Jami Attenberg discusses her new novel All Grown Up
Saturday, 4/15, 2pm:
Jami Attenberg discusses her new novel All Grown Up
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Middlesteins comes a wickedly funny novel about a thirty-nine-year-old single, childfree woman who defies convention as she seeks connection.
Who is Andrea Bern? When her therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she’s a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it’s what she leaves unsaid—she’s alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh—that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have an entirely different idea of what it means to be an adult: her best friend, Indigo, is getting married; her brother—who miraculously seems unscathed by their shared tumultuous childhood—and sister-in-law are having a hoped-for baby; and her friend Matthew continues to wholly devote himself to making dark paintings at the cost of being flat broke.
Jami Attenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels, including The Middlesteins and Saint Mazie. She has contributed essays about sex, urban life, and food to The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Lenny Letter, among other publications. She divides her time between Brooklyn and New Orleans.
Blunt and fascinating, I quickly devoured All Grown Up. Attenberg's Andrea has a stark view of herself and the world, perfectly represented by the brief, vignette-style chapters. This novel is poignant and sensitive, but never loses Attenberg's trademark humor. Fans of Dept. of Speculation and Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing are perfect readers for this book. -- Johanna