The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg
Casey and Roger White live in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with Abby, their mutual five-year-old, and Demmy, Roger’s seventeen-year-old daughter from his first marriage. Roger teaches film at NYU; Casey runs her own business. Demmy refuses to exploit her privilege to be a legacy to Yale while five-year-old Abby gets life advice from pop stars. The Whites drive a Porsche and live in a beautiful house owned by Roger’s mother, a famous painter. But all five hold secrets, secrets big enough to destroy a marriage. Will celebrity, inclusivity and trust funds be enough to save them from not getting everything they want?
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-wealthy-whites-of-williamsburg
FROM THE BACK COVER
“After reading Mike Karpa’s The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg, a few more “w”s come to mind: witty, warm, wry, and wicked. In this winning, multi-strand story with faint echoes of Babel, the Whites struggle to define happiness while wading through the clutter of their abundance. Karpa skewers his characters and their first-world problems, but does so with humor and obvious affection. Wonderful!”
—Tracy Guzeman, The Gravity of Birds
“This contemporary tale invites the reader to get judgy about NYU professor Roger White, his second wife Casey, their two daughters and Roger’s imperious matriarch mom. But judgments get harder as the Whites text, TikTok and twerk their privileged way through a diverse world. They careen through New England, Europe, and even Arkansas as they grapple with mid-career angst, legacy college admissions, and the need to relaunch a storied painting career. TED talks, New Yorker interviews, and the need to write a screenplay with enough blood to land a MacArthur serve as cover for the inevitable deeper issues. But even as the stakes get serious for this family, humor is never too far away in this fast-paced comedy about the intricacies of privilege with surprising heart.”
—Grant Faulkner, All The Comfort Sin Can Provide, Fissures
REVIEWS
“Karpa’s fictional White family seems at first glance to live and thrive in an increasingly frivolous locale. Several stand to inherit large sums, and trust funds and luxury cars are the norm. However, the complex novel takes off in several unexpected directions, diving into Casey’s Southern roots and Sherbeam’s emotionally abusive behavior. As a result, the narrative becomes absorbing, and it’s well-informed about contemporary fads and mores while staying expertly focused on the characters’ hopes and losses. Overall, it’s a deeply satisfying story that’s written with intelligence and wit, and—like the on-the-go White family—never stays in one place too long.
A sophisticated and discerning family portrait.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Five-Star review by Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite
“The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg by Mike Karpa is a family drama with plenty of humor and sarcasm to keep you entertained for hours. The story follows the four members of the White family in which Roger and Casey White and their daughters Demmy and Abby have dilemmas to resolve. Roger longs for the day when he gets to write his next big screenplay while going through the motions of his current job as a professor. Casey longs for a better lifestyle that matches her peers. Demmy wants to get into an Ivy League college without trading on the money privilege she enjoys, while young Abby is just existing as she pleases. However, the real issues begin when Casey comes across a secret that can destroy the family. What will Casey do with this discovery?
“The plot is intense, a little ironic, and a bucketful of fun. The humor keeps the story alive, and the eccentric characters make sure you have someone to cling to until the very end. While The Whites of Williamsburg seems like your typical family drama, it becomes much more than that as you continue to read. The narrative is sophisticated, the plot is clever, and the execution is even better. Each character is drawn clearly and cleverly to create a vivid image in your mind. Sherbeam, Roger’s mother, seems to be a troublemaker with her attitude and her ego, but everything is a culmination of each of the Whites. Mike Karpa writes the perfect social satire on how the rich upper-class lives and nothing is perfect. Highly recommended!”
—Readers’ Favorite