{"product_id":"essential-self-defense-adam-rapp-9780881453720","title":"Essential Self-Defense","description":"In ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE, disgruntled misfit Yul Carroll takes a job as an attack dummy in a women's self-defense class and finds himself mysteriously drawn to Sadie, the repressed bookworm mercilessly honing her skills on him. Meanwhile, all's not well on the unassuming Midwestern streets of Bloggs: with local children vanishing at an alarming rate, our hero, his lady friend, and a motley assortment of poets, butchers, and punk librarians preparing to battle the darkness on the edge of town. \"Adam Rapp is a latter-day Sam Shepard. ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE is an entertaining tale of fear and loathing in midwestern America.\" -John Lahr, The New Yorker \"The opening image of Adam Rapp's quirky-glum ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE is wonderfully rich: Social outcast Yul stands center stage in a bright-yellow jumpsuit whose thick, rounded padding makes him look like a ridiculous superhero or a jaundiced Michelin man. Yul works in a self-defense class as the poor sap who takes karate chops from women such as Sadie. When Yul dons the suit, he acquires multiple shifting identities: victim, victimizer, hero, monster. As the ambiguous antihero of a stylized post-September 11 work about love and safety, Yul is a fascinating figure ... Rapp was born to wrestle words to the page and then to the stage; he has a love of language and a zest for his characters' lives.\" -David Cote, Time Out New York\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Adam Rapp\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0881453722\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780881453720\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Broadway Play Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 86\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.24lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.18d","brand":"Adam Rapp","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48443735277823,"sku":"9780881453720","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_cea03025-0e34-4210-af8f-a66e0a455d0b.jpg?v=1777207479","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/essential-self-defense-adam-rapp-9780881453720","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}