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If a Richard Russo protagonist went on a bender in Vegas, the result would be something like Swimming with Bridgeport Girls: an uproarious romantic comedy about a charismatic gambler who loses everything and sets off on a misguided quest (based on a misremembering of how The Great Gatsby ends) to win back his ex-wife.Ray Parisi is in trouble. Fired from his anchor job at ESPN after one too many public humiliations, Ray is holed up in a motel and in dire need of a break. His ex is engaged and shacking up with another guy in his old house, a Cambodian bookie wants to kill him, and he's wanted by the New York State Police. A few days before the Fourth of July, he unexpectedly receives an inheritance from his long-lost father, and it seems like all of his problems might be solved. Determined to get his life back together, Ray hatches an imaginative but highly suspect plan to win back his wife, dashing from Connecticut to Las Vegas to Memphis in an attempt to secure his future before the past runs him down. Sure to please fans of Richard Russo, Richard Ford, and sophisticated romantic comedies like Seating Arrangements and The Silver Linings Playbook, Swimming with Bridgeport Girls is a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, and heart-wrenching tale of one man's mission to finally get it right.