Books & Spoken Word
Kristen Roupenian
Kristen Roupenian, the author of the New Yorker short story, Cat Person, (“perhaps the most talked about short story ever” Sian Cain in The Guardian), which became a viral sensation in 2017, introduces her debut collection of stories, You Know You Want This.
Emerging from a seven-year relationship in her mid-thirties, Kristen Roupenian thought she’d be much better at dating – she was older, wiser and boasted a finely tuned bullshit detector. Instead, a memorably bad encounter planted the seed for Cat Person. It established Roupenian as one of the most talked-about new voices in American fiction.
“You Know You Want This is a compulsive collection about sex, dating and modern life. These are stories of women’s lives now. They also happen to be horror stories. In some, women endure the horror. In others, they inflict it.
“Here are women at work, at home, on dates, at the doctor’s, with their families and with their friends. Here are women grappling with desire, punishment, guilt and anger. These are stories that make you feel fascinated but repelled, scared but delighted, revolted but aroused.
“You Know You Want This shows why Kristen Roupenian is the most audacious new voice in American fiction. Funny, furious, sly and explicit, she takes a long, hard look at the messed-up power dynamic between men and women – and messes it up some more.”
Photo: Elisa Roupenian Toha/Jonathan Knowles
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