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Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
The author of THE NEW ME returns with a hilarious, horrifying picture of a breakup, a college town and a group of jealous friends
'Halle Butler is a first-rate satirist of the horror show being sold to us as Modern Femininity. She is Thomas Bernhard in a bad mood, wearing ill-fitting tights, scrutinizing old take-out leftovers' CATHERINE LACEY
A breakup. A college town. A group of jealous friends, tipping towards middle age. They go to parties, size each other up. At night, they obsess over past slights, dream of wild triumphs and indulge in elaborate revenge fantasies, all while imagining themselves at the beating heart of various political causes.
The cast of BANAL NIGHTMARE find themselves revolving around the same questions - the choice between freedom and defeat, ambition and humility, and the need to 'speak their truth' and the tendency to slip into brazenly confrontational behaviour.
In this brilliant, hilariously perceptive, and sadistically precise new satire, Halle Butler writes our reality askance, turning a keen eye to the so-called "stability" found in adulthood milestones. In doing so, she once again captures the volatile, angry, surreal, aggrieved, and entirely disorienting atmosphere of our current era.
More books by Halle Butler
Praise for Banal Nightmare
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A pitch-black and wickedly funny take on millennial work culture and the lie of self-improvement. I loved it
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A definitive work of millennial literature
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Made me laugh and cry enough times to feel completely reborn
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Brilliant. For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Halle Butler
Halle Butler is a writer living in New York City. Her first novel, Jillian, was called the "feel-bad book of the year" by the Chicago Tribune. Her second novel, The New Me, was named a Best Book of the Decade by Vox and a Best Book of the Year by Vanity Fair, Vulture, Chicago Tribune, Mashable, Bustle, and NPR, and the New Yorker called it a "definitive work of millennial literature." She was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree.
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