Sweetness #9

By Stephan Eirik Clark

Book Overview

"Funny and moving. After this, nothing will ever taste the same again."--T. C. Boyle It's 1973, and David Leveraux has landed his dream job as a Flavorist-in-Training, working in the secretive industry where chemists create the flavors for everything from the cherry in your can of soda to the butter on your popcorn. While testing a new artificial sweetener--"Sweetness #9"--he notices unusual side-effects in the laboratory rats and monkeys: anxiety, obesity, mutism, and a generalized dissatisfaction with life. David tries to blow the whistle, but he swallows it instead. Years later, Sweetness #9 is America's most popular sweetener--and David's family is changing. His wife is gaining weight, his son has stopped using verbs, and his daughter suffers from a generalized dissatisfaction with life. Is Sweetness #9 to blame, along with David's failure to stop it? Or are these just symptoms of the American condition? David's search for an answer unfolds in this expansive novel that is at once a comic satire, a family story, and a profound exploration of our deepest cultural anxieties. Wickedly funny and wildly imaginative, "Sweetness #9" questions whether what we eat truly makes us who we are.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316278750
• ISBN13: 9780316278751
• Release Date: August 2014
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.3" x 6.5"