{"product_id":"9781250039576","title":"The Lonely City : Adventures in the Art of Being Alone","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Olivia Laing\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e#1 Book of the Year from Brain Pickings\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a best book of the year by NPR, \u003ci\u003eNewsweek, Slate, Pop Sugar\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMarie Claire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eElle, Publishers\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWeekly\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eLit Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA dazzling work of biography, memoir, and cultural criticism on the subject of loneliness, told through the lives of iconic artists, by the acclaimed author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Trip to Echo Spring\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her midthirties, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by the most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art. Moving from Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks to Andy Warhol’s Time Capsules, from Henry Darger’s hoarding to David Wojnarowicz’s AIDS activism, Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone, illuminating not only the causes of loneliness but also how it might be resisted and redeemed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHumane, provocative, and moving,\u003ci\u003e The Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e is a celebration of a strange and lovely state, adrift from the larger continent of human experience, but intrinsic to the very act of being alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A beautiful meander of a book\"—\u003cb\u003eHanya Yanagihara, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Olivia Laing, in her new book, \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e, picks up the topic of painful urban isolation and sets it down in many smart and oddly consoling places. She makes the topic her own . . . Perhaps the best praise I can give this book is to concur with Ms. Laing’s dedication: 'If you’re lonely, this one’s for you.'\"—\u003cb\u003eDwight Garner, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This book serves as both provocation and comfort, a secular prayer for those who are alone—meaning all of us.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"One of the finest writers of the new non-fiction . . . compelling and original.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eHarper's Bazaar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An uncommonly observant hybrid of memoir, history and cultural criticism . . . a book of extraordinary compassion and insight.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Laing is an astute and consistently surprising culture critic who deeply identifies with her subjects' vulnerabilities . . . absolutely one of a kind.\"—\u003cb\u003eMaureen Corrigan, NPR's \u003ci\u003eFresh Air\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"It's not easy to pull off switching between criticism and confession—and like \u003ci\u003eEcho Spring, The Lonely City \u003c\/i\u003eis an impressive and beguiling combination of autobiography and biography, a balancing act that Laing effortlessly performs. Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subject in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eElle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A lovely thing. Exceptionally skillful at changing gears, Ms. Laing moves fluently between memoir, biography (not just of her principal cast but of a large supporting one), art criticism and the fruits of her immersion in ‘loneliness studies' . . . She writes about Darger and the rest with insight and empathy and about herself with a refreshing lack of exhibitionism . . . Every page of \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e exudes a disarming, deep-down fondness for humanity.”—\u003ci\u003eT\u003cb\u003ehe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Laing’s prose is elegant and concise, with a breath of Joan Didion . . . In its interdisciplinary scope and mix of culture, theory, and memoir, The Lonely City brings to mind other nonfiction hits of recent years, books like Maggie Nelson’s \u003ci\u003eThe Argonauts\u003c\/i\u003e or Leslie Jamison’s The \u003ci\u003eEmpathy Exams\u003c\/i\u003e.\"\u003ci\u003e—\u003cb\u003eThe Millions\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e bristles with heart-piercing wisdom... It's a ghostly blueprint of urban loneliness—an emotion that Laing calls ‘a city in itself’—that reminds us how loneliness can sometimes bring us together.”—\u003cb\u003eJason Heller, NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laing’s meditation gradually gathers force into a manifesto, taking aim at the assumption of simple, unknowable 'mental illness' to explain the life and creative work of the outsider artist Henry Darger or of Solanas—or of Warhol, for that matte...Without glamorizing either loneliness or the urban decay of New York in the ’70s, \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e builds an impassioned case for difficulty and difference, for social rebellion and the unpredictable artistic richness that can result.\"\u003ci\u003e—\u003cb\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laing, who used group biography to examine the connections between alcoholism and literature in \u003ci\u003eThe Trip to Echo Spring\u003c\/i\u003e, here performs an almost magical trick: Reminding us of how it feels to be lonely, this book gently affirms our connectedness.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Laing is always circling back toward a piercingly relevant observation. And, oh, those observations! . . . Laing is a great critic, not least because she understands that art can and often does manifest multiple conflicting meanings and desires at once.\"—\u003cb\u003eLaura Miller, \u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Laing writes with a compassion and curiosity rarely seen in any genre . . . Although I read \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e in the same urban spaces that usually impart a familiar loneliness—loud cafés, quiet apartments and slow trains choked with strangers—I felt different while reading it . . . Something surprising happened, something Laing most likely intended\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A singular, fiercely candid and rare book.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Buffalo News\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[An] acute, nervy and personal investigation into urban solitude . . . [Laing] writes with lyrical clarity, empathy, and a knack for taking a wandering, edgy path, stretching themes (and genres), while never losing an underlying urgency . . . A group biography all in one, which takes a difficult, almost taboo, subject and deftly turns it over anew.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Luminously wise and deeply compassionate, \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City \u003c\/i\u003eis a  fierce and essential work. Laing is a masterful biographer, memoirist  and critic. Fearlessly tracing the roots of loneliness, its forbidding  consequences, and its complicated and beautiful relationship with art,  it is powerful, poignant and magical. Reading it made my heart ache yet  filled me with hope for the world.\"—\u003cb\u003eHelen Macdonald, author of\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003cb\u003eH is for Hawk\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[An] imaginative and poignant quest . . . Through her ardent research, empathetic response, original thought, courageous candor, and exquisite language, Laing joins the ever-growing pool of writers—among them Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hope Jahren, Jhumpa Lahiri, Leslie Jamison, Helen Macdonald, Sally Mann, Patti Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Edmund de Waal, and Terry Tempest Williams—who are transforming memoir into a daring and dynamic literary form of discovery that laces the stories of individuals into the continuum of humanity and the larger web of life on Earth to provocative and transforming effect.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“By focusing on four artists . . . Laing’s writing becomes expansive, exploring their biographies, sharing art analysis, and weaving in observations from periods of desolation that was at times 'cold as ice and clear as glass.' She invents new ways to consider how isolation plays into art or even the Internet (which turns her into an obsessed teenager, albeit one who calls the screen her 'cathected silver lover'). For once, loneliness becomes a place worth lingering.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"[An] absorbing melding of memoir, biography, art essay, and philosophical meditation . . . [An] illuminating, enriching book.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A remarkable combination of personal mediation and psychological and artistic inquiry, \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e is always superbly written, fascinating and often sharply moving.  Ultimately the book has a paradoxical effect: at the same time as it makes one aware of one's own inescapable solitude, it leaves one feeling less alone.\"—\u003cb\u003eAdam Foulds, author of \u003ci\u003eIn the Wolf's Mouth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An extraordinary more-than-memoir; a sort of memoir-plus-plus, partway between Helen MacDonald’s \u003ci\u003eH Is for Hawk \u003c\/i\u003eand the diary of Virginia Woolf; a lyrical account of wading through a period of self-expatriation, both physical and psychological, in which Laing paints an intimate portrait of loneliness.... \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely City\u003c\/i\u003e is a layered and endlessly rewarding book, among the finest I have ever read.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e- \u003c\/i\u003eMaria Popova\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003eBrain Pickings\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong-listed NPR Best Book of the Year (2016), Long-listed Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year (2016), Short-listed National Book Critics Circle Awards - Nominee (2016), Nominated Goodreads Choice Awards (2016), Short-listed National Book Critics Circle Award - Nominee (2016)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250039576\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Picador","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40596671004878,"sku":"9781250039576","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_f4f74268-80c8-4843-9f76-391667753ef0.jpg?v=1637864182","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250039576","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}