Please Don't Come Back from the Moon (2005) was his debut novel, about fathers in Maple Rock, Detroit abandoning their families under a strange compulsion to go to the Moon. It is narrated by the young Mikey, a would-be writer, whose father feels the same desire to leave. The New York Times said it "deftly weld[ed] magic realism with social satire".[2] Entertainment Weekly gave it a B− saying it turned into a very conventional coming-of-age story.[3]People gave it 3.5/4.[4]
In 2017, James Franco's Rabbit Bandini films released a film version of the novel, entitled Don't Come Back from the Moon, starring Franco, Rashida Jones, and Jeffrey Wahlberg. Bruce Thierry Cheung directed the film version, which was co-written by Bakopoulos.[5]
My American Unhappiness (2011), his second novel, is narrated by Zeke Pappas, a young man compiling an inventory of American unhappiness for a struggling non-profit organization. The New York Times found Bakopoulos charming but the book too frivolous and arch.[6] The Los Angeles Times found that some of the characters were one-dimensional, there only to advance the plot, but found the satire was pleasantly combined with warmth and affection for its subjects.[7]
Summerlong, his third novel, was published by Ecco in June 2015.[8] It was named a "best book" of 2017 by National Public Radio,
which praised its sadly funny vibe, saying, "this book nails the entropy of adulthood."
