Private Citizens

PRIVATE CITIZENS has been recognized as a best book of the year by numerous outlets, including New York Magazine/Vulture and The New Yorker. It was also an Amazon Best Book of the Month in Literature & Fiction. Lauded as "the first great millennial novel" by New York Magazine, it offers a sweeping comic portrait of privilege, ambition, and friendship in millennial San Francisco. With the social insight of Adelle Waldman and the sharp wit of Martin Amis, this debut is a brainy, irreverent exploration of a new era. The novel captures the anxious mood of young college graduates in the 2000s, presenting a loving satire of contemporary contradictions. Its four clever narrators—idealistic Cory, Internet-savvy Will, awkward Henrik, and sharp-tongued Linda—struggle between their desires to change the world and their tendencies to exploit it. Through vibrant prose that oscillates between humor and pain, the estranged friends navigate the Bay Area's landscape of tech startups, protests, gentrification, karaoke bars, and self-help seminars, ultimately reconnecting in each other's lives. This insightful depiction of a generation grappling with privilege and the search for grace in failure is both deeply intelligent and heartfelt.