Part Blood, Part Ketchup analyzes novels by 20th century authors Edith Wharton, J.D. Salinger, Philip Roth, John Irving, and Jamaica Kincaid, uncovering trends that obliterate cultural divides. With unrestrained American voices, the collective pitch of their complaints soars, revealing an unmistakable formula of heightened self-exposure and fury. As in the case of protagonists on the page and the screen, it becomes difficult to distinguish authentic suffering from performance_or in the words of one reviewer_the ratio of blood to ketchup. Breathtaking in scope, Part Blood, Part Ketchup...