Confidence, Rafael Frumkin
Confidence, Rafael Frumkin
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
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Confidence

Author: Rafael Frumkin

Narrator: Em Grosland

Unabridged: 10 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/07/2023


Synopsis

One of The Washington Post’s 50 Best Works of Fiction of 2023
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
One of Them’s Best Books of 2023
One of Crimereads Best Crime Novels of 2023
“Theranos but make it gay.” —Electric Literature

Best friends (and occasional lovers) Ezra and Orson are teetering on top of the world after founding a company that promises instant enlightenment in this “propulsive, cheeky, eat-the-rich page-turner” (The Washington Post) about scams, schemes, and the absurdity of the American Dream.

At seventeen, Ezra Green doesn’t have a lot going on for him: he’s shorter than average, snaggle-toothed, internet-addicted, and halfway to being legally blind. He’s also on his way to Last Chance Camp, the final stop before juvie.

But Ezra’s summer at Last Chance turns life-changing when he meets Orson, brilliant and Adonis-like with a mind for hustling. Together, the two embark upon what promises to be a fruitful career of scam artistry. But things start to spin wildly out of control when they try to pull off their biggest scam yet—Nulife, a corporation that promises its consumers a lifetime of bliss.

“Propulsive” (The New York Times Book Review) and “laugh-out-loud funny” (BuzzFeed), with the suspense of The Talented Mr. Ripley, the decadence of The Great Gatsby, and the wit of Succession, Confidence is a story for anyone who knows that the American Dream is just another pyramid scheme.

About Rafael Frumkin

Rafael Frumkin is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Medill School of Journalism. Her first novel, The Comedown, was published by Henry Holt in 2018, and her second novel, Confidence, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2023. She lives with her partner, two cats, and one dog in Carbondale, Illinois, where she is an assistant professor of creative writing at Southern Illinois University.


Reviews

❀ blog ❀ thestorygraph ❀ letterboxd ❀ tumblr ❀ ko-fi ❀ 3 ¼ stars “It seems now like everything I’ve done in my life I’ve done because of love, a useless, gutting love that left me devoured from the inside.” Fans of books exploring white-collar crime and/or conmen & scammers should definitely give Ra......more

There's a sucker born every minute, they say. You have to wonder why con artists don't put their intelligence and talents to more legitimate pursuits, don't you? This is the darkly comic tale of two such men, Ezra Green and Orson Ortman, who meet at a camp for troubled teens, recognize each other's......more

Goodreads review by Bandit

Ah, finally. I’ve been waiting to read this book for a while, ever since Netgalley offered a deficient ARC. The first chapter engaged me absolutely and then I had to wait until the publisher reached out and ever so kindly furnished a proper ARC. So naturally the question is…as it worth the wait? The......more


Quotes

One of the Washington Post’s 50 Best Works of Fiction of 2023

"Em Grosland takes listeners inside the mind of Ezra Green, a con man who is hopelessly in love with Orson Ortman, his con artist partner. Grosland excels at voicing the two men from their first meeting at a camp for juvenile delinquents to Ortman's wedding more than a decade later...Grosland keeps listeners invested and even engenders sympathy for Green, a manipulative liar, fraud, and all-around sociopath whose diseased eyes torment him until his world turns black."