The Life of the Mind
By Christine SmallwoodA witty, intelligent novel of an American woman on the edge, by a brilliant new voice in fiction--"the glorious love child of Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney" (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
As an adjunct professor of English in New York City with no hope of finding a permanent position, Dorothy feels "like a janitor in the temple who continued to sweep because she had nowhere else to be but who had lost her belief in the essential sanctity of the enterprise." No one but her boyfriend knows that she's just had a miscarriage, not even her therapists--Dorothy has two of them. Nor can she bring herself to tell the other women in her life: her friends, her doctor, her mentor, her mother. The freedom not to be a mother is one of the victories of feminism. So why does she feel like a failure?
Piercingly intelligent and darkly funny, The Life of the Mind is a novel about endings: of youth, of professional aspiration, of possibility, of the illusion that our minds can ever free us from the tyranny of our bodies. And yet Dorothy's mind is all she has to make sense of a world largely out of her control, one where disaster looms and is already here, where things happen but there is no plot. There is meaning, however, if Dorothy figures out where to look, and as the weeks pass and the bleeding subsides, she finds it in the most unlikely places, from a Las Vegas poolside to a living room karaoke session. In literature--as Dorothy well knows--stories end. But life, as they say, goes on.
Book details
- Hardcover
- 240 pages
- English
- 0593229894
- 9780593229897
About Christine Smallwood
christine smallwood is a contributing writer at the new york times magazine and a contributing editor at harper's magazine. her writing has appeared in the Read More about Christine Smallwood
More Books By Christine Smallwood
People who bought this also bought
Fuzzy Logic: The Revolutionary Computer Technology that Is Changing Our World
Used Book
Soups, Stews and Casseroles - Food Writers' Favorites (Quick & Easy Recipes)
Used Book
Signspotting : Absurd and Amusing Signs from Around the World by Doug Lansky
Used Book
Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times : Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What
Used Book
Lost in the Mirror: An Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder
Used Book
Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought)
Used Book
Surrounded by Narcissists : Or, How to Stop Other People's Egos Ruining Your Life
New Book
Theirs Is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America
Used Book