Dryland
Sara Jaffe
(Author)
Description
It's 1992, and the world is caught up in the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the Balkan Wars, but for Julie Winter, 15, the news is noise. In Portland, Oregon, Julie moves through her days in a series of negatives: the skaters she doesn't think are cute, the Guatemalan backpack she doesn't buy at the craft fair, the umbrella she refuses to carry despite the incessant rain. Her family life is routine and restrained, and no one talks about Julie's older brother, a one-time Olympic hopeful swimmer who now lives in self-imposed exile in Berlin. Julie has never considered swimming herself, until Alexis, the swim team captain, tries to recruit her. It's a dare, and a flirtation--and a chance for Julie to find her brother, or to finally let him go.Product Details
Price
$14.95
Publisher
Tin House Books
Publish Date
September 01, 2015
Pages
240
Dimensions
5.0 X 0.7 X 7.6 inches | 0.45 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781941040133
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Sara Jaffe's fiction has appeared in publications including Fence, BOMB, NOON, matchbook, and Paul Revere's Horse. She co-edited The Art of Touring (Yeti, 2009), an anthology of writing and visual art by musicians drawing on her experience as guitarist for post-punk band Erase Errata. She lives and teaches in Portland, OR.
Reviews
Sara Jaffe is a damn fine writer and an important new voice.--Justin Torres, author of WE THE ANIMALS
Jaffe's directness of style . . .lends itself well to the emotional tenor of adolescence.
A solid addition for libraries looking to strengthen their collections with fiction about the LGBTQ experience.
The chronicle of a teenage girl in Portland circa 1992, it reads like My So-Called Life's Angela Chase cut with Annie Dillard, plus something all Jaffe's own.
Sara Jaffe offers a coming-of-age story so steadily understated it'll ring incredibly true to those of us actually of age.
Jaffe captures a perfect time capsule of an age when cassette tapes ruled and personal phone extensions were the closest thing to a smart phone but when growing up was still no easier than it is today.
Jaffe's exceptional debut, a heartfelt coming-of-age story set in Portland, Ore., in 1992, exquisitely captures the nostalgia and heartbreak of youth.
A coming-of-age story about a young girl's growing awareness--of sexuality, loss, and family truths. . . . [W]e relive the awkward agonies of adolescence, so well-sketched by Jaffe . . . Moving sideways with its weight of secrets, this novel never strikes a false note.
Remarkable. It's realism, but its realism brushes ever so deftly against the allegorical, making the novel shimmer, part diary, part dream.--Maggie Nelson, author of THE ARGONAUTS
I love it. I don't know that I've ever read a book that felt more sincere, that was so unbesmirched by knowing irony or commentary or authorial interventions. It's a rare and sweet thing.--Pete Rock, author of THE SHELTER CYCLE
Dryland is a gorgeous, layered, meticulous, clamoring, beating heart of a thing about a sullen teenager swimming and not swimming, kissing and not kissing, in Portland in the days of grunge. It will make you want to swim there back there back twenty times without stopping.--Sarah Marcus, author of GIRLS TO THE FRONT
Dryland is an exacting and authentic coming-of-age story.
Jaffe's directness of style . . .lends itself well to the emotional tenor of adolescence.
A solid addition for libraries looking to strengthen their collections with fiction about the LGBTQ experience.
The chronicle of a teenage girl in Portland circa 1992, it reads like My So-Called Life's Angela Chase cut with Annie Dillard, plus something all Jaffe's own.
Sara Jaffe offers a coming-of-age story so steadily understated it'll ring incredibly true to those of us actually of age.
Jaffe captures a perfect time capsule of an age when cassette tapes ruled and personal phone extensions were the closest thing to a smart phone but when growing up was still no easier than it is today.
Jaffe's exceptional debut, a heartfelt coming-of-age story set in Portland, Ore., in 1992, exquisitely captures the nostalgia and heartbreak of youth.
A coming-of-age story about a young girl's growing awareness--of sexuality, loss, and family truths. . . . [W]e relive the awkward agonies of adolescence, so well-sketched by Jaffe . . . Moving sideways with its weight of secrets, this novel never strikes a false note.
Remarkable. It's realism, but its realism brushes ever so deftly against the allegorical, making the novel shimmer, part diary, part dream.--Maggie Nelson, author of THE ARGONAUTS
I love it. I don't know that I've ever read a book that felt more sincere, that was so unbesmirched by knowing irony or commentary or authorial interventions. It's a rare and sweet thing.--Pete Rock, author of THE SHELTER CYCLE
Dryland is a gorgeous, layered, meticulous, clamoring, beating heart of a thing about a sullen teenager swimming and not swimming, kissing and not kissing, in Portland in the days of grunge. It will make you want to swim there back there back twenty times without stopping.--Sarah Marcus, author of GIRLS TO THE FRONT
Dryland is an exacting and authentic coming-of-age story.
