Use Me

(Paperback)

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Description

As Evie Wakefield grows from a rebellious adolescent in the preppy suburbs of Delaware to a sexually fraught and reluctant adult in New York City, she struggles to negotiate intimacy with the men in her life while sustaining a connection with her best friend - who is sometimes her competitor.

Reviews

Elissa Schappell's "Use Me screams Read Me. In these ten stories Elissa Schappell captures the devastating absurdity, the dark comedy that is contemporary life. It is the family stripped bare, sex and death and other nervy tall tales. This is serious stuff and it's seriously funny. --A.M. Homes, author of "Music for Torching Elissa Schappell has a wonderful eye and ear, she's smart as hell, and she's got the nerve to caper on that edge where you can't quite tell the appalling from the sidesplitting. These astringent family romances broke my heart so entertainingly that only looking back did I see what dark places she'd danced me through. --David Gates, author of "Preston FallsThese linked stories share an extremely appealing voice--mordant, passionate, vulnerable, sly--a voice that sounds lived. Elissa Schappell is very good company. --Amy Hempel, author of "Tumble HomeShe is just so good. All the others can go home. She can stay. --Fay Weldon, author of "Lives and Loves of a She-DevilElissa Schappell's take on grief, desire, death and dying, and her inappropriate fixations on kissing teenage boys and fathers, oh yeah, and nunsis original and funny, and winning. Sometimes, too, it's painful, as all great literature should be. She's a challenge and a star. --Rick Moody, author of "The Ice StormAlthough each story can stand on its own, Schappell's positioning of them and her inclusion of the periods in Evie's life result a layering of character and depth rarely found in story collections. --"San Antonio Express NewsBittersweetoften-funnybeautifully written.--"New York PostHumorous and telling. --"Daily NewsBright, adult writingShe shows off a big talentA seriouslygood novel. It takes romance, relationships, religion, death and fathers as lightly and as seriously as any smart, sane person you knowEvie is one of those rare fictional characters you want to actually meet, befriend, stay close to. --"The Baltimore SunSnappy, energetic, sometimes almost supercharged in its writing. --"Kirkus ReviewsThe pain [Schappell] chronicles is immediate and moving. --"Publishers WeeklyElissa Schapell's "Use Me is a wonderfully satisfying book, the kind ofcoming-of-age novel that somehow fulfills the expectations of the genre in unexpected ways. Schappell is a comic writer with impeccable timing, and "Use Me is quick and entertainingSchappell's prose is agile and deft, and her sentences sound like the riffs of a recklessly funny friend. --"The New York Times Book ReviewFans of "The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing will devour this grittier, grabbier take on the path from addled adolescence to equally perplexing parenthoodSchappell has created an irresistible fictional girlfriend in Evie." Wakefield. -- "GlamourIt's the rock-hard honesty beneath the gem-bright hilarity that make this a debut collection to savor. -- "ElleDelightfulout-and-out literary.--"Vanity FairA gem of a laugh-and-cry out [loud novel]As a paean to a father, it feels just right. --"MirabellaAn impressive debut novelSchappell layers Evie's story poetically[and] renders Evie's grief with surprising eloquence and subtle humor. --"USWitty and poignant. --"Mademoiselle"Use Me has eased into high gear by the end of its first story, and if Evie's in for a bumpy ride, we're ready to rumble alongShe's the kind of character you want to stick withLively without everstumbling over its own cleverness, funny without being smart-alecky, Use Me is a story about growing up that'swritten for grown-ups.--"SalonI like to laugh, and this book yanked me into a million different emotional upheavals, and I loved every minute of it. --"Jane

Author Bio

Elissa Schappell writes the "Hot Type" cohmm for Vanity Fair and is a founding editor of the new literary magazine Tin House. She received her MFA from the Creative Writing Program at New York University. She has been a senior editor at The Paris Review and has contributed to numerous magazines, including GQ, Vogue, Bomb, Bookforum, and Spin. She lives in Brooklyn.