The Casual Oblivion of Francis Keene
Three generations. Four thousand miles. One spectacular final hustle.
Frank Keene has a gift for talking people into things they never intended to do. To his exhausted, newly divorced son, David, that's just a polite way of saying his father is a lifelong conman.
Now stuck in an assisted living facility, Frank drops a bombshell: his cancer has returned. His dying wish is one last cross-country road trip to a colossal Florida amusement park he once promised his late wife they'd visit. David expects a grueling drive full of bad diner coffee, cheap motels, and his father slipping right back into his old manipulative ways. He gets all of it. But with his thirteen-year-old son, Eli, in the backseat, David soon realizes this is no ordinary farewell tour.
Frank hasn't just been hiding the truth about his prognosis to stage-manage his own exit-his "casual oblivion." He's been hiding the reality of his "gift." Frank's legendary ability to read a mark stems from a terrifying empathy, a psychic weight that allows him to see the hidden fears and regrets of everyone around him. And now, young Eli is beginning to inherit the exact same overwhelming "static."
As Eli drowns in the heavy, jagged truths of the strangers they pass, Frank must teach his grandson how to carry the burden of truly seeing the world. But as the family hurtles toward the crowded, neon-lit heat of Florida, the Keene family curse will force Frank into one last, unimaginable con to save the people he loves.
Funny, razor-sharp, and devastatingly tender, The Casual Oblivion of Francis Keene is a big-hearted American road trip about the weight of our deceptions, the painful burden of human empathy, and the terrifying grace of finally seeing your family for who they really are.
Perfect for readers who love character-driven family dramas, stories of fathers and sons, and a quintessential road trip with a profoundly moving twist.
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