Synopsis
'Fiercely independent, all of Evans’s characters struggle for a place in a world intent of fencing them out.' - New York Times Book Review
The extraordinary début short story collection from Danielle Evans, one of the United States' foremost literary talents, is published in the UK for the first time.
A college student's unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront her feelings of resentment toward her more privileged classmates. A father’s misguided attempt to rescue a gift for his adult daughter magnifies all he doesn’t know about her. And two teenage girls’ flirt with adulthood leads to disastrous consequences.
Based in a world where inequality is reality, but where the shifting terrain of adolescence and family are the most complicating forces, Evans’ characters are wry, wise and utterly original. Striking in their emotional immediacy, the electrifying, prize-winning stories in Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self offer a fresh perspective on race and class in contemporary America.
'Danielle Evans is funny as hell' - Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine
'Knife-sharp wit and tender but unflinching eye' - V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage
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Reviews
“Danielle Evans's considerable talents are in evidence on every page of this impressive debut. She finds her often surprising dramatic material in the unexpected asides of modern life, with results that are intense, intelligent, humane, and funny. I look forward to reading more.”Daniel Alarcon, author of Lost City Radio
“Evans's knife-sharp wit and tender but unflinching eye create a range of characters who are entirely sympathetic, even as they tumble headlong into their own mistakes.”V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage
“Danielle Evans is funny as hell. Which only makes all the heartbreak in these stories more surprising and satisfying. The young women in this collection are always on the edge of real trouble but don't be fooled, they're the dangerous ones. Written with wonderful clarity and a novelist's sense of scope, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self is a fabulous literary debut.”Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine
“Danielle Evans's stories are fresh, arresting, real. The young women and men in them could be sitting across from you on the subway or strolling past you on a college campus. And the young woman who brings them to us is a writer to watch.”Martha Southgate, author of The Fall of Rome
