What Jonathan Lethem did for Brooklyn, Matt Burgess does for Queens in this exuberant and brilliant debut novel about a young drug dealer having a very bad weekend.
Alfredo Batista has some worries. Okay, a lot of worries. His older brother, Jose--sorry, Tariq--is returning from a stretch in prison after an unsuccessful robbery, a burglary that Alfredo was supposed to be part of. So now everyone thinks Alfredo snitched on his brother, which may have something to do with the fact that Alfredo is now dating Tariq's ex-girlfriend, Isabel, who is eight months pregnant. Tariq's violent streak is probably #1 worry on Alfredo's list.
Also, he needs to steal a pit bull. For the homecoming dogfight.
Burgess brings to life the rich and vivid milieu of his hometown native Queens in all its glorious variety. Here is the real New York, a place where Pakistanis, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, An -glos, African Americans, and West Indians scrap and mingle and love. But the real star here is Burgess's incredible ear for language--the voices of his characters leap off the page in riotous, spot-on dialogue. The outer boroughs have their own language, where a polite greeting is fraught with menace, and an insult can be the expression of the most tender love.
With a story as intricately plotted as a Shakespearean comedy--or revenge tragedy, for that matter--and an electrically colloquial prose style, "Dogfight, a Love Story "establishes Matt Burgess as an exuberant new voice in contemporary literature. The great Queens novel has arrived.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Reed Hastings is one of the world's foremost business leaders. As co-founder, chairman and CEO of Netflix, he has built one of the largest media and entertainment companies on the planet, with an estimated personal net worth of $3.6 billion. A notable philanthropist, he has served on the boards of a number of non-profit organisations as well as Facebook and Microsoft. This concise but detailed biography provides an overview of Hastings' career trajectory. From his unique management style to the biggest mistakes he has made along the way, to the reasons behind his decision to take Netflix from a business that dealt with products (rental DVDs) to a technology company that focuses on streaming, Burgess sheds light on Hastings' success and looks to what the future may bring for him and his ventures. Aspirational and positive, this is the perfect book for those looking for a concise and accessible account of a true global business visionary.