The Grasshopper King
Novel by Jordan Ellenberg

A profoundly absurd campus satire about immortality, obsession, obscurity, and true love.

In this debut novel about treachery, death, academia, marriage, mythology, history, and truly horrible poetry, Jordan Ellenberg creates a world complete with its own geography, obscene folklore, endless games of checkers, and wonderfully endearing characters. Welcome to Chandler State University-the one thing keeping the dusty, Western town of Chandler on the map. Now that its basketball program has fallen apart, CSU's only claim to fame is its Gravinics Department, dedicated to the study of the most obscure and difficult language on earth and the unlucky writers who had to use it. Chief among these is the bizarre and infamous poet Henderson, who is either a no-talent hack or the secret key to world history. Samuel Grapearbor, a congenitally disaffected undergraduate, and Stanley Higgs, a professor who hasn't spoken a word in fifteen years, circle helplessly around Henderson like satellites around a disagreeable planet; this novel, called "genuinely funny" by Kirkus Reviews, is the story of their attempts to escape his strange gravity.