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Playworld: A Novel

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Description

"Starting off 2025 with a novel this terrific gives me hope for the whole year." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post "A gorgeous cat's cradle of a book . . . The swirling vapors of Holden Caulfield are present in Playworld, for sure, but also Lolita, Willy Loman, Garp." —Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary . . . A beguiling ode to a lost era . . . Line for line the book is a revelation." —Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times A MULANEY READS BOOK CLUB PICK • THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • A big and big-hearted novel—one enthralling, transformative year in the life of a child actor coming of age in a bygone Manhattan, from the critically acclaimed author of Mr. Peanut “In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me. She was thirty- six, a mother of two, and married to a wealthy man. Like so many things that happened to me that year, it didn’t seem strange at the time.” Griffin Hurt is in over his head. Between his role as Peter Proton on the hit TV show The Nuclear Family and the pressure of high school at New York's elite Boyd Prep—along with the increasingly compromising demands of his wrestling coach—he's teetering on the edge of collapse. Then comes Naomi Shah, twenty- two years Griffin’s senior. Unwilling to lay his burdens on his shrink—whom he shares with his father, mother, and younger brother, Oren—Griffin soon finds himself in the back of Naomi’s Mercedes sedan, again and again, confessing all to the one person who might do him the most harm. Less a bildungsroman than a story of miseducation, Playworld is a novel of epic proportions, bursting with laughter and heartache. Adam Ross immerses us in the life of Griffin and his loving (yet disintegrating) family while seeming to evoke the entirety of Manhattan and the ethos of an era—with Jimmy Carter on his way out and a B-list celebrity named Ronald Reagan on his way in. Surrounded by adults who embody the age’s excesses—and who seem to care little about what their children are up to—Griffin is left to himself to find the line between youth and maturity, dependence and love, acting and truly grappling with life. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf


Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2025


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 528 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385351291


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 94


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.68 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.42 x 1.65 x 9.4 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #33,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #248 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #1,449 in Literary Fiction (Books) #7,050 in Romance (Books)


#248 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books):


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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Sep 1 – Sep 2

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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Playworld
Adam Ross’s Playworld is a powerful and evocative coming-of-age novel set in 1980s Manhattan. Through the eyes of 14-year-old Griffin Hurt, the story beautifully explores themes of identity, family, and growing up amidst the pressures of fame. Ross’s vivid prose and rich character development make this a memorable and thought-provoking read. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction and complex, emotional storytelling. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2025 by Brian Roberts

  • It is overly long, interesting though...
This book was basically a love letter to New York, in the 80's, the upper west side anyway. I KNEW it had to be autobiographical, mostly, though I knew nothing about the author beforehand, the "about the author" was insanely brief or non-existent, I think it's the former. I looked him up afterwards. I was right! I love being right! Who doesn't? 😉 Onto the writing + the story. Let me first state that I generally LOVE long, involved books. The more captivating a book is, the more I want of it. Then it's like a grieving when it's over. Also, I'm a voracious reader & will read almost any genre + topic, fiction or nonfiction, starting at 4 yrs old. I've only ever not finished a book maybe twice in my life, it has to be sooo bad/boring, I couldn't care less, etc. for me to put down. I DID finish this book and I enjoyed it to a good degree. However, it is overly long in my opinion, or overly long in the wrong ways & areas. More depth/description to things I did find fascinating or interesting would have been welcomed. There is SO much detail to almost everything, like paint drying, grass growing detail. About every place he goes + sees (ala the NY love letter). Things that don't feed the plot or really even matter. Yes, he can write! Yes, he can write beautiful imagery, but I feel like it was for himself, not the reader. To stroke his ego, flex his literary muscles, as it were. Capisce? Almost masturbatory. I was so over the 10 trillion descriptions of things + places I didn't care about or that went on far too long & it didn't make me care about them! Simply made me read faster and faster to get to the things I did care about +/or sadly, to get to the end of the book. Whereas there were do many details + yes, descriptions lacking on the things I did find interesting, again. Speaking of masturbation, HOW does a 14-15 yr old boy in a big city, w/plenty of not so innocent friends, family + a younger, wiser, smarter & more informed younger brother, AND in the industry, in the 80's no less, not know or at least have heard about masturbation? Especially when I've read that boys have started at 10, 11, 12, shockingly young ages & he's never even heard of it? That was really surprising + unbelievable to me. In a thousand ways. Did he never wash his penis in the shower? Did he never scratch it or his balls casually at night in bed? Even after being w/Naomi? In the age of MTV and VHS'? Even the unspeakable crap w/his twisted wrestling coach? Also, there was alcohol everywhere, being served to children left & right, again in NY. not kids sneakily trying to buy or get it, just out in the open. Weird. Amazon recommended this to me, based on my reading, so I read a few reviews and critics were falling all over themselves to say that this was another Catcher in the rye. C'mon. Just because it's another bildungsroman doesn't make it that. Not to mention catcher made it's point and got it's story across in like 1/16th of the pages. Haha There is a bit of my opinion + thoughts. I'm glad to have read it, but could do with a more condensed version. Just because u can write lovely, flowery descriptions doesn't mean u have to write them unceasingly. 😊 ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2025 by Julie T.

  • A superb emotional ride giving breathtaking nostalgia
It’s brilliant in so many ways that any description I share will not do it justice. The author has created characters you can’t help but become deeply fond of and he's masterfully captured a bygone era with such exquisite detail you’ll find yourself so deeply immersed in the story that you won't want to let go of it even after you’ve read the last page. Adult Griffin reflects on the year 1980 when he was a prep school freshman in Manhattan, an older brother, son of a commercial voiceover actor, child actor himself, devoted wrestler who endures unspeakable trauma, in analysis with friend-of-the-family therapist who also treats his entire family, making social situations interesting, as if the sessions weren’t awkward enough. You’ll see. Suffice it to say, Griffin has quite a bit going on. Is he ever observant. He’s getting the kind of education money can’t buy from a female contemporary of his parents, who takes more than a little interest in him. What an absolute pleasure to read this book. It has earned its place as one of my favorites. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2025 by carilynp

  • Mediocre
As a novel it’s not a four or five star. I was disappointed as it come recommended. Long and drawn out. I felt the author was just writing for number of words at many points. Story line was ok…..just for boring to read. I’ll try another of the author’s books….maybe just a reader preference.
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2025 by Cindy

  • Worth the Slog
This is a wonderful book. At times moving, wise, funny and sad. I do think, however, it could have been at least fifty pages shorter: It seemed to get longer every night when I opened it to where I left off the night before. The highlights for me come late, but they are worth the slog. His description of that first heartbreak and the drive with his dad are poignant as heck. I felt most sorry for the younger brother. It seems he will have it toughest out of all of them. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2025 by Susan Fisher

  • An important and great read where every word counts
Excellent. A new "Catcher In the Rye," "Portnoy's complaint" for the present day world. The characters are all-developed. "warts" and all, deeply complex, complicated, thwarted by life yet energetic, and like Sisyphus, keep on trying. Griffin's multiple awakenings are long in coming (505 pages) but his efforts are genuinely felt by this reader. The author's careful choice of words, all of them necessary, germane and exquisitely chosen riveted my interest. The books Griffin is assigned for summer reading in high school humorously provide a window into Ross's gifts writing, as like Melville and Hemingway, every word counts. I believe this book has the potential to become a modern classic of coming of age novels but has the further strength of presenting a modern sardonic and ruthlessly scathing appraisal of today's hedonistic, immoral, narcissistic, economically caste-conscious society. because of the quality of this book, I will seek out his earlier novel, "Mr. Peanut." ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2025 by James B. Krasnoo

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