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Out Now!
Is a new life possible? Because Shira Greene’s life hasn’t quite turned out at planned. Shira is a permanent temp with a few short stories published in minor literary magazines and an abandoned PhD on Dante’s Vita Nuova.
Her life has some happy certainties, though: she lives with her friend Ahmad, and her daughter Andi on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They’re an unconventional family, but a real one, with Friday night dinner rituals, private jokes, and the shared joys and strains of any other family.
So when Romei, winner of last year’s Nobel Prize and the irascible idol of grad students everywhere, asks her to translate his new book, Shira is happy . . . but stunned. Suddenly, she sees a new life beckoning: academic glory, a career as a literary translator, and even love (with a part-time rabbi and owner of her local indie bookstore). That is, until Romei starts sending her pages of the manuscript and she realizes that something odd is going on: his book may in fact be untranslatable.
A deft, funny, and big-hearted novel about second chances, Good on Paper is a grand novel of family, friendship, and possibility.
Read an excerpt!
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The Nervous Breakdown
What People are Saying
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New York Times
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NPR Books
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Kirkus Review (starred review)
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Publishers’ Weekly (starred review)
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San Francisco Chronicle
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Boston Globe
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The Guardian
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Bookforum
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Los Angeles Review of Books
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Electric Literature
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Toronto Star
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Bustle
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Elle
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Dallas Morning News
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Jewish Book Council
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Barnes & Noble
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Slate
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Book Riot
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Publishers’ Weekly, PW Picks: Books of the Week.
The Millions, Most Anticipated: Great 2016 Book Preview.
Emerging Writers Network, 2016: What I’m Looking Forward to Reading.
Vol. 1 Brooklyn, January 2016 Books Preview.
Bustle, Twelve Books Everyone in Your Book Club Will Love.
Brit+Co, 11 of the Best New Books to Read in January.