Reviews
""[Karim]'s a type—the nerdy and needy young immigrant—that we’re all familiar with but that no other writer, as far as I know, has invented such a funny and compelling voice and story for...it does what novels can do better than any other art form: Show us a familiar world through unfamiliar eyes."
—Jonathan Franzen in
"Teddy Wayne has written one of the best novels of my generation...Why did 9/11 happen, and why do we continue to respond so blindly? Wayne answers these questions better than Mohsin Hamid or Joseph O’Neill, the best authors of this genre until now...Wayne has completely foreseen and transcended the exhaustion of the 9/11 genre."
—The Boston Globe
"Brilliant...a major literary talent."
—The Houston Chronicle
"Every once in a while, you encounter a character in a work of fiction who feels like such a real person, such a friend, that once you finish the book, you miss having him around. Karim Issar, the protagonist of Teddy Wayne's captivating debut novel Kapitoil, is such a character...his voice makes the book a standout...Wayne has given us a character to adore and a book that leaves us feeling, as Karim might say, greatly enhanced."
—Salon.com / Barnes and Noble Review
"Flat out top-notch. Kapitoil makes you see America and the English language more clearly than ever before, and Karim Issar, the book's protagonist, is one of the most interesting characters we've had a chance to spend time with."
â€Ä⳦³§·É±ð±ð²Ô±ð²â'²õ
"This wonderfully assured debut novel, at once poignant, insightful, and funny, details Karim's passage through a new world of corporate sharks, Manhattan clubs, museums, Bob Dylan lyrics, and personal growth. Karim's English, always grammatically correct but stilted with terms from science, mathematics, computing, and business, is a delight. Best of all, however, is simply being inside Karim's head as he ponders Jackson Pollock's paintings, baseball, programming, and the mysteries of love and life in the U.S."
� Booklist (starred review)
"Wayne's strong and heartfelt debut novel...zips through a minefield of potential clichés and comes out unscathed, striking a balance of humor and keen insight that propels the story through Karim's education about the West's ethics and its capitalism, while in the background the World Trade Center looms. It's a slick first novel that beautifully captures a time that, in retrospect, seems tragically naïve."
� Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Affecting, timely, and frequently hilarious."
—Vanity Fair
"The first funny novel about oil."
—G²Ï
"I speak in awe of Krol and Wayne, two of the greatest writers of our time, whose books will far outlast the moment. As a fiction writer I am flabbergasted by what they've both accomplished. Callisto and Kapitoil are immense and unrepeatable...these two books—especially Kapitoil—are so good, so unimaginably good, that one fails to see what more can be done with the genre."
—The Huffington Post
"Wayne’s first novel is a book ripe with beauty and potential...and a flawlessly developed first-person voice. Karim Issar is a character readers will remember, and readers had better prepare themselves to remember the name of Teddy Wayne as well. It’s one they’ll be hearing again and again in the months following Kapitoil’s release."
—B°¿²Ñµþ
"A startlingly funny, intelligent and poignant pre-9/11 novel that one can only read with a post-9/11 sensibility...With his clever prose and simultaneously romantic and skeptical viewpoint, Teddy Wayne is undoubtedly an exciting new voice on the scene—and Kapitoil is a book that is not to be missed."
—B´Ç´Ç°ì±Ê²¹²µ±ð
"Because Wayne regularly contributes humor and journalism to magazines such as The New Yorker, it makes sense that he captures the city with compelling and sometimes humorous detail. What’s surprising is how well he integrates those details into a broader fictional narrative—one with significant emotional heft."
—Time Out New York
"While set in the world of high-finance computer nerdom, it’s actually a thoughtful, moving (and painfully funny) love story."
—The Daily Beast
"Teddy Wayne has written a brilliant book. Karim Issar is one of the freshest, funniest heroes I've come across in a long time, and thanks to his often excruciating adventures—financial, romantic, linguistic, and otherwise—we start to see America with Karim's weird and wonderful clarity. In its honesty, humor, intelligence, and hard-won wisdom, Kapitoil is 'Karim-esque' to the nth degree, and that is a very good way to be."
—Ben Fountain, author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara
"An innovative and incisive meditation on the wages of corporate greed, the fundamental darkness of Kapitoil's vision is lit by the author's great comic intelligence and wit."
—Kathryn Davis, author of The Thin Place
"What a wonderful character Karim is—the hapless, hilarious, math-obsessed hero of Teddy Wayne's first novel. Kapitoil is a delight. Who knew oil futures could be such fun?"
—Joshua Henkin, author of Matrimony
—Jonathan Franzen in
"Teddy Wayne has written one of the best novels of my generation...Why did 9/11 happen, and why do we continue to respond so blindly? Wayne answers these questions better than Mohsin Hamid or Joseph O’Neill, the best authors of this genre until now...Wayne has completely foreseen and transcended the exhaustion of the 9/11 genre."
—The Boston Globe
"Brilliant...a major literary talent."
—The Houston Chronicle
"Every once in a while, you encounter a character in a work of fiction who feels like such a real person, such a friend, that once you finish the book, you miss having him around. Karim Issar, the protagonist of Teddy Wayne's captivating debut novel Kapitoil, is such a character...his voice makes the book a standout...Wayne has given us a character to adore and a book that leaves us feeling, as Karim might say, greatly enhanced."
—Salon.com / Barnes and Noble Review
"Flat out top-notch. Kapitoil makes you see America and the English language more clearly than ever before, and Karim Issar, the book's protagonist, is one of the most interesting characters we've had a chance to spend time with."
â€Ä⳦³§·É±ð±ð²Ô±ð²â'²õ
"This wonderfully assured debut novel, at once poignant, insightful, and funny, details Karim's passage through a new world of corporate sharks, Manhattan clubs, museums, Bob Dylan lyrics, and personal growth. Karim's English, always grammatically correct but stilted with terms from science, mathematics, computing, and business, is a delight. Best of all, however, is simply being inside Karim's head as he ponders Jackson Pollock's paintings, baseball, programming, and the mysteries of love and life in the U.S."
� Booklist (starred review)
"Wayne's strong and heartfelt debut novel...zips through a minefield of potential clichés and comes out unscathed, striking a balance of humor and keen insight that propels the story through Karim's education about the West's ethics and its capitalism, while in the background the World Trade Center looms. It's a slick first novel that beautifully captures a time that, in retrospect, seems tragically naïve."
� Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Affecting, timely, and frequently hilarious."
—Vanity Fair
"The first funny novel about oil."
—G²Ï
"I speak in awe of Krol and Wayne, two of the greatest writers of our time, whose books will far outlast the moment. As a fiction writer I am flabbergasted by what they've both accomplished. Callisto and Kapitoil are immense and unrepeatable...these two books—especially Kapitoil—are so good, so unimaginably good, that one fails to see what more can be done with the genre."
—The Huffington Post
"Wayne’s first novel is a book ripe with beauty and potential...and a flawlessly developed first-person voice. Karim Issar is a character readers will remember, and readers had better prepare themselves to remember the name of Teddy Wayne as well. It’s one they’ll be hearing again and again in the months following Kapitoil’s release."
—B°¿²Ñµþ
"A startlingly funny, intelligent and poignant pre-9/11 novel that one can only read with a post-9/11 sensibility...With his clever prose and simultaneously romantic and skeptical viewpoint, Teddy Wayne is undoubtedly an exciting new voice on the scene—and Kapitoil is a book that is not to be missed."
—B´Ç´Ç°ì±Ê²¹²µ±ð
"Because Wayne regularly contributes humor and journalism to magazines such as The New Yorker, it makes sense that he captures the city with compelling and sometimes humorous detail. What’s surprising is how well he integrates those details into a broader fictional narrative—one with significant emotional heft."
—Time Out New York
"While set in the world of high-finance computer nerdom, it’s actually a thoughtful, moving (and painfully funny) love story."
—The Daily Beast
"Teddy Wayne has written a brilliant book. Karim Issar is one of the freshest, funniest heroes I've come across in a long time, and thanks to his often excruciating adventures—financial, romantic, linguistic, and otherwise—we start to see America with Karim's weird and wonderful clarity. In its honesty, humor, intelligence, and hard-won wisdom, Kapitoil is 'Karim-esque' to the nth degree, and that is a very good way to be."
—Ben Fountain, author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara
"An innovative and incisive meditation on the wages of corporate greed, the fundamental darkness of Kapitoil's vision is lit by the author's great comic intelligence and wit."
—Kathryn Davis, author of The Thin Place
"What a wonderful character Karim is—the hapless, hilarious, math-obsessed hero of Teddy Wayne's first novel. Kapitoil is a delight. Who knew oil futures could be such fun?"
—Joshua Henkin, author of Matrimony
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