A Quitter's Paradise
Elysha Chang
(Author)
Description
A Michelle Obama's Reach Higher Summer Reading List Pick - An NPR Critics Summer Pick - A Good Morning America Pick of the Month - A Good Reads Big Buzz Debut - A Tertulia Staff Pick of the Month - An Electric Literature Best Novel of 2023
"Compelling . . . Studded with sublime wit." --New York Times Book Review "A glorious, pondering, heartbreaking, extremely funny, very special book." --Sarah Jessica Parker In A Quitter's Paradise, the darkly humorous debut by bold, new voice Elysha Chang, a young woman does everything she can to ignore her mother's death, even as unearthed family secrets become increasingly inextricable from her own. Eleanor is doing just fine. Yes, she's keeping secrets from her husband. Sure, she quit her PhD program and is now conducting unauthorized research on illegitimately procured mice. And, true, her mother is dead, and Eleanor has yet to go through her things. But what else is she supposed to do? What shape can grief take when you didn't understand the person you've lost? Resisting at every turn, Eleanor tumbles blindly down a path toward confronting her present. As Eleanor's avoidance of her feelings results in a series of outrageous--often hilarious--choices, her actions begin to threaten all she holds most dear. Meanwhile, glimpses of Eleanor's childhood and family history in Taiwan unfurl, revealing long-held secrets, and Eleanor starts to realize that she will never be able to escape her grief, or her family, despite her wildest attempts. But will she be brave enough to withstand the reckoning she's hurtling toward? At once disarmingly provocative and compulsively readable, A Quitter's Paradise is an unexpectedly funny study of the beauty and contradictions of grief, family bonds, and self-knowledge, exploring the ways we unwittingly guard the secrets of our loved ones, even from ourselves.Product Details
Price
$27.95
$25.99
Publisher
Zando - Sjp Lit
Publish Date
June 06, 2023
Pages
304
Dimensions
5.5 X 8.3 X 1.3 inches | 1.0 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781638930525
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About the Author
Elysha Chang is a writer and educator based in Brooklyn, and has taught creative writing at Blue Stoop Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and Villanova University. A graduate of Columbia's MFA Program, she has received fellowships from the Center for Fiction and Kundiman. Her short works have been published in Center for Fiction Magazine, Fence, GQ, The Rumpus, and others. A Quitter's Paradise is her first novel.
Reviews
A Michelle Obama's Reach Higher Summer Reading List Pick - An NPR Critics Summer Pick - A Good Morning America Pick of the Month - A Good Reads Big Buzz Debut - A Tertulia Staff Pick of the Month - An Electric Literature Best Novel of 2023
"A drolly comedic tale . . . reminiscent of Rachel Khong's Goodbye, Vitamin and Weike Wang's Chemistry." --Leland Cheuk, NPR "Compelling . . . Chang's storytelling is beautifully subtle, often studded with sublime wit." --Kia Corthron, New York Times Book Review "A sharp, intimate, and poignant investigation of grief, family dynamics, and selfhood." --Electric Literature "A riveting, wise, and singular novel about grief, love, longing, and the mysteries of family, A Quitter's Paradise will linger in your heart and mind." --Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers"Strange and wonderful." --The Post & Courier
"A highly enjoyable read . . . written in a funny style." --Zibby Owens, Good Morning America "Calls to mind recent explorations of science and relationships, including Weike Wang's Chemistry and Brandon Taylor's Real Life." --Keziah Weir, Vanity Fair
"[A] sweeping family saga . . . Exploring the intersections of love and obligation, duty and commitment, the independence of new lifestyles and the appeal of old traditions, Chang's novel will appeal to fans of Helen Fisher's Faye Faraway and Tracey Lien's All That's Left Unsaid." --Booklist
"This is a deep, propulsive, poignant, and unflinching portrayal of a family in all of its mystery. Elysha Chang writes with remarkable precision, humor, and grace, while knowing full well there are no easy answers when it comes to love and grief." --Sam Lipsyte, author of No One Left to Come Looking for You
"A Quitter's Paradise is a glorious, pondering, heartbreaking, extremely funny, very special book. In Eleanor and her family, Elysha Chang has created captivating characters, who continuously surprised, delighted, and intrigued me--so much so that I didn't want to leave them. The stories of their lives are at once intimate and universally resonant. It's truly the perfect inaugural book for SJP Lit and I couldn't be more honored to be working with the extraordinarily talented Elysha Chang." --Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit "A masterpiece that wrangles several lifetimes of wisdom, loss, and heartbreak into a slim novel you can clutch to your chest, pass on to your sharpest, most mercurial friends, and say: read this, feel this!" --Xuan Juliana Wang, author of Home Remedies
"A bittersweet family saga about a young woman from a second generation immigrant family coping with her mother's death." --Tertulia
