Sweetness #9 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780316278775)

It's 1973, and David Leveraux has landed his dream job as a Flavorist-in-Training, working in the secretive industry where chemists create the flavors for everything from the cherry in your can of soda to the butter on your popcorn. While testing a new artificial sweetener -- "Sweetness #9" -- he notices unusual side-effects in the laboratory rats and monkeys: anxiety, obesity, mutism, and a generalized dissatisfaction with life. David tries to blow the whistle, but he swallows it instead.

Years later, Sweetness #9 is America's most popular sweetener -- and David's family is changing. His wife is gaining weight, his son has stopped using verbs, and his daughter suffers from a generalized dissatisfaction with life. Is Sweetness #9 to blame, along with David's failure to stop it? Or are these just symptoms of the American condition?

David's search for an answer unfolds in this expansive novel that is at once a comic satire, a family story, and a profound exploration of our deepest cultural anxieties. Wickedly funny and wildly imaginative, Sweetness #9 questions whether what we eat truly makes us who we are.

Author: Stephan Eirik Clark
ISBN-10: 0316278777
ISBN-13: 9780316278775
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Language: English
Published: 08/04/2015
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 08/23/2015 pg. 36