Leni Zumas: A postcard at Everyday Genius

Friday, May 28, 2010

A postcard at Everyday Genius

This is my contribution to Rozalia Jovanovic's "Manual for a Productive Everyday Life" project at Everyday Genius, which features postcards by the likes of Deb Olin Unferth, Tao Lin, Giancarlo Ditrapano, Shane Jones, and Zibuokle Martinaityte. My assignment: "Describe in (extreme) detail one minor activity you did today."

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About The Listeners

"A compelling build-it-yourself tapestry of cherished memories and open wounds"

—Publishers Weekly

"Zumas has already proven herself a remarkable maker of short stories. Now she has sustained and heightened the exhilaration of her writing in this striking novel."

—Sam Lipsyte, The Ask

"Leni Zumas's visceral debut novel is a darkly funny and disturbing rager. Weaving a dreamlike coming-of-age story with the melancholic tale of a rock band self-destructing and a family's loss, Zumas's deft language careens through the lives of her characters with killer sentence after killer sentence. It's a crushing, dazzling performance."

—Kevin Sampsell, A Common Pornography

about farewell navigator

It's a rare writer who can bring us closer to people we might cross the street to avoid.

—L.A. Weekly

Zumas gives socially awkward, mysteriously gifted and self-destructive outcasts spellbinding, unflinching voice in her debut collection. ... It’s a powerful, irresistible collection.

—Publishers Weekly

Almost no one does the right thing—or, at least, the expected thing—in these stories. You may find them funny (there's just enough humor to keep them upbeat of Carson McCullers), but there's also a very good chance they will unzip you, unsettle you. ... Synapses snap, crackle and pop while you're reading this strange collection.

—The Los Angeles Times

More reviews here...