All About Lulu: A Novel

All About Lulu: A Novel

The tenth anniversary edition of a book that is "still as audaciously brilliant as it was on first read, plumbing the depths of the cruel rhapsody of obsessive love, the pain of feeling different, and the deep pleasure of finally figuring out who you really are, and who you want to be (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World ) Weakness has always been a concern for William Miller: growing up vegetarian in a family of bodybuilders will do that to a person. But William is further weakened by the death of his mother, the arrival of a new step-mother, and his irrepressible crush on his new step-sister, Lulu. As Lulu faces down her own challenges, William watches his life shift into tumult and despair. Once Lulu departs for college, Will goes into the world to find himself--discovering Western philosophy, a cruel dating world, enduring friendship, and, ultimately, his true calling. Emboldened by his turn as a late-night radio personality, Will rescues himself from the self-image of weakness he’d long wished to escape. This debut novel explores the fundamental difference between where we come from--and the endless possibilities of where we may go. Now with an author's introduction and a foreword by J. Ryan Stadal. "I first read All About Lulu almost a decade ago, and you know what? It's still as audaciously brilliant as it was on first read, plumbing the depths of the cruel rhapsody of obsessive love, the pain of feeling different, and the deep pleasure of finally figuring out who you really are, and who you want to be. Devastatingly assured, wickedly funny, and sublimely moving, All About Lulu proves that Evison, so rightfully acclaimed, had that spark of genius right from the start." --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World "Evison's debut novel of love and loss, growing up, throwing up and moving on is a stunner . . . Evison provides readers a viciously funny and deeply felt portrayal of a blended family and one man's thwarted longing." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review "Most novels in which a boy must oil up his bodybuilder father for competition would merit our attention, but that detail is just one of many amazements on offer in All About Lulu. Will the Thrill is a great literary charmer, and through his rich voice Jonathan Evison has concocted a funny and painfully honest piece of fiction." --Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask: A Novel, The Fun Parts: Stories "Jonathan Evison is a killer talent, and All About Lulu is the kind of novel readers have been hungry for: Funny, smart, entertaining--an all around delight. Literary fiction needs more books like this; maybe then people would stop talking about the Death of the Novel and just read and enjoy themselves" ―Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng Praise for the first edition of All About Lulu "Evison's debut novel of love and loss, growing up, throwing up and moving on ― is a stunner... Evison provides readers a viciously funny and deeply felt portrayal of a blended family and one man's thwarted longing." ― Publishers Weekly , Starred Review "Most novels in which a boy must oil up his bodybuilder father for competition would merit our attention, but that detail is just one of many amazements on offer in All About Lulu . Will the Thrill is a great literary charmer, and through his rich voice Jonathan Evison has concocted a funny and painfully honest piece of fiction." ―Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask: A Novel , The Fun Parts:Stories "Jonathan Evison is a killer talent, and All About Lulu is the kind of novel readers have been hungry for: Funny, smart, entertaining -- an all around delight. Literary fiction needs more books like this; maybe then people would stop talking about the Death of the Novel and just read and enjoy themselves" ―Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng Jonathan Evison is the author All About Lulu , West of Here , The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving , This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! , and Lawn Boy . He's written for The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal , NPR , and Salon . He lives in Seattle with his family. Jell-O Shots, Hot Dog Cakes, and Enduring Gratitude When All About Lulu was originally published by Soft Skull in the spring of 2008, I was a thirty-nine-year-old marginally employed landscaper with a checkered and fabulously unfocused employment history which included (but was not limited to) caregiver, landscaper, gas-meter-checker, bartender, rotten tomato sorter, auto detailer, purveyor of sausages, and telemarketer of sunglasses. I had seven previous novels under my belt before Lulu, all of which were conspicuously unpublished. Some of them were actually pretty good. Most of them were not. My wife, Lauren, was pregnant with our first child at the time of Lulu’s release. We were broke as hell and eating a lot of Swanson’s pot pies and spaghetti, as we worried about providing for