The Cuttlefish

Armed with a finished memoir and a hotshot agent, aspiring writer Zach Sullivan is convinced his big break is just around the corner. Until then, he takes a job teaching at the Bichy Bee English Institute in the East Asian island nation of Sukhan. Between bouts of relentless savaging by imps in the classroom, he navigates the kaleidoscopic side streets of the capital, Paigan, along with the strange ways of his newfound home. Zach spends his carefree days and nights in a manic blur-cruising on his 100cc Zhiwoon Super City Chipmunk scooter, downing dumplings, watching the Paigan Cloud Bank Bugbears baseball team, and carousing with his fellow degenerate expats, all while awash in an ocean of Beer Lai Lai, Sukhan's national brew. However, just when he thinks he's perfected the art of misbehaving abroad, things go south, and he eventually finds himself banged up in Sukhan's toughest prison: National Correctional Facility Number 4, nicknamed "the Cuttlefish."

A comic adventure packed with attitude and verve, The Cuttlefish skewers the excesses of ESL expat life while also poking fun at the paint-by-numbers sin and redemption story of getting locked up abroad.

"The Cuttlefish is by no small measure the best novel about ESL teachers in East Asia. In fact, it is probably the most engaging, perceptive, and realistic depiction of life as a Westerner in Asia for several decades. Tharp has set his novel in a fictional country, yet he has captured life in a certain part of the world so well that it very nearly gave me PTSD. The schools, bars, restaurants, streets, and even prisons he writes about are depicted with an astounding accuracy, yet somehow infused with comedy and empathy. It is a world that has long deserved the fictional treatment and finally we have it-a must-read novel for those who know and love (or are merely frustrated by) the strange life one leads in this beautiful but chaotic part of the world."
- David S. Wills, author of High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism

"Incredibly vivid and very funny." - Brian Aylward, standup comedian