Lidia Yuknavitch is the author of three works of short
fiction: Her Other Mouths, Liberty's Excess, and Real to Reel, as
well as a book of literary criticism, Allegories of Violence. Her
work has appeared in Ms., The Iowa Review, Exquisite Corpse,
Another Chicago Magazine, Fiction International, Zyzzyva, and
elsewhere. Her book Real to Reel was a finalist for the Oregon Book
Award and she is the recipient of awards and fellowships from Poets
and Writers and Literary Arts, Inc. Her work appears in the
anthologies Life As We Show It (City Lights), Forms At War (FC2),
Wreckage of Reason (Spuytin Duyvil). In addition she is the founder
and publisher of Chiasmus Press and teaches writing, literature,
film, and Women's Studies at Mount Hood Community College in
Oregon. Chelsea Cain was born in 1972, lived the first few years of
her life on a hippie commune in Iowa, and grew up in Bellingham,
Washington. Her first novel featuring Detective Archie Sheridan and
serial killer Gretchen Lowell, HEARTSICK, was a New York Times
bestseller in both hardcover and paperback and has been translated
into over 20 languages. SWEETHEART and EVIL AT HEART, the second
and third in the series, respectively, are also NYT bestsellers.
Chelsea is a former columnist for The Oregonian, and a regular
contributor to The New York Times Book Review. She lives in
Portland, Oregon, with her family.
"I've read Ms. Yuknavitch's book The Chronology of Water, cover to
cover, a dozen times. I am still reading it. And I will, most
likely, return to it for inspiration and ideas, and out of sheer
admiration, for the rest of my life. The book is extraordinary."
--Chuck Palahniuk, Pygmy
"I love this book and I am thankful that Lidia Yuknavitch has
written it for me and for everyone else who has ever had to
sometimes kind of work at staying alive. It's about the body,
brain, and soul of a woman who has managed to scratch up through
the slime and concrete and crap of life in order to resurrect
herself. The kind of book Janis Joplin might have written if she
had made it through the fire - raw, tough, pure, more full of love
than you thought possible and sometimes even hilarious. This is the
book Lidia Yuknavitch was put on the planet to write for us."
--Rebecca Brown, author of The Gifts of the Body "The Chronology of
Water's central metaphor works beautifully: we all keep our heads
above water, look around, and enjoy our corporeal life despite all
the reasons not to; beyond that, the book is immensely impressive
to me on a human level: the narrator/speaker/protagonist/author
emerges from a seriously hellish childhood and spooky adolescence
into a middle age not of bliss, certainly, but of convincing
engagement and satisfaction." --David Shields, author of Reality
Hunger: A Manifesto "This intensely powerful memoir touches depths
yet unheard of in contemporary writing. I read it at one sitting
and wondered for days after about love, time, and truth. Can't get
me any more excited than this." --Andrei Codrescu, author of The
Poetry Lesson "Flooded with light and incandescent beauty, Lidia
Yuknavitch's The Chronology of Water cuts through the heart of the
reader. These fierce life stories gleam, fiery images passing just
beneath the surface of the pages. You will feel rage, fear,
release, and joy, and you will not be able to stop reading this
deeply brave and human voice." --Diana Abu-Jaber, Origin: A Novel
"Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir The Chronology of Water is a brutal
beauty bomb and a true love song. Rich with story, alive with
emotion, both merciful and utterly merciless, I am forever altered
by every stunning page. This is the book I'm going to press into
everyone's hands for years to come. This is the book I've been
waiting to read all of my life." --Cheryl Strayed, author of
Wild
This isn't a memoir 'about' addiction, abuse, or love: it's a
triumphantly unrelenting look at a life buoyed by the power of the
written word.
I'm also convinced that this bold and highly unconventional book - hot, gritty, unrelenting in its push to dismantle the self and then, somehow, put the self back together again - gets not just under a reader's skin but seeps all the way into her bloodstream.
DEBRA GWARTNEY, THE OREGONIANChosen as one of the 100 Great Nonfiction Books must-read works of narrative nonfiction and journalism.
THE ELECTRIC TYPEWRITERSimply stated: She is important. Read. Her. Now.
MARGARET ELYSIA GARCIA, THE PLUMAS WEEKLYYuknavitch can write a really hot sex scene. It's super sexy, and it's never cheesy or over-the-top or too tame. It's perfect...Yuknavitch's memoir is one of the best books I've ever read.
CASEY REVIEWS, THE LESBRARYI find Yuknavitch's frankness about the emotional and physical experience of being a woman (in sex, in athletic competition, in childbirth) surprising. Not because it offends my sensibilities, but because it affirms them.
DANIELLE DEULEN, ESSAY DAILY... has lately achieved cult status. Lidia Yuknavitch...imparts a visceral power to the experience of lust, a power unmatched in any recent account I can think of.
CLAIRE DEDERER, THE ATLANTICLidia Yuknavitch is my favorite new writer...It's so genius I'm not quite sure how she did it. The tone is a combination of high and low, with some of the writing literary and metaphorical, some conversational and shock-jockey, all of it fueled by rage and pain and love and art and transformation.
VALERIE STIVERS-ISAKOVA, HUFFINGTON POSTThis isn't for everyone. Some will read and be exasperated or disgusted or disbelieving. I get that. I get that chaos and promiscuity and addiction are ugly, messy, and life is too short to waste reading about someone else's tragedy and self-destructive behavior. But something about this story-the goddamn gorgeous language, the raw power of its brutality-gave me so much comfort and solace. In Yuknavitch's word embrace, I felt the magic of self-acceptance and self-love, and the crazy-wonderful beauty of life.
JULIE CHRISTINE JOHNSON, CHALK THE SUNYuknavitch has emerged as a trailblazing literary voice that spans genres and dives deep into themes of gender, sexuality, art, violence, and transcendence. Her work is a refreshing alternative to the hero's journey, offering instead what she calls the "misfit's journey."
SULEIKA JAOUARD, LENNY[] is about rage, ecstasy, abuse, appetite, bad decisions and grace. It is one of the most full-throated depictions of being a woman I have ever read.
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