Synopses & Reviews
Sloane Crosley returns to the form that made her a household name in really quite a lot of households: Essays!
From the New York Times–bestselling author Sloane Crosley comes Look Alive Out There — a brand new collection of essays filled with her trademark hilarity, wit, and charm. The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. A thin coat. More of a blazer, really.
Fans of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number know Sloane Crosley’s life as a series of relatable but madcap misadventures. In Look Alive Out There, whether it’s scaling active volcanoes, crashing shivas, playing herself on Gossip Girl, befriending swingers, or staring down the barrel of the fertility gun, Crosley continues to rise to the occasion with unmatchable nerve and electric one-liners. And as her subjects become more serious, her essays deliver not just laughs but lasting emotional heft and insight. Crosley has taken up the gauntlets thrown by her predecessors — Dorothy Parker, Nora Ephron, David Sedaris — and crafted something rare, affecting, and true.
Look Alive Out There arrives on the 10th anniversary of I Was Told There’d be Cake, and Crosley’s essays have managed to grow simultaneously more sophisticated and even funnier. And yet she’s still very much herself, and it’s great to have her back — and not a moment too soon (or late, for that matter).
Review
“How sure-footed and observant Sloane Crosley is. How perfectly, relentlessly funny.” David Sedaris
Review
"[Crosley] continues her tradition of hilarious insight into the human condition...[she] is exceedingly clever and has a witticism for all occasions, but it is her willingness to confront some of life's darker corners with honesty and vulnerability that elevates the collection." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“Crosley’s got a sharp fizzily old-fashioned sense of the madcap that...has you thinking that she’s figured out how to cross Mary Tyler Moore with Kingsley Amis.” Carlene Bauer, Elle
Review
“Crosley is like a tap dancer, lighthearted and showmanlike...but capable of surprising you with the reserves of emotion and keen social observation.” Maria Russo, The New York Times Book Review
Review
“Crosley has been honing her craft since we’ve seen her last, and the hard work shows. Now, she has mastered the precision of novelistic scene-setting deployed by our greatest practitioners of the American sentimental essay, writers such as Gopnik, Sedaris and, yes, even Thurber.” Andrea Hoag, The Denver Post
Synopsis
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2018 by Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Buzzfeed, Elle, Cosmopolitan, The Millions, InStyle, Bustle, BookRiot, and Southern Living
Sloane Crosley returns to the form that made her a household name in really quite a lot of households: Essays
From the New York Times-bestselling author Sloane Crosley comes Look Alive Out There--a brand-new collection of essays filled with her trademark hilarity, wit, and charm. The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. A thin coat. More of a blazer, really.
Fans of I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number know Sloane Crosley's life as a series of relatable but madcap misadventures. In Look Alive Out There, whether it's scaling active volcanoes, crashing shivas, playing herself on Gossip Girl, befriending swingers, or staring down the barrel of the fertility gun, Crosley continues to rise to the occasion with unmatchable nerve and electric one-liners. And as her subjects become more serious, her essays deliver not just laughs but lasting emotional heft and insight. Crosley has taken up the gauntlets thrown by her predecessors--Dorothy Parker, Nora Ephron, David Sedaris--and crafted something rare, affecting, and true.
Look Alive Out There arrives on the tenth anniversary of I Was Told There'd be Cake, and Crosley's essays have managed to grow simultaneously more sophisticated and even funnier. And yet she's still very much herself, and it's great to have her back--and not a moment too soon (or late, for that matter).
About the Author
Sloane Crosley is the author of the novel, The Clasp, and two New York Times-bestselling books of personal essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, a finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor, and How Did You Get This Number. A contributing editor and books columnist for Vanity Fair, she lives in Manhattan.