{"product_id":"9780374186951","title":"Life Events : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eLife Events\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Karolina Waclawiak\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eBuzzfeed\u003c\/i\u003e's 29 Books We Couldn't Put Down This Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Every page of this novel is a point of no return; once you’ve read Karolina Waclawiak's \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e, you will never see life, death, grief, and healing the same way.”—Saeed Jones, author of \u003ci\u003eHow We Fight for Our Lives\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA woman at a crossroads learns the only way to reclaim her life is to help others die\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eKarolina Waclawiak’s breakout novel, \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e, follows Evelyn, who, at thirty-seven, is on the verge of divorce and anxiously dreading the death of everyone she loves. She combats her existential crisis by avoiding her husband and aimlessly driving along the freeways of California looking for an escape—one that eventually comes when she discovers a collective of “exit guides.” Evelyn enrolls in their training course, where she learns to provide companionship and a final exit for terminally ill patients seeking a conscious departure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe meets Daphne, a dying woman still full of life; Lawrence, an aging porn king; and Daniel, who seems too young to die and whom Evelyn falls for, despite knowing better, not to mention the exit guide code. Each client opens something new in Evelyn, allowing her a chance to access her own grief and confront the self-destructive ways she suppresses her pain. When Evelyn travels through the Southwest to an afterlife convention to further her death education, she must finally face her complicated relationship with her alcoholic father and reconcile her life choices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSensitively observed and darkly funny, \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e is a moving, enlivening story of the human condition: the doldrums of loneliness, the consuming regret of past mistakes, and the thrill, finally, of finding meaning—and love—where you least expect it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Astute and distressing . . . Waclawiak accomplishes a brilliant feat here, creating an atmosphere of almost palpable, effortful dullness that presides over the entire novel. With so much opportunity for raw emotion, the author seems to avoid it at all cost, going for exceptional clarity instead . . . The novel offers you a hand, gently helping you pull your head out of the sand to accept the inevitable.\" --\u003cb\u003eLara Vapnyar, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Waclawiak gives us a sidelong examination of death. Vivid portraits of those who have chosen to end their lives leave a lasting impression, as do Evelyn’s long drives in the California desert, during which she conceives of the wilderness as taking 'the land back from people, to turn it back over to vast nothingness.'\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker \u003c\/i\u003e(Briefly Noted)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterwork in pleasurable dread. It’s a book that one-ups the faceless, gloomy, self-seriousness a dictionary usually associates with the word, and turns it into a fun interrogation of a feeling that every living person will one day confront: death, and our anxiety of it.\" --\u003cb\u003eHayden Bennett, \u003ci\u003eThe Believer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eLife Events \u003c\/i\u003eis] as clear-eyed and precise a look at grief as I’ve ever read.\" --\u003cb\u003eDiane Cook, \u003ci\u003eBOMB\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Waclawiak pivots from the coastal Connecticut setting of \u003ci\u003eThe Invaders\u003c\/i\u003e for a bleak, atmospheric foray through the deserts and valleys around Los Angeles. . .Waclawiak maintains a gloomy tone through well-observed details of the landscape which mixes well with Evelyn’s wry irreverence. This doesn’t promise answers, nor does it give any, and it’s better for it.\" --\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Richly symbolic and undeniably haunting . . . [an] atmospheric novel of emotional despair and existential dread . . . there is much to applaud in the manner in which [Waclawiak's] heroine honestly assesses her limitations and acknowledges her pain.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[M]oves at a meditative pace. What makes [\u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e] engaging is its narrative voice and its cleareyed assessment of the human condition. . .Contemplative and complex.\" --\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Waclawiak writes with emotional precision and explores the tragedy of existence by masterfully walking the line between suffering and hope.\" --\u003cb\u003eArianna Rebolini, \u003ci\u003eBuzzFeed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003cb\u003eBrilliant and exhilarating\u003c\/b\u003e. Every page of \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e shines with \u003cb\u003einsight, feeling, and astonishing candor\u003c\/b\u003e, and not a sentence rings false. I love this novel.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eR.O. Kwon, author of\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Incendiaries\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Every page of this novel is a point of no return; once you’ve read Karolina Waclawiak's \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cb\u003eyou will never see life, death, grief, and healing the same way\u003c\/b\u003e. Waclawiak's \u003cb\u003emesmerizing storytelling, both painfully funny and joyfully despairing\u003c\/b\u003e, immediately grabs hold of you and takes you on a ride. And this highway has no exits.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eSaeed Jones, author of \u003ci\u003eHow We Fight for Our Lives\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea masterwork\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eon grief and loss\u003c\/b\u003e, living and dying, feeling trapped and becoming free. \u003cb\u003eThis transcendent novel braided the numbness and the hope of everyday living into a lifeline that pulled me along through each mesmerizing chapter\u003c\/b\u003e. If you've ever wanted to escape, this stunning book is for you. If you stayed because you knew there could be more, it's also for you.”\u003cb\u003e—Diane Cook, author of\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMan V. Nature \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e is a hypnotic novel that beautifully grapples with fundamental questions about how to die and how to live. Karolina Waclawiak transports the reader into the streets of Los Angeles, the deserts of the southwest, the apartments of the dying, and a woman's life at a moment of profound change. Filled with compelling, provocative details about the work of \"exit guides\" for terminally ill people, \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e is both a mid-life bildungsroman and a meditation on self-determination. I can't stop thinking about this novel.\" --\u003cb\u003eLydia Kiesling, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Golden State\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this exquisite novel, Karolina Waclawiak rightfully recasts the American West as the territory of wandering dreams and dreamers and the land where this life and the improbable afterlife most often collide. \u003ci\u003eLife Events\u003c\/i\u003e is a deeply moving meditation on death and the dying, the fierce weight of marriage and family, and the unrelenting absurdity of being alive.” \u003cb\u003e—Hannah Lillith Assadi, author of \u003ci\u003eSonora\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780374186951\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40717564117198,"sku":"9780374186951","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_caa1b87a-3424-4f6e-a521-2d89d92bcf7f.jpg?v=1641016663","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780374186951","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}