Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Matthew Klam whose new book and first novel Who is Rich was just released this month by Random House.

Matthew’s first book was Sam The Cat and Other Stories. His work has been featured in the New Yorker, Harpers, Esquire, GQ and the Times Magazine. He’s taught at Johns Hopkins, St Albans, American and Stockholm University. And numerous workshops!

Who is Rich?

I don’t know whether I can really answer that question but I am going to do my best to find out. Rich is a middle aged paunchy cartoonist whose annual trek to a writers and artist workshop sets the stage for all kinds of raucous, embarrassing and life changing scenes.
Rich’s art, his marriage, his affair his life are stuck in a rut, no more a downward spiral. The question is before the book runs its course is Rich going to be able to extricate himself from all of this, but then the reader eventually ask the question is that what this is all about. Does he really need to extricate himself? It gives one pause. And it is that pause that makes this book so unforgettable.

Do we like Rich, do we despise him. Do we sympathize with his plight or wonder how anyone could get himself in such a mess.

In any event it makes for a wonderful ride and we leave still reeling from a situation that that we’re glad we’re not in but happy to have been a part of.