In Praise of Messy Lives
Katie Roiphe
Available as Paperback
‘Is there some adventure out there that we are not having, some vividness, some wild pleasure, that we are not experiencing in our responsible, productive days? … We are bequeathed on earth one very short life, and it might be good, one of these days, to make sure that we are living it.’
In this powerful, unified and vital work Katie Roiphe touches on everything from the romantic ambivalence of Jane Austen to the cast of Mad Men whilst delivering a collection of autobiographical pieces that are by turns, deeply moving, self-critical, razor-sharp, entertaining and unapologetic in their defence of ‘messy lives’.
“Brilliant and unflinching, on everything from divorce to Mad Men to sex to the food we eat. Every sentence is an eye-opener”
India Knight
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“[A] devastatingly good new book”
Dwight Garner
the New York Times
“Roiphe strides across the modern culture with [these] magnificent essays … In Praise of Messy Lives is a worthy successor [to Joan Didion]”
Joy Lo Dico
independent On Sunday
“Daring, vivid, combative … the refreshing irreverence of her book might well be unique among writers of her generation”
wall Street Journal
“I am in awe of Roiphe’s style and range, her scholarly attention to detail, that she clearly has an impressive intellect… Roiphe is a brilliant writer and thinker”
Sarah Vine
the Times
Katie Roiphe
Katie Roiphe is a professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. She writes a column on life, literature, and politics for Slate and writes for The New York Times, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Paris Review and other publications. She lives in New York.