About the Author

Christina Nichol is a 2012 recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. Nichol grew up in the Bay Area, studied at the University of Oregon, and received her MFA from the University of Florida. She has traveled widely, worked for nonprofit film companies, and taught English in India, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and, of course, Georgia. Her work has been published inHarper's, Guernica and Lucky Peach. Waiting for the Electricity is her first book.

Reviews

A "Wall Street Journal "Best Fiction Book of 2014!
"LikeKingsley Amis with a social conscience, Christina Nichol combines an ear for the absurdities of globalized English with an acute awareness of the everyday sufferings and indignities of daily life in post-Soviet Georgia. The result isa pitch-perfect dark comedythat tracks the myriad miscommunications among global partners and next-door neighbors and combines them intoone of the most powerful novels yet written on the effects of globalization. Marco Roth, author of"The Scientists"

This book is a triumphant, sustained, comic performance.I can t recall a contemporary American novel anywhere near as funny. Be aware that"Waiting for Electricity"is defiantly un-PC, and also that it manages to provide between the lines as acute and mordant a reading of post-Communist Georgia as one could conceive. The narrator s letters to Hillary Clinton are more brilliantly hapless than any of Herzog s to his famous addressees. I got a kind of joy from experiencing Christina Nichol s transformation of an extreme reality into further documentation of the human comedy. I don t think I ve ever before used the word joy in quite this way. Norman Rush, author of"Subtle Bodies"
A wise, funny debut novel that finds endless entertainment in cultural differences and clashing personality types. . . Nichol writes with sharp, knowing exactitude of both Georgia (where she once taught English) and her native Bay Area, and though Makashvili is a figure of jape and jest, he s by no means a caricature.Indeed, he sone of the most fully realized characters in recent memory, and readers will take much pleasure in going along on his adventures and misadventures. "Kirkus Reviews"
"This indeventive debut novel from Nichol, who has taught English in the Republic of Georgia, where the book is set, provides a satirical but good-natured look at the clash between American and Georgian attitudes . . . Tongue-in-cheek humor and Slims's deadpan narration of his improbable tale add considerable appeal to this promising first novel." "Publishers Weekly"
"Nichol s clever debut is rich in cultural commentary . . .Nichol s well-drawn characters and satirical flourishes make Slims journey andinteractions both enjoyable and thoughtful." "Booklist"
""Waiting for the Electricity" is a wildly original and ambitious debut, a novel that tackles cultural clashes with satirical hilarity. I haven't read a first novel this promising since "The Confederacy of Dunces."" Jill Ciment, author of "Heroic Measures"
""Waiting for the Electricity"is not just a wise, funny, moving novel but a feat of extraordinary literary ventriloquism. In these pages, the American writer Christina Nichol"becomes"the Georgian "Slims" Achmed. Her Georgia is his Georgia. More remarkably, his America is her America. A fine debut, and a welcome antidote to the provincialism of so much recent American fiction." David Leavitt, author of "The Two Hotel Francforts"
"Endearing and dryly hilarious."" The Wall Street Journal""

"Like Kingsley Amis with a social conscience, Christina Nichol combines an ear for the absurdities of globalized English with an acute awareness of the everyday sufferings and indignities of daily life in post-Soviet Georgia. The result is a pitch-perfect dark comedy that tracks the myriad miscommunications among 'global partners' and next-door neighbors and combines them into one of the most powerful novels yet written on the effects of globalization." --Marco Roth, author of "The Scientists" "This book is a triumphant, sustained, comic performance. I can't recall a contemporary American novel anywhere near as funny. Be aware that "Waiting for Electricity" is defiantly un-PC, and also that it manages to provide between the lines as acute and mordant a reading of post-Communist Georgia as one could conceive. The narrator's letters to Hillary Clinton are more brilliantly hapless than any of Herzog's to his famous addressees. I got a kind of joy from experiencing Christina Nichol's transformation of an extreme reality into further documentation of the human comedy. I don't think I've ever before used the word "joy" in quite this way." --Norman Rush, author of "Subtle Bodies"
"A wise, funny debut novel that finds endless entertainment in cultural differences and clashing personality types . . . Nichol writes with sharp, knowing exactitude of both Georgia (where she once taught English) and her native Bay Area, and though Makashvili is a figure of jape and jest, he's by no means a caricature. Indeed, he's one of the most fully realized characters in recent memory, and readers will take much pleasure in going along on his adventures--and misadventures." --"Kirkus Reviews"
"This indeventive debut novel from Nichol, who has taught English in the Republic of Georgia, where the book is set, provides a satirical but good-natured look at the clash between American and Georgian attitudes . . . Tongue-in-cheek humor and Slims's deadpan narration of his improbable
""Like Kingsley Amis with a social conscience, Christina Nichol combines an ear for the absurdities of globalized English with an acute awareness of the everyday sufferings and indignities of daily life in post-Soviet Georgia. The result is a pitch-perfect dark comedy that tracks the myriad miscommunications among 'global partners' and next-door neighbors and combines them into one of the most powerful novels yet written on the effects of globalization." --Marco Roth, author of "The Scientists" "This book is a triumphant, sustained, comic performance. I can't recall a contemporary American novel anywhere near as funny. Be aware that "Waiting for Electricity" is defiantly un-PC, and also that it manages to provide between the lines as acute and mordant a reading of post-Communist Georgia as one could conceive. The narrator's letters to Hillary Clinton are more brilliantly hapless than any of Herzog's to his famous addressees. I got a kind of joy from experiencing Christina Nichol's transformation of an extreme reality into further documentation of the human comedy. I don't think I've ever before used the word "joy" in quite this way." --Norman Rush
"Tongue-in-cheek humor and Slim's deadpan narration of his improbable tale add considerable appeal to this promising first novel." --"Publishers Weekly"
""Waiting for the Electricity" is a wildly original and ambitious debut, a novel that tackles cultural clashes with satirical hilarity. I haven't read a first novel this promising since "The Confederacy of Dunces."" --Jill Ciment, author of "Heroic Measures"
""Waiting for the Electricity" is not just a wise, funny, moving novel but a feat of extraordinary literary ventriloquism. In these pages, the American writer Christina Nichol "becomes" the Georgian "Slims" Achmed. Her Georgia is his Georgia. More remarkably, his America is her America. A fine debut, and a welcome antidote to the provincialism of so much recent American fiction."--David Leavit
"This book is a triumphant, sustained, comic performance. I can't recall a contemporary American novel anywhere near as funny. Be aware that "Waiting for Electricity" is defiantly un-PC, and also that it manages to provide between the lines as acute and mordant a reading of post-Communist Georgia as one could conceive. The narrator's letters to Hillary Clinton are more brilliantly hapless than any of Herzog's to his famous addressees. I got a kind of joy from experiencing Christina Nichol's transformation of an extreme reality into further documentation of the human comedy. I don't think I've ever before used the word "joy" in quite this way." --Norman Rush

"Tongue-in-cheek humor and Slim's deadpan narration of his improbable tale add considerable appeal to this promising first novel." --"Publishers Weekly"

""Waiting for the Electricity" is a wildly original and ambitious debut, a novel that tackles cultural clashes with satirical hilarity. I haven't read a first novel this promising since "The Confederacy of Dunces"." --Jill Ciment, author of "Heroic Measures"

""Waiting for the Electricity" is not just a wise, funny, moving novel but a feat of extraordinary literary ventriloquism. In these pages, the American writer Christina Nichol "becomes" the Georgian "Slims" Achmed. Her Georgia is his Georgia. More remarkably, his America is her America. A fine debut, and a welcome antidote to the provincialism of so much recent American fiction."--David Leavitt, author of "The Two Hotel Francforts"
"Tongue-in-cheek humor and Slim's deadpan narration of his improbable tale add considerable appeal to this promising first novel." --"Publishers Weekly"

""Waiting for the Electricity" is a wildly original and ambitious debut, a novel that tackles cultural clashes with satirical hilarity. I haven't read a first novel this promising since "The Confederacy of Dunces"." --Jill Ciment, author of "Heroic Measures"

""Waiting for the Electricity" is not just a wise, funny, moving novel but a feat of extraordinary literary ventriloquism. In these pages, the American writer Christina Nichol "becomes" the Georgian "Slims" Achmed. Her Georgia is his Georgia. More remarkably, his America is her America. A fine debut, and a welcome antidote to the provincialism of so much recent American fiction."--David Leavitt, author of "The Two Hotel Francforts"
""Waiting for the Electricity" is a wildly original and ambitious debut, a novel that tackles cultural clashes with satirical hilarity. I haven't read a first novel this promising since "The Confederacy of Dunces"." --Jill Ciment, author of "Heroic Measures"

""Waiting for the Electricity" is not just a wise, funny, moving novel but a feat of extraordinary literary ventriloquism. In these pages, the American writer Christina Nichol "becomes" the Georgian "Slims" Achmed. Her Georgia is his Georgia. More remarkably, his America is her America. A fine debut, and a welcome antidote to the provincialism of so much recent American fiction."--David Leavitt, author of "The Two Hotel Francforts"