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The Deed: A Novel
A hip and hilarious debut novel about a twentysomething guy searching for love, for meaning...and for a long-lost deed that could make him heir to the island of Manhattan
Meet Jason Hansvoort, a single New Yorker with a curious knack for surviving near-death experiences. Wistful about college, apprehensive about the future, he's currently flailing around in post-college limbo as low man on the totem pole at one of Madison Avenue's "Big Five" ad agencies, impatiently waiting for the Next Thing to happen.
And then one day he's approached by Amanda, an attractive young law student and one of the last members of the Manahata, the Native American tribe who sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch almost four hundred years ago. She's spent years on the trail of a lost document that supposedly gave ownership of Manhattan to a seventeenth-century benefactor and all his descendants. She believes Jason's the last of this line...and therefore heir to the island of Manhattan and everything on it. If they can find the deed, that is. Jason's skeptical...but enchanted enough to play along.
If Jason and Amanda can indeed locate the deed, the consequences will be tremendous and far grave for millions of landowners and mortal for every title insurance company on the Eastern seaboard. There are literally billions at stake, and when a dysfunctional New York City crime family looking for a big break picks up the scent, it places Jason's streak of surviving near-death experiences in peril.
Informed by Blanchard's gift for dead-on observation and pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, The Deed heralds the arrival of a fresh comic voice in contemporary literary fiction.
Meet Jason Hansvoort, a single New Yorker with a curious knack for surviving near-death experiences. Wistful about college, apprehensive about the future, he's currently flailing around in post-college limbo as low man on the totem pole at one of Madison Avenue's "Big Five" ad agencies, impatiently waiting for the Next Thing to happen.
And then one day he's approached by Amanda, an attractive young law student and one of the last members of the Manahata, the Native American tribe who sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch almost four hundred years ago. She's spent years on the trail of a lost document that supposedly gave ownership of Manhattan to a seventeenth-century benefactor and all his descendants. She believes Jason's the last of this line...and therefore heir to the island of Manhattan and everything on it. If they can find the deed, that is. Jason's skeptical...but enchanted enough to play along.
If Jason and Amanda can indeed locate the deed, the consequences will be tremendous and far grave for millions of landowners and mortal for every title insurance company on the Eastern seaboard. There are literally billions at stake, and when a dysfunctional New York City crime family looking for a big break picks up the scent, it places Jason's streak of surviving near-death experiences in peril.
Informed by Blanchard's gift for dead-on observation and pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, The Deed heralds the arrival of a fresh comic voice in contemporary literary fiction.
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 26, 2012
Hasn't this book already been written?
Keith Blanchard's premise in The Deed is that the fabled sale of Manhattan Island by the Manhata Indians to the Dutch is actually incorrect. Instead, the island was sold a second time by the starving Dutch colony to a Dutch man who sympathized with the Manhata, married a Manhata woman and insisted on a deed for the island so that he and his heirs could hold it for the native peoples who did not understand these legal machinations.
It's an interesting premise, but one that was explored 4 years earlier by Larry Jay Martin in his book Sounding Drum . Interestingly, it was also a quirky comedy, it also involved a romance, the mafia and Indian casinos.
Regardless of those similarities, this book should be judged on its own merits...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/...
Keith Blanchard's premise in The Deed is that the fabled sale of Manhattan Island by the Manhata Indians to the Dutch is actually incorrect. Instead, the island was sold a second time by the starving Dutch colony to a Dutch man who sympathized with the Manhata, married a Manhata woman and insisted on a deed for the island so that he and his heirs could hold it for the native peoples who did not understand these legal machinations.
It's an interesting premise, but one that was explored 4 years earlier by Larry Jay Martin in his book Sounding Drum . Interestingly, it was also a quirky comedy, it also involved a romance, the mafia and Indian casinos.
Regardless of those similarities, this book should be judged on its own merits...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/...
March 31, 2014
a fast, fun, and sexy caper around New York with a fairly predictable ending. Some nuggets of wisdom in between lots of humor. Best quote: "He tangentially wondered whether adulthood was a simple process of being able to absorb increasing amounts of cynicism into your philosophy.". Another gem from Jason's dead father: "...the distance between who you are and who you could have been always widens over the course of your life...and that distance is the true measure of a man.". Enjoyed the trip this book took me on immensely. Warning: Protagonist spends a great deal of time drinking excessively and uses pot once. While it is clear that he views the alcohol issue as problematic, the pot incident actually assists him. How very ancient Persian. Imagine. Pot makes you smarter....sort of flies in the face of reality over time.
October 31, 2010
Absolutely LOVED it! A great first novel, wish he would write more!
May 4, 2022
In his debut novel, Keith Blanchard offers us a wild ride as a twentyish guy gets drawn into the search for a long-lost deed that could make him heir to the island of Manhattan. It is funny, witty, and sometimes irreverent, but always entertaining. I picked the book up on a whim for just a few bucks at a bookstore that is going out of business, and it turned out to be one of the most entertaining books I have read this year!
July 30, 2022
Crazy idea for a book. Writing not so great, but ending was okay.
May 4, 2024
A whirlwhind of adventure, longing, and grief. Could easily be a fun romcom!
April 2, 2020
I read 'The Deed' a long time back its a good story but drops some of the major points as it progresses but the idea is unique and fun so I didn't mind it then and I don't mind it now.
People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.
People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.
October 30, 2007
Just a good fun book about a major point in our nations history. Makes one ask themselves: what IF i were heir to an iconic mistake that every child learns about in our elementary history lessons?
February 2, 2008
ACK! Run as fast as you can away from this trash. I don't know why I even finished it - must be OCD setting in. Great fodder for the feeble-minded.
April 6, 2009
I found it a light and easy read, purely brain fluff. It was engaging without requiring a tremendous amount of thought, and it was funny as hell in places. Not bad at all.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews