The Shame

"A delicious, important moral corrective of a novel for our moment of performance, obsessive witnessing, and self-doubt, written in gripping and beautiful prose. Makenna Goodman draws a dark and suspenseful tale out of the feelings of envy women have for one another, fanned in this moment of high capitalism--a shame many of us know and feel, that reading this novel somehow helps disperse."--Sheila Heti, author of Motherhood and How Should a Person Be?

"Makenna Goodman writes with blazing clarity and admirable wit about the joys and sorrows of raising children. Her depiction of the longing, self-loathing, and quiet rage that accompanies sidelined ambition is brilliantly complex."--Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather

"A wickedly smart, wry, raw interrogation of one mother's choices. In sentences packed with wit and insight, Makenna Goodman's entrancing debut explores the envy and self-doubt that come with selecting one sort of life over another. The reader shares the narrator's desperate curiosity about how her madcap adventure will end."--Helen Phillips, author of The Need

"The Shame impresses one with its intelligence and artistry. What goes on inside a woman remains the new frontier."--Susan Minot, author of Evening

"A scarifying portrayal of a particular female madness. Keep your eye on Makenna Goodman--a writer of original voice and genuine talent."--April Smith, author of A Star for Mrs. Blake

"We begin as Alma, our narrator, flees her two young children, husband, and pastoral life in the Vermont countryside, heading for New York City. From there, Makenna Goodman's daring first novel examines what led up to this moment, and how even an existence that many people of my generation believe is the 'Ideal Life', of motherhood, of living off the land, of ethical consumption, a life of intention, is still not without its limitations. It's necessary work, a novel that felt like a distant relative of the all-time great novel Revolutionary Road. The Shame is as exacting and defiant, and at times, as existentially gutting. I loved it." --Adlai Yeomans, White Whale Bookstore

"The Shame is a brilliant look at what it means to be a woman in the world right now. In captivating, witty prose, Makenna Goodman writes of the beauty and challenges of rural living, how motherhood and art sometimes collide, and of the insidious ways that technology can infiltrate a life. I adored this fierce, impressive debut!" --Shari Altman, Literary North