The Book of Dahlia

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert, Free Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Elisa Albert ISBN: 9781416565550
Publisher: Free Press Publication: March 11, 2008
Imprint: Free Press Language: English
Author: Elisa Albert
ISBN: 9781416565550
Publisher: Free Press
Publication: March 11, 2008
Imprint: Free Press
Language: English

From the author of the critically acclaimed story collection How This Night Is Different comes a dark, arresting, fearlessly funny story of one young woman's terminal illness. In The Book of Dahlia, Elisa Albert walks a dazzling line between gravitas and irreverence, mining an exhilarating blend of skepticism and curiosity, compassion and candor, high and low culture.

Meet Dahlia Finger: twenty-nine, depressed, whip-smart, occasionally affable, bracingly honest, resolutely single, and perennially unemployed. She spends her days stoned in front of the TV, watching the same movies repeatedly, like "a form of prayer." But Dahlia's so-called life is upended by an aggressive, inoperable brain tumor.

Stunned and uncomprehending, Dahlia must work toward reluctant emotional reckoning with the aid of a questionable self-help guide. She obsessively revisits the myriad heartbreaks, disappointments, rages, and regrets that comprise the story of her life -- from her parents' haphazard Israeli courtship to her kibbutz conception; from the role of beloved daughter and little sister to that of abandoned, suicidal adolescent; from an affluent childhood in Los Angeles to an aimless existence in the gentrified wilds of Brooklyn; from a girl with "options" to a girl with none -- convinced that cancer struck because she herself is somehow at fault.

With her take-no-prisoners perspective, her depressive humor, and her extreme vulnerability, Dahlia Finger is an unforgettable anti-heroine. This staggering portrait of one young woman's life and death confirms Elisa Albert as a "witty, incisive" (Variety) and even "wonder-inducing" writer (Time Out New York).

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From the author of the critically acclaimed story collection How This Night Is Different comes a dark, arresting, fearlessly funny story of one young woman's terminal illness. In The Book of Dahlia, Elisa Albert walks a dazzling line between gravitas and irreverence, mining an exhilarating blend of skepticism and curiosity, compassion and candor, high and low culture.

Meet Dahlia Finger: twenty-nine, depressed, whip-smart, occasionally affable, bracingly honest, resolutely single, and perennially unemployed. She spends her days stoned in front of the TV, watching the same movies repeatedly, like "a form of prayer." But Dahlia's so-called life is upended by an aggressive, inoperable brain tumor.

Stunned and uncomprehending, Dahlia must work toward reluctant emotional reckoning with the aid of a questionable self-help guide. She obsessively revisits the myriad heartbreaks, disappointments, rages, and regrets that comprise the story of her life -- from her parents' haphazard Israeli courtship to her kibbutz conception; from the role of beloved daughter and little sister to that of abandoned, suicidal adolescent; from an affluent childhood in Los Angeles to an aimless existence in the gentrified wilds of Brooklyn; from a girl with "options" to a girl with none -- convinced that cancer struck because she herself is somehow at fault.

With her take-no-prisoners perspective, her depressive humor, and her extreme vulnerability, Dahlia Finger is an unforgettable anti-heroine. This staggering portrait of one young woman's life and death confirms Elisa Albert as a "witty, incisive" (Variety) and even "wonder-inducing" writer (Time Out New York).

More books from Free Press

Cover of the book Tatuajes en el corazon by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Adult Psychopathology, Second Edition by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Transformation of War by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Tell Them Who I Am by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book The Typewriter Is Holy by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book 25 Poems in Praise of Political Independents and Mavericks by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Hamlet on the Holodeck by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Trotsky by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Babel No More by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book The Seventies by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Quality Is Personal by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book When Battered Women Kill by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Managing a Nonprofit Organization by Elisa Albert
Cover of the book Getting Your Life Back by Elisa Albert
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy