An Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of an Outsider in Paris

(Hardback)

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Description

It's Girl Interrupted meets Miranda July-with a touch of Joan Didion-in this captivating collection of original essays revolving around a young American girl's coming of age in Paris. As an adolescent in a foreign country, Stephanie LaCava found an unconventional way to deal with her social awkwardness and feelings of uncertainty about the future by taking solace from the strange and beautiful objects she came across in her daily life. Filled with beautiful illustrations and providing a retrospective of nineties fashion and culture, An Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of an Outsider in Paris is sure to be a collector's item for Francophiles or anyone who has ever found security in the strangest of places.

Reviews

"This captivating, wonderfully strange little book is like no other I've ever read. Stephanie LaCava has created something original and true, at once emotionally resonant and intellectually challenging. A sheer delight." -- Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion and Slow Motion "What cleverly fills the honeycomb of LaCava's own story is a compassionate, evocative biography of seemingly aberrant things and a collection of historical anecdotes that most readers would never otherwise learn, let alone find gathered all together in one small (but not diminishing), deliberate, and careful book." -- Booklist "A series of wistfully illustrated essays... A strange and lovely journey." -- Flavorwire "Its brilliance lies in the depth in plumbs... Stephanie LaCava, along with the lovely illustrations throughout the book, shows us just how extraordinary these odd things are." -- Matchbook Magazine "Truly a lovely book in every sense." -- Minnesota Public Radio's "The Daily Circuit Blog" "With help from Matthew Nelson's elegant drawings, the worldly LaCava impresses by unearthing hidden treasures from a painful youth." -- Interview Magazine

Author Bio

Stephanie LaCava is a writer working in New York and Paris. Her work has appeared in T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Vogue, and other print and online publications, including The Paris Review and Tin House.