Body Politic

By: Brian Platzer

ISBN-13: 9781982143695
ISBN-10: 198214369X
Publisher: Atria Books
Published date: 2020-03-03
New York City is still regaining its balance in the years following 9/11, when four twenty-somethings meet in a bar, each hungry for something: connection, recognition, a place in the world, a cause to believe in. Nearly fifteen years later, as their city recalibrates in the wake of the 2016 election, their bond has persisted–as has their hunger–but almost everything else has changed. As freshmen at Cooper Union, Tess and Tazio were the ambitious, talented future of the art world–but by thirty-seven, Tess has become a reliable Broadway understudy (though not yet the star). She is also married to David, Tazio’s high school best friend, who has recently been suffering from unremitting dizziness and disorientation caused by a freak accident. Tazio has left the artworld for a career in politics, but in December 2016, fresh off the astonishing loss of his candidate, he is adrift, and not even Angelica, his accomplished and beautiful fiancée, seems able to get through to him. With tensions rising on the national stage, the four friends are forced to reckon with elements of their individual and shared histories that they can no longer ignore–including a long-ago betrayal that has shaped every aspect of their friendship. Deft and elegant, incisive and humane, The Body Politic explores how buried secrets always find their way to the surface, and how everything can shift–and eventually erupt–over the course of a relationship and a life.