Books like 'J'
Readers who enjoyed J by Howard Jacobson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi literary-fiction dystopia ww2 post-apocalyptic apocalyptic satire humor
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Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle by Harold Bloom, Terry Southern
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsA critical overview of the work features the writings of Terry Southern, William S. Doxey, Jerome Klinkowitz, Richard Giannone, John L. Simons, James Lundquist, and other scholars.- After the bomb, Dad came up with ice / Terry Southern- Vonnegut's Cat's cradle / William S... -
![Third Shift: Pact by Hugh Howey]()
Third Shift: Pact by Hugh Howey
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe third and final chapter of the Shift saga. This is part 8 of the Silo Series, which began with Wool... -
![The Bridge to Lucy Dunne by Exurb1a]()
The Bridge to Lucy Dunne by Exurb1a
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA mad astronaut ejects a starship's sleeping crew into deep space. A playwright conjures her perfect lover into existence. Three time travellers appear to a motorbike mechanic, drink a little tea, and ruin his life. Mankind discovers the secrets of travelling to the stars, and promptly forgets them again.Exurb1a has collected 18 of his best received short stories into a book...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary fiction -
![The Undead Day Three by R.R. Haywood]()
The Undead Day Three by R.R. Haywood
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMy name is Howie. I was named after my father Howard, but it became too confusing to have two Howards, so I became Howie. I am 27 years old and I work as a night's manager in a supermarket.I will tell you what happened.On Friday the world fell apart. A zombie infestation has ravaged Europe... -
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![Vengeance in the Ashes by William W. Johnstone]()
Vengeance in the Ashes by William W. Johnstone
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"We're bringing law and order back in this nation."--Ben Raines Scourge Upon The Land While ending the rule of slavers, thugs, and the cannibalistic Night People on the Hawaiian Islands, Ben Raines and his rebel army learn of a new threat to America...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary fiction -
![Falling Stars by Kyla Stone]()
Falling Stars by Kyla Stone
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThey survived the Grand Voyager. They believed they were safe. They were wrong. After a violent ambush, the survivors find themselves thrust into a harsh, unrecognizable world. No communications. No shelter. No food. All they have is each other—a ragtag group of elites and misfits. Amelia faces her deadliest test yet. Guilt-ridden Willow must save her brother at any cost...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure aliens book contemporary -
![Breakdown by Bruno Miller]()
Breakdown by Bruno Miller
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Post-Apocalyptic Survival seriesDo you have what it takes to survive? Ben Davis was prepared for disaster. He just didn’t know it would come so soon. He and his teenage son, Joel, are miles deep in the backcountry of the San Juan Mountains when high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic detonations light up the pre-dawn sky...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary disaster -
![Home by Theresa Shaver]()
Home by Theresa Shaver
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBook 3 in the best selling Stranded Series: due to some adult content this book is rated for 16+ Five went by Land. Five went by Sea. Nine made it Home. Alex and Emily's two groups are finally united after making their way home from Disneyland after the EMP destroyed all electronics. Their reunion begins in a hail of gunfire and only gets worse from there...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure book contemporary fiction survival -
![Flight 3430 by Jacqueline Druga]()
Flight 3430 by Jacqueline Druga
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn a small Montana town, it takes four minutes for every man, woman and child to die.It isn’t a virus or biological attack, but rather the beginning of a geological event that triggers a chain reaction across the globe with devastating effects.A repeat of an extinction event that occurred millions of years earlier.There is no stopping it. The only way to survive is to stay ahead of it...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary family -
![The Undead Day Two by R.R. Haywood]()
The Undead Day Two by R.R. Haywood
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMy name is Howie. I was named after my father Howard, but it became too confusing to have two Howards, so I became Howie. I am 27 years old and I work as a night's manager in a supermarket.I will tell you what happened.On Friday the world fell apart. A zombie infestation has ravaged Europe... -
![Torture the Artist by Joey Goebel]()
Torture the Artist by Joey Goebel
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsVincent Spinetti is an archetypal tortured artist ? a sensitive young writer who falls victim to alienation, parental neglect, poverty, depression, alcoholism, illness, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love... -
![Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift]()
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsTHE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNINGIt's November 2023. The human race has been wiped out by the 6DM virus (Six Days Maximum - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself). The end of the world as we know it.Yet someone is still alive. Alone in a new world of burning cities, rotting corpses and ravenous rats, one woman has survived... -
![Before and After by Andrew Shanahan]()
Before and After by Andrew Shanahan
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTHE BEST-SELLING SCI-FI THRILLER THAT BLENDS HEALTHY LIVING AND LOTS OF DYINGBen Stone is terrified. He's terrified because he weighs 601 pounds and needs his right leg amputating. He's terrified because a crane will shortly lift him from his fourth-floor flat and lower him 44 feet to an ambulance waiting below... -
![Heading Home by Susan Kiernan-Lewis]()
Heading Home by Susan Kiernan-Lewis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat happens when the one thing you’ve been praying for turns out to be the one thing that will destroy you and everything you love? After two years of living and adjusting to life after the bomb, Sarah and her son, John, have discovered that happiness can trump grief and loss... -
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![Intentional Dissonance by Iain S. Thomas, pleasefindthis]()
Intentional Dissonance by Iain S. Thomas, pleasefindthis
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNewLand, the last city on Earth after The End. Before The End, the world was on the cusp of widespread adaptation of technologies that should never have been invented. Popular use of teleportation polluted the fabric of time and space. The gifts of a select few meant a whole new world was about to erupt.After The End, Jon Salt is addicted to feeling...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic book contemporary fiction male-author psychological -
![The Yellow Arrow by Victor Pelevin]()
The Yellow Arrow by Victor Pelevin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe main character, Andrei, is a passenger aboard the Yellow Arrow, who begins to despair over the trains ultimate destination and looks for a way out as the chapters count down. Indifferent to their fate, the other passengers carry on as usual — trading in nickel melted down fro the carriage doors, attending the Upper Bunk avant-garde theatre, and leafing through Pasternak’s Early Trains...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction satire 20th-century adult alternate-history audiobook -
![In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders]()
In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe stories In Persuasion Nation are easily his best work yet. "The Red Bow,"about a town consumed by pet-killing hysteria, won a 2004 National Magazine Award and "Bohemians," the story of two supposed Eastern European widows trying to fit in in suburban USA, is included in The Best American Short Stories 2005... -
![Good Fences by Boyd Craven]()
Good Fences by Boyd Craven
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsBrian Cartwright just wants to work and run his farm in peace. The police keep showing up as the HOA from the new neighborhood keeps filing nuisance complaints against him and his farm. What makes matters worse, his former boss George and his son built a big house overlooking the farm. His prepping lifestyle and following the news online is his only other hobby other than church activities...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![Rebel Radio by Boyd Craven]()
Rebel Radio by Boyd Craven
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA raw and gritty standalone novel in The World Burns Saga. Can be read on it's own or as a companion after The World Burns 5: The World Bleeds!Life after an EMP puts the USA in the dark ages is not an easy one. Life is dangerous and difficult enough without humans preying on each other...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories by Kevin Wilson]()
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories by Kevin Wilson
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsKevin Wilson's characters inhabit a world that moves seamlessly between the real and the imagined, the mundane and the fantastic. "Grand Stand-In" is narrated by an employee of a Nuclear Family Supplemental Provider—a company that supplies "stand-ins" for families with deceased, ill, or just plain mean grandparents...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction satire 21st-century anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction -
![When the Power Is Gone by P.A. Glaspy]()
When the Power Is Gone by P.A. Glaspy
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsRuss and Anne Mathews live in a rural suburb in Tennessee. Regular people, with regular jobs, living a normal life - except for one thing. They are what many people call "preppers." They have stocked up on supplies to survive any kind of event they can think of that may occur to disrupt life as they know it. When that event comes, they start preparing for the new way of life they will face...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia humor literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book -
![Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders]()
Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsMacArthur genius and Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with a collection of short stories that make sense of our increasingly troubled world, his first since the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist Tenth of DecemberThe "best short story writer in English" (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the... -
![Engine Summer by John Crowley]()
Engine Summer by John Crowley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBorn into the community of Truthful Speakers one thousand years after the Storm, he was raised on stories of the old days -- a world filled with saints, a world in which all things were possible, a world which finally destroyed itself. In love with a beautiful woman, Rush journeys far and learns much. Taken into the society of Dr... -
![How to Buy a Planet by D.A. Holdsworth]()
How to Buy a Planet by D.A. Holdsworth
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Earth has been sold to aliens. What could possibly go wrong?It’s the Year 2024. Drowning in debt following the pandemic and facing ruin, the world's leaders have taken the only logical decision.They’ve sold the planet... -
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![We Have Lost The Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews]()
We Have Lost The Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLondon, 2046. The British Republic has a new First Lady. She’s Californian, ‘in-your-face, for sure’ and she’s got big plans for a Buckingham Palace refurb. When her three Chihuahuas go missing, one man is determined to avoid getting dragged into it all. His name is Pond. Howie Pond – presidential spokesperson, retired secret agent and cat lover... -
![The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville]()
The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this genre-busting book from award-winning novelist Patrick Somerville characters, stories, and stray thoughts revolve around the "The Machine of Understanding Other People," the story of a Chicago man who is bequeathed a supernatural helmet that allows him to experience the inner worlds of those around him... -
![Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith]()
Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA chilling feminist novel set in a near-future dystopia, Anna explores the conflicts between selfhood and expectations, safety and control, and the sacrifices we make for the sake of protection.Beaten. Branded. Defiant.Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her... -
![Tma 2.0 by Ondřej Neff]()
Tma 2.0 by Ondřej Neff
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOndrej Neff originally released the first version of this book in 1998; however, he never stopped developing the story and as a result of his improvements (but also his disillusionment with the conditions in the post-communist Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic) he later released a darker version of the story.Tma 2... -
![Eagle One by Noah Mann]()
Eagle One by Noah Mann
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBook 2 in The Bugging Out SeriesAn apocalyptic blight has long since turned the green earth grey. The world's few survivors face a never ending search for food, and a constant fight against those who have cast aside all morality in a bid to survive.But in the midst of the worldwide horror, rumors of a sanctuary spread. Eagle One, the enigmatic destination, might be the last hope for civilization...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary fiction -
![The Maerlande Chronicles by Élisabeth Vonarburg]()
The Maerlande Chronicles by Élisabeth Vonarburg
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA future society, where women far outnumber men, has abandoned the models of patriarchy and matriarchy and established new gender roles. But Lisbei, a young thinker whose gift is exploring the past, confronts the new establishment in order to force changes of her own. The Maerlande Chronicles is a sequel to the critically-acclaimed novel The Silent City... -
![To the Lake by Yana Vagner]()
To the Lake by Yana Vagner
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA deadly flu epidemic sweeps through Moscow, killing hundreds of thousands. Anya and her husband Sergey decide they have no choice but to flee to a lake in the far north of Russia.Joining them on their journey are her son and father-in-law; Sergey's ex-wife and son; and their garish neighbours...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary drama -
![Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson]()
Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMeth-heads, man-made monsters, and murderous Neo-Nazis. Blissed out club kids dying at the speed of sound. The un-dead and the very soon-to-be-dead. They're all here, trying to claw their way free... -
![Dusty's Diary: One Frustrated Man's Zombie Apocalypse Story by Bobby Adair]()
Dusty's Diary: One Frustrated Man's Zombie Apocalypse Story by Bobby Adair
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOne Frustrated Man's Zombie Apocalypse Story I played all those cool video games. I watched all those movies. I read all those books. In most of those, the hero of the story kills all the zombies, drives a sweet car, has plenty to eat, and always seems to get laid by the end. Yeah. Whatever... -
![Gone to Ground by Cheryl Taylor]()
Gone to Ground by Cheryl Taylor
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFollowing a deadly outbreak of influenza which decimates the population of the planet, the government issues orders that all remaining citizens are to report to designated Authorized Population Zones so that resources may be fairly distributed...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
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![Dog Logic by Tom Strelich]()
Dog Logic by Tom Strelich
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIf "Dr. Strangelove" and "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" got together and had a litter of puppies you'd get "Dog Logic", a duck-and-cover fable and love story. Funny, inflammatory, and weirdly propheticHertell Daggett is the divorced and damaged caretaker of a failing pet cemetery on the outskirts of Bakersfield, and he's just discovered a lost civilization... -
![The Defiant: Grid Down by John W. Vance]()
The Defiant: Grid Down by John W. Vance
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIf the power went out, could you survive?? For years a few have warned that a day of reckoning was coming, but those warnings went unheeded and even mocked. Then that day came… When Nicholas McNeil, a father and dedicated husband, turned out the lights in his suburban home Sunday night, they would never turn on again...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary fiction -
![Apocalypse Law by John Grit]()
Apocalypse Law by John Grit
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA plague wipes out ninety-five percent of the world's population, taking Nate Williams' wife and daughter and leaving him with his thirteen-year-old son to survive on their farm. In the bedlam of lawlessness and starvation, hungry, desperate men arrive from the nearest town to take their meager supplies. A benevolent stranger keeps coming in the night to steal food...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary disaster -
![Vapor by Amanda Filipacchi]()
Vapor by Amanda Filipacchi
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSoon to be a major motion picture directed by Neil LaBute and starring Renee Zellweger, this is a surreal love story from the author of Nude Men. Now in paperback, Amanda Filipacchi's quirky comic romance gives aspiring actress Anna Graham a makeover that no reader will ever forget... -
![Palestine +100: Stories from a Century after the Nakba by Basma Ghalayini, Mazen Maarouf]()
Palestine +100: Stories from a Century after the Nakba by Basma Ghalayini, Mazen Maarouf
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPalestine + 100 poses a question to twelve Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 – a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba? How might this event – which, in 1948, saw the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes – reach across a century of occupation, oppression, and political isolation, to shape the...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic adult anthologies contemporary fiction poc-author -
![The Last Rail-Rider by Jason Gurley]()
The Last Rail-Rider by Jason Gurley
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings(The Last Rail-Rider is a short story.)He doesn't remember the days before the sickness.He only knows the world since it went bad. The empty towns. The rusted-out cars. The corpses, everywhere.He doesn't know why he rides the rails. He just does. The trains never take him away from the ruin. The trains never take him anywhere...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic adult anthologies contemporary fiction industrial-era -
![The Last Gasp by Trevor Hoyle]()
The Last Gasp by Trevor Hoyle
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA large, dense, frightening novel from the UK author of This Sentient Earth. In 1990 the ocean's oxygen-producing plankton are dying from pollution. Maverick oceanographer Theo Detrick predicts a disastrous drop in the air's oxygen content within 20 years. Nobody believes him. Polluter-industrialist J.E. Gelstrom is furiously empire-building...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic 21st-century action-adventure adult book contemporary -
![How Best to Avoid Dying by Owen Egerton]()
How Best to Avoid Dying by Owen Egerton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings[i]Lazarus Dying[/i]: the man Jesus raised from the dead is alive and living in New York City. [i]The Fecalist[/i]: an author whose best selling work is his latest poop. [i]Christmas[/i]: she loves you, you love her, she has a gun in your mouth. Welcome to the award-winning short fiction of Owen Egerton... -
![The Lake Wobegon Virus by Garrison Keillor, Richard Dworsky]()
The Lake Wobegon Virus by Garrison Keillor, Richard Dworsky
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBestselling author and humorist Garrison Keillor returns to one of America's most beloved mythical towns, beset by a contagion of alarming candor. A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition... -
![The Hall of the Singing Caryatids by Victor Pelevin]()
The Hall of the Singing Caryatids by Victor Pelevin
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter auditioning for the part as a singing geisha at a dubious bar, Lena and eleven other “lucky” girls are sent to work at a posh underground nightclub reserved exclusively for Russia’s upper-crust elite. They are to be a sideshow attraction to the rest of the club’s entertainment, and are billed as the “famous singing caryatids.” Things only get weirder from there... -
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![Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure by Tony Martineau, Nancy Martineau]()
Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure by Tony Martineau, Nancy Martineau
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPost Grid is about life after an EMP, electromagnetic pulse.The power grid has gone down and soon society will go with it. Kelly Wise flees the chaos of the city in hopes of reaching the relative safety of her mother's rural Arizona ranch. Along the way she encounters Jared Malloy, a sheriff's deputy...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary fiction -
![Mania by Lionel Shriver]()
Mania by Lionel Shriver
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSet in a parallel yet all too familiar near past, a brilliant subversive novel from the New York Times bestselling author about a lifelong friendship threatened by the Culture Wars. In an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity movement takes hold. Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence... -
![Have Yourself a Merry Little Apocalypse by L.Z. Shipton]()
Have Yourself a Merry Little Apocalypse by L.Z. Shipton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMarla was the last person left on Earth...until Ben showed up.Since the apocalypse wiped out humanity eight months ago, Marla has been on her own. And to be honest, she kind of likes it that way. Peace and quiet. Tending her garden. Hiking with her dog. And then Ben comes to town...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic humor apocalyptic romance steamy contemporary grumpy-sunshine -
![Bugging Out by Noah Mann]()
Bugging Out by Noah Mann
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsGet out. Hunker down. Stay alive. It came without warning. A microscopic enemy that methodically turned the green earth grey. Decimating the food chain until only the prepared were left.But preparation alone is not enough to shelter Eric Fletcher from the chaos to befall the world as governments fail their citizens...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary disaster -
![In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster]()
In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsIn a distant and unsettling future, Anna Blume is on a mission in an unnamed city of chaos and disaster. Its destitute inhabitants scavenge garbage for food and shelter, no industry exists, and an elusive government provides nothing but corruption. Anna wades through the filth to find her long-lost brother, a one-time journalist who may or may not be alive...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary -
![Extinction by Ray Hammond]()
Extinction by Ray Hammond
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOnly one quarter into the 21st century and our planet is displaying disturbing symptoms: storms, floods, mud-slides, tornadoes and blizzards afflict the globe's surface, while heatwaves, droughts and deep-freeze are regular occurrences. Not to mention volcanoes and earthquakes...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult book contemporary cyberpunk
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