If You Love It, Let It Kill You

“A dishy work of autofiction that everyone will be talking about.”—The New York TimesA refreshingly irreverent novel about art, desire, domesticity, freedom, and the intricacies of the twenty-first-century female experience, from the acclaimed writer Hannah PittardA novelist learns that an unflattering version of herself will appear prominently—and soon—in her ex-husband’s debut novel. For a week, her life continues largely unaffected by the news—she cooks, runs, teaches, entertains—but the morning after baking mac ’n’ cheese from scratch for her nephew’s sixth birthday, she wakes up changed. The contentment she’s long enjoyed is gone. In its place: nothing. A remarkably ridiculous midlife crisis ensues, featuring a talking cat and a game called Dead Body.

"A dishy work of autofiction that everyone will be talking about."
--The New York Times

"Hannah Pittard's new novel is utterly compelling. I felt like I was standing beside Hannah while she peered in a mirror, looking for truth (in fiction, where it of course resides), pointing out flaws, but allowing the cracks of beauty to be revealed too. Pittard's work lets nothing off the hook, and I read the book in one sitting, desperate to know if she--and therefore I--would be all right by the end. I love Hannah Pittard's dark and squirrelly mind. I'm a huge fan."
--Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful"I loved this book. It's exquisitely sharp, very funny, moving, and strange in the best possible way."
--Emily St. John Mandel, New York Times bestselling author of Station Eleven"A moving and very, very funny story."
-- Elle"The real Ann Beattie has always enjoyed and admired Hannah's ability to convince the reader that ordinary things aren't ordinary, but neither are they necessarily extraordinary--just different, complicated, and worth noticing and thinking about. This book, which either is or isn't a novel, because the real Ann Beattie knows better than to believe in categories, is a wonderful meta turn, and invokes daily life very much the way her, and my, much-appreciated Donald Barthelme would view it: as an of-the-moment 'Critique de la Vie Quotidienne, ' seen through close examination that suggests expansive metaphoric possibilities. Good reading. Really."
--Ann Beattie, author of The State We're In