A Cigarette Lit Backwards: A Novel

(Hardback)

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Description

Set in the punk-rock scene of the early 2000s, a sharply observed, darkly comic literary novel about how far one young woman will go to find acceptanceKat is dying to be accepted by the North Carolina punks; she is totally desperate to seem cool. At a punk show, she ends up backstage with a rock star and gets noticed by a photojournalist. And thena dream come true for Kather reputation skyrockets the next morning when an online magazine publishes pictures of her backstage, deeming her a groupie icon. But to maintain this notoriety, Kat makes a series of devastating mistakes, and soon enough, she becomes unrecognizable to herself and others. The truth, as always, comes out. Kat had already lost most of her friends by then, and after the Rolling Stones story, she's got no shot at redemption so she runs off to New York City to find the journalist who started this mess in the first place. Tea Hacic-Vlahovics A Cigarette Lit Backwards is a sometimes funny, often brutally honest examination of growing up. Its dark and daring, unflinchingly examining the yearning to be noticed and accepted and the lengths one will go to get there.

Reviews

Hacic-Vlahovics writing is solid, inhabiting Kats voice with both hardness and humor . . . This is a self-assured sophomore effort from a writer to watch. Appropriately hardcore but deceptively sweet, too. * Kirkus Reviews *
Almost everyone has an interesting story. Few of us have the ability or the courage to navigate those experiences, process them, then convert them into a narrative that can keep the rest of us on the edge of our seat. An even smaller number of us have the ability to carve out our own story in a way that helps us connect and care about each other a little bit more. Tea has checked all those boxes with A Cigarette Lit Backwards and maybe a few more. * Greg Attonito of The Bouncing Souls *
Tea Hacic-Vlahovic has written a perfect coming-of-age storywith a perfect soundtrackthat walks the fragile in-between of finding out who you are and trying not to let other people decide for you. Welcome to the party room. * Brendan Jay Sullivan, author of Rivington was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives *
Hacic-Vlahovic perfectly captures that clumsy era of teenage girlhood set in small town North Carolina. A time capsule of growing up in the noughties; a story of sixteen-year-old Kat beginning to grasp her powers. Punk, cut with tenderness, like all true street kids. * Marlowe Granados, author of Happy Hour *

Author Bio

Tea Hacic-Vlahovic is a Croatian American writer based in Los Angeles and author of the novel Life of the Party. Previously a columnist for Vice and Wired Italy and contributing editor of Wonderland magazine, shes the society columnist for Spike art magazine and contributes to Columbia Journal, Dazed, Autre, and others. She is the host of the Troie Radicali podcast and the founder of Stai Zitta magazine. A Cigarette Lit Backwards is her second novel.