Robert Gould Knihy

"I absolutely loved this book! Charming, funny – I laughed out loud several times – and plenty of heartstring-pulling moments to boot." Sarah Turner (The Unmumsy Mum), author of Stepping Up. Have you ever wondered how normal you are? What if you were perfectly average? For Emily, this realization hits hard when she sees a documentary on the average human and recognizes herself in it—her job, her hair, her favorite food, even her blood type. Determined to break free from her ordinary life, she decides to travel the world (or at least leave her hometown), become a vegan (because hating cheese is interesting), and do something daring (as long as it’s safe). Nothing will stop Emily from living her best life, not even Josh and his dimples, because falling in love would be too ordinary. Emily is set on being extraordinary. Praise for this debut highlights its humor and emotional depth, with one reviewer calling it "snortingly funny and painfully perceptive." Readers have found Emily to be a fiercely lovable protagonist, relatable in her mistakes and victories. This charming novel is a heartwarming read, tackling the complexities of grief and love in an original way, making it far from average.

How can we live with integrity and pleasure in this world of police brutality and racism? An Asian American activist is challenged by his mother to face this question in this powerful—and funny—debut novel of generational change, a mother’s secret, and an activist’s coming-of-ageTwenty-one-year-old Reed is fed up. Angry about the killing of a Black man by an Asian American NYPD officer, he wants to drop out of college and devote himself to the Black Lives Matter movement. But would that truly bring him closer to the moral life he seeks? In a series of intimate, charged conversations, his mother—once the leader of a Korean-Black coalition—demands that he rethink his outrage, and along with it, what it means to be an organizer, a student, an ally, an American, and a son. As Reed zips around his hometown of Los Angeles with his mother, searching and questioning, he faces a revelation that will change everything. Inspired by his family’s roots in activism, Ryan Lee Wong offers an extraordinary debut novel for readers of Anthony Veasna So, Rachel Kushner, and Michelle Zauner: a book that is as humorous as it is profound, a celebration of seeking a life that is both virtuous and fun, an ode to mothering and being mothered.

What is love? Is it something that can be measured and explained? If you asked Alice and Luke you'd get vastly different answers... Â