The Book of Ayn
Lexi Freiman
(Author)
Description
An original and hilarious satire of both our political culture and those who rage against it, The Book of Ayn follows a writer from New York to Los Angeles to Lesbos as she searches for artistic and spiritual fulfillment in radical selfishness, altruism, and ego-death After writing a satirical novel that The New York Times calls classist, Anna is shunned by the literary establishment and, in her hurt, radicalized by the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Determined to follow Rand's theory of rational selfishness, Anna alienates herself from the scene and eventually her friends and family. Finally, in true Randian style, she abandons everyone for the boundless horizons of Los Angeles, hoping to make a TV show about her beloved muse. Things look better in Hollywood--until the money starts running out, and with it Anna's faith in the virtue of selfishness. When a death in the family sends her running back to New York and then spiraling at her mother's house, Anna is offered a different kind of opportunity. A chance to kill the ego causing her pain at a mysterious commune on the island of Lesbos. The second half of Anna's odyssey finds her exploring a very different kind of freedom - communal love, communal toilets - and a new perspective on Ayn Rand that could bring Anna back home to herself. "A gimlet-eyed satirist of the cultural morasses and political impasses of our times" (Alexandra Kleeman), Lexi Freiman speaks in The Book of Ayn not only to a particular millennial loneliness, but also to a timeless existential predicament: the strangeness, absurdity, and hilarity of seeking meaning in the modern world.Product Details
Price
$27.00
$25.11
Publisher
Catapult
Publish Date
November 14, 2023
Pages
240
Dimensions
5.6 X 8.3 X 0.9 inches | 1.1 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781646221929
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About the Author
LEXI FREIMAN is an Australian writer and editor who graduated from Columbia's MFA program in 2012. Her first novel, Inappropriation, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. She also writes for television.
Reviews
Nylon, A November Must Read
Esquire, A Best Book of the Year
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year "[A] delirious road trip through the age of selfishness . . . Contrarian and chaotic in the smartest way." --Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune "The last place we expected to find Ayn Rand is in a millennial satire, but Freiman has taken that idea to its fullest and most hilarious expression." --Marion Winik, Newsday "The Book of Ayn captures the full spectrum of what it's like to be alive today, from profanity to profundity and back again." --Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire "Uncomfortably funny and sure to cause a stir." --Emma Alpern, Vulture "A firecracker of a book . . . Irreverent and ridiculous, sarcastic and flippant, and also there's something very real at the core, something tender, as Anna searches deeply for meaning in a culture of vapidity and reactionary politics . . . A bold take on political culture, virtue signaling, and the attempt to be unique and also right in a world such as ours, and it manages to do it all with humor and depth." --Julia Hass, Literary Hub "Freiman follows up Inappropriation with more mischievous satire in this acerbic and affecting story of a canceled novelist who struggles to reinvent herself . . . Freiman's portrait of a hapless artist is provocative and surprisingly moving." --Publishers Weekly "Lively, sexy, and funny, with an actual quest for meaning at its core." --Kirkus Reviews "Exactly the book I want to be reading right now." --Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year "I'm no Randoid, yet Lexi Freiman's playful ribbing of our oh-so-human, moralistic inconsistencies is a lifeboat on a stormy ocean, where there is at present no safe harbor for a dangerous sense of humor." --Jim Carrey, author with Dana Vachon of Memoirs and Misinformation "Lexi Freiman's The Book of Ayn is a viciously funny and precisely observed satire of creative ambition under capitalism. It made me laugh, wince, and want to quit society. I loved it." --Isabel Kaplan, author of NSFW "The rarest type of book--smart, hilarious, and audacious. A rebuke to both cynicism and self-righteousness that takes aim at pretty much everybody." --Erin Somers, author of Stay Up with Hugo Best "I had the rare experience while reading The Book of Ayn of slowly realizing I had stumbled on something so good that it was changing my taste. So funny, so clever, so alive to the absurdity of contemporary life without reverting to the boring cynicism that would be so easy. I loved it." --Megan Nolan, author of Ordinary Human Failings "A maddening panorama of contemporary concerns, The Book of Ayn locks the dignified and the insouciant in hysterical alignment. Freiman is a writer of startling vision and verbal resource who deepens and subverts our cultural memory. Every sentence is liberating." --Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive "Infuriating, perverse, contrarian, scandalous, nihilistic, and very, very funny." --Tony Tulathimutte, author of Private Citizens "Like stumbling upon a brilliant, abject meme in the dark, The Book of Ayn is a thrill. Freiman's satire is fierce, outrageous, and omnivorous, lacerating edgelords and the virtuous alike. I haven't had so much fun with a book in ages." --Paul Dalla Rosa, author of An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life "The Book of Ayn is an exquisitely wicked prosing of the reality-cancellation that now passes for reality by pretty much the funniest writer of a generation that has forgotten to laugh." --Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Netanyahus
Esquire, A Best Book of the Year
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year "[A] delirious road trip through the age of selfishness . . . Contrarian and chaotic in the smartest way." --Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune "The last place we expected to find Ayn Rand is in a millennial satire, but Freiman has taken that idea to its fullest and most hilarious expression." --Marion Winik, Newsday "The Book of Ayn captures the full spectrum of what it's like to be alive today, from profanity to profundity and back again." --Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire "Uncomfortably funny and sure to cause a stir." --Emma Alpern, Vulture "A firecracker of a book . . . Irreverent and ridiculous, sarcastic and flippant, and also there's something very real at the core, something tender, as Anna searches deeply for meaning in a culture of vapidity and reactionary politics . . . A bold take on political culture, virtue signaling, and the attempt to be unique and also right in a world such as ours, and it manages to do it all with humor and depth." --Julia Hass, Literary Hub "Freiman follows up Inappropriation with more mischievous satire in this acerbic and affecting story of a canceled novelist who struggles to reinvent herself . . . Freiman's portrait of a hapless artist is provocative and surprisingly moving." --Publishers Weekly "Lively, sexy, and funny, with an actual quest for meaning at its core." --Kirkus Reviews "Exactly the book I want to be reading right now." --Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year "I'm no Randoid, yet Lexi Freiman's playful ribbing of our oh-so-human, moralistic inconsistencies is a lifeboat on a stormy ocean, where there is at present no safe harbor for a dangerous sense of humor." --Jim Carrey, author with Dana Vachon of Memoirs and Misinformation "Lexi Freiman's The Book of Ayn is a viciously funny and precisely observed satire of creative ambition under capitalism. It made me laugh, wince, and want to quit society. I loved it." --Isabel Kaplan, author of NSFW "The rarest type of book--smart, hilarious, and audacious. A rebuke to both cynicism and self-righteousness that takes aim at pretty much everybody." --Erin Somers, author of Stay Up with Hugo Best "I had the rare experience while reading The Book of Ayn of slowly realizing I had stumbled on something so good that it was changing my taste. So funny, so clever, so alive to the absurdity of contemporary life without reverting to the boring cynicism that would be so easy. I loved it." --Megan Nolan, author of Ordinary Human Failings "A maddening panorama of contemporary concerns, The Book of Ayn locks the dignified and the insouciant in hysterical alignment. Freiman is a writer of startling vision and verbal resource who deepens and subverts our cultural memory. Every sentence is liberating." --Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive "Infuriating, perverse, contrarian, scandalous, nihilistic, and very, very funny." --Tony Tulathimutte, author of Private Citizens "Like stumbling upon a brilliant, abject meme in the dark, The Book of Ayn is a thrill. Freiman's satire is fierce, outrageous, and omnivorous, lacerating edgelords and the virtuous alike. I haven't had so much fun with a book in ages." --Paul Dalla Rosa, author of An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life "The Book of Ayn is an exquisitely wicked prosing of the reality-cancellation that now passes for reality by pretty much the funniest writer of a generation that has forgotten to laugh." --Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Netanyahus
