I tried hard to keep on caring about what would happen, but after a while I just couldn't.

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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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keithmalek
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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review
PNWBookseller85
The Wagers | Sean Michaels
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Pickpick

Coming out in January, this was a fun adventure to go on. A couple of weird twists in the narrative kept me fully engaged. It‘s a little long, some odd pacing. But overall a good read.

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Lindy
Wagers | Sean Michaels
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Pickpick

My #audiobook hold came in at the same as the print edition, making it easy to note passages like: “The sun was raying all around.” A thoughtful, dreamy story set in Montreal—a grocery store, a comedy club, a betting track, riding bicycle through rainy nights—and combining fantastical elements with realistically developed characters. It‘s also a Robin Hood-type crime caper with action that spans the globe & plumbs the human heart. #CanadianAuthor

Lindy Note: the author does an excellent job of narrating his own audiobook, with perfect “hmm”s where called for in the text. (edited) 4y
ReadingEnvy I loved loved loved Us Conductors, how does this hold up? 4y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy I will let you know. After reading The Wagers, I definitely want to read 4y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy The author‘s work that came to mind will reading The Wagers is Andre Alexis. The slight tweak into the surreal, the literate prose, & the way the fantastical is woven into realism. A pleasure to read. 4y
41 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Lindy
Wagers | Sean Michaels
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To certain observers, Theo might have appeared bored, but he wasn‘t bored, exactly. Boredom requires a degree of self-knowledge. It is not enough that an activity be tedious (i.e. without momentum) or aimless (i.e. without direction): for it to be boring the doer must recognize he is being dulled. Theo was too restless for that.

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blurb
Lindy
Wagers | Sean Michaels
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A passage in the tagged novel could just as easily come from Gladwell‘s Talking to Strangers: “Sometimes it is easier to trust someone than to doubt them, a kind of gift you give yourself.”

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