SKU: 14983176467

The Portable Veblen

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Description

The Portable VeblenLonglisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction Finalist for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction An exuberant, one of a kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big hearted as it is laugh out loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and

Longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction

Finalist for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction

An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor

The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its pages, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now. A young couple on the brink of marriage--the charming Veblen and her fianc Paul, a brilliant neurologist--find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other's dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate t te- -t te with a very charismatic squirrel.

Veblen (named after the iconoclastic economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term "conspicuous consumption") is one of the most refreshing heroines in recent fiction. Not quite liberated from the burdens of her hypochondriac, narcissistic mother and her institutionalized father, Veblen is an amateur translator and "freelance self"; in other words, she's adrift. Meanwhile, Paul--the product of good hippies who were bad parents--finds his ambition soaring. His medical research has led to the development of a device to help minimize battlefield brain trauma--an invention that gets him swept up in a high-stakes deal with the Department of Defense, a Bizarro World that McKenzie satirizes with granular specificity.

As Paul is swept up by the promise of fame and fortune, Veblen heroically keeps the peace between all the damaged parties involved in their upcoming wedding, until she finds herself falling for someone--or something--else. Throughout, Elizabeth McKenzie asks: Where do our families end and we begin? How do we stay true to our ideals? And what is that squirrel really thinking? Replete with deadpan photos and sly appendices, The Portable Veblen is at once an honest inquiry into what we look for in love and an electrifying reading experience.



Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 11/01/2016
ISBN: 9781101981597
Pages: 448
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.30w x 1.40d
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SKU: 14983176467

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Erica Ross
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 1
The most worthless item I've purchased
Color: Black
I bought this can opener February 13th I think and I used it 2 weeks ago and is now broken won't open up anything so my review for this is the worst piece of crap can opener I've ever purchased so now I guess I got to go back to the manual hand one the Old faithful!!!! Do not I mean do not purchase it
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Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2026
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Laura Barrere
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 5
Great opener
Color: Blue
Had a battery operated can opener before and was always changing the batteries. Love the safety cut and this works great now that I can just charge it with my phone charger. Fits in my drawer so no counter space used
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Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2026
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Nancy Broady
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 5
Can opener
Color: Black
Great can opener. Charge lasts a good while.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2026
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Linda L. <3
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 1
Leaves an EXTREMELY SHARP edge - cuts off entire lid from sides of can!
Color: Blue, Color: Blue
This can opener cut off the whole top of the tuna cans and left an insanely sharp, wobbly, very thin edge of the top of the can that nearly cut me because there was no heavy metal lip left behind to hold the structure of the top of the can! This is a very bad feature that is going to really hurt someone! I do NOT recommend this for anyone! Needs a product recall!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2026
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Mike
Battle Creek, US
★★★★★ 3
Lackluster
Color: Black, Color: Black
It does what it’s supposed to but only for a couple of cans before it dies. I’ve learned that I have to charge it before I put it away or it’s dead when I need it next and that’s after 2-3 cans. It’s small and fits in my drawer nice, does what it’s supposed to, just a little disappointed in how long it lasts
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Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2026

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