Roxane gay difficult women

It turns out that when a wrenching past is confronted with wisdom and bravery, the outcome can be compassion and enlightenment—both for the reader who has lived through this kind of unimaginable pain and for the reader who knows nothing of it.

In her new book, Gay delivers a collection of short stories that will make your spine tingle with intrigue.” —Melissa Ragsdale, Bustle.com (“17 of January 2017’s Best Fiction Books to Bring an Electrifying Start to Your New Year”)

“You can’t just use words like ‘great’ or ‘amazing’ to describe this story collection.

We see that anyone, of any gender, is more than a categorical underpinning; we are as messy as we are glorious, as scarred as we are whole, and as wronged as we are triumphant.

The story "Florida" takes place in a posh Sunshine State subdivision, where a group of wealthy women, each from a different background and place in life, must confront the reality of living in such a materialistic setting.

In 88 short, lucid chapters, Gay powerfully takes readers through realities that pain her, vex her, guide her, and inform her work. Gay’s Difficult Women are unforgettable.” —Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com

“Gay tells intimate, deep, wry tales of jaggedly dimensional women . When she told me, I was in a mood.

. . . . With Difficult Women, you really have no idea what’s going to happen next.” —Gemma Sieff, New York Times Book Review

“Gay is a renowned cultural critic and woman of ideas—and the real gift to readers in Difficult Women is her ability to marry her well-known intellectual concerns with good storytelling .

. Be they writer, scientist, or stripper, Gay’s women suffer grave abuses, mourn unfathomable losses, love hard, and work harder.” —Annie Bostrom, Booklist

“A powerful collection of short stories about difficult, troubled, headstrong, and unconventional women . They are us . Gay’s women are complicated, broken in places, and misdirected .

. Whether focusing on assault survivors, single mothers, or women who drown their guilt in wine and bad boyfriends, Gay’s fantastic collection is challenging, quirky, and memorable.

Publishers Weekly

Unified in theme—the struggles of women claiming independence for themselves—but wide-ranging in conception and form .

Gay denies that hers is a story of “triumph,” but readers will be hard pressed to find a better word.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A heart-rending debut memoir from the outspoken feminist and essayist. . . This work will appeal to lovers of literary and feminist fiction.” —Ashanti White, Library Journal (starred review)

“Gay brings the powerful voice that flows through her work as a novelist and cultural critic to the 21 short stories in her first collection .

. They are forging their own paths and finding their own happily-ever-afters, whatever that means for them. In Difficult Women, Gay gives these often-overlooked lives color and meaning.