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Vendor
Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

THE BABYSITTER AT REST

Jen George

Five stories?several as long as novellas?introduce the world to Jen George, a writer whose furiously imaginative new voice calls to mind Donald Barthelme and Leonora Carrington no less than Kathy Acker and Chris Kraus. In "Guidance/The Party," an ethereal alcoholic "Guide" in robes and flowing hair appears to help a thirty- three-year-old woman prepare a party for her belated adulthood; "Take Care of Me Forever" tragically lambasts the medical profession as a ship of fools afloat in loneliness and narcissism; "Instruction" chronicles a season in an unconventional art school called The Warehouse, where students divide their time between orgies, art critiques, and burying dead racehorses. Combining slapstick, surrealism, erotica, and social criticism, Jen George's sprawling creative energy belies the secret precision and unexpected tenderness of everything she writes.

Jen George was born in Thousand Oaks, California. She lives and works in New York City. The Babysitter at Rest is her first book.
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Published 2016-10-01 by Dorothy, A Publishing Project

Comments

We all know it's commitment to something absurd that makes things funny—but in The Babysitter at Rest Jen George commits to scenarios that are not just absurd but weird in a deeply true, ‘unspeakable-underpinning-of-reality' sort of way. And thus her commitment is both funny and kind of spiritual at the same time—and by laughing, you're admitting this female inner universe exists. And that kind of changes everything. -- Miranda July

This brilliantly caustic début collection of stories is an attack on the pieties of contemporary social life and the niceties of traditional fiction.

An absolutely killer new book of short stories by Jen George. Totally unlike anything I've read before. Extends the near perfect streak of Dorothy, a publishing project. —Ben Marcus (on Facebook)

Best Short Story Collections of 2016 -- Electric Literature Best Fiction Books, 2016 -- Entropy Our Favorite Books from 2016 -- The Believer Our 20 Favorite Books of 2016 -- The A.V. Club

In this surgical examination of being young, female, and unfulfilled, debut author George employs not just a scalpel, but a whole kit of ominous and eerily specific instruments. Acerbic and sly, this five-story collection explores the elaborate performance of identity . . . A headlong charge through the process of becoming—an artist, an adult, a nobody, something, anything.

I had to judge a story contest of 600+ anonymous stories and I read each one and without hesitation Jen George's story was my favourite. I'm so happy this collection exists. I feel drunk with love for these stories. They're so funny and weird and true. — Sheila Heti