Synopses & Reviews
"Dazzling...Supremely mischievous and sublimely written, this is a stellar work." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
An electric, uproarious, and biting debut novel set during a prison riot, told in a high-comic pitch in the tradition of Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger.
An unnamed Sri Lankan inmate has barricaded himself inside a prison computer lab in Dutchess County, New York. A riot rages outside, incited by a poem published in The Holding Pen, the house literary journal. This, our narrator's final Editor's Letter, is his confession. An official accounting of events, as they happened.
As he awaits imminent and violent interruption, he takes us on a roller coaster ride of plot and language, determined to share his life story, and maybe answer a few questions. How did he end up here? Should he have remained a quiet Park Avenue doorman? Or continued his rise in the black markets of postwar Sri Lanka? What will become of The Holding Pen, a "masterpiece of post-penal literature" favored by Brooklynites everywhere? And why does everyone think the riots are his fault? Can't they see he's really a good guy, doing it for the right reasons?
Smart, wry, and laugh-out-loud funny, Ryan Chapman's Riots I Have Known is an utter gem — an approachable send-up that packs a punch. Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, says, "Ryan Chapman has written a rocket-powered ode to literary creation and mass incarceration. Weaving satire and seriousness into a singularly rambunctious monologue, Riots I Have Known is a breath of fresh air."
Review
“With Riots I Have Known, Ryan Chapman has delivered a keen satire of America’s criminal justice crisis. The novel is remarkable for many things not the least of which are its wit, humor, and masterful language. I was impressed again and again, and I wager so to will readers with working hearts and brains.” Mitchell S. Jackson, award-winning author of Survival Math
Review
“Hilarious, original, and cunningly wrought, Ryan Chapman has written a rocket-powered ode to literary creation and mass incarceration. Weaving satire and seriousness into a singlularly rambunctious monologue, rollicking and oddly recognizable at once, Riots I Have Known is a breath of fresh air.” Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine and Intimations
Review
“WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE — OF RYAN CHAPMAN’S NOVEL, THAT IS. Riots moves at breakneck pace as a pent-up con runs free across every page. Chapman is his very own, and this is a book readers will devour.” Amelia Gray, author of Gutshot and Isadora
Review
"Chapman’s Riots I Have Known joins Kushner’s Mars Room on the short list of truly remarkable American prison novels. Chapman’s debut is literally riotous: an improbably beguiling, utterly ribald provocation, something like Lenny Bruce’s 'Father Flotsky’s Triumph' as retold by Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man." Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress Of Solitude
Review
“Savage, fearless, and funny as hell, Riots I Have Known also possesses, not so strangely, a poignant core. In this mother of all editor’s notes, Ryan Chapman creates a narrative voice that is by turns tender, cruel, profane, wildly inventive and, finally, unforgettable.” Sam Lipsyte, New York Times Bestseller author of The Ask and Home Land
Review
“Fitfully funny and murderously wry...a frenzied yet wistful monologue from a lover of literature under siege.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“[A] gritty, bracing debut novel...a satirical look at mass incarceration and the liberating power of the written word.” Esquire
Synopsis
"Chapman establishes himself as a master of wit, satire, and heart."--Apple Books " A] gritty, bracing debut."--Esquire
"Dazzling...Supremely mischievous and sublimely written."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
An unnamed Sri Lankan inmate has barricaded himself inside a prison computer lab in Dutchess County, New York. A riot rages outside, incited by a poem published in The Holding Pen, the house literary journal. This, our narrator's final Editor's Letter, is his confession. An official accounting of events, as they happened.
As he awaits imminent and violent interruption, he takes us on a roller coaster ride of plot and language, determined to share his life story, and maybe answer a few questions. How did he end up here? Should he have remained a quiet Park Avenue doorman? Or continued his rise in the black markets of postwar Sri Lanka? What will become of The Holding Pen, a "masterpiece of post-penal literature" favored by Brooklynites everywhere? And why does everyone think the riots are his fault? Can't they see he's really a good guy, doing it for the right reasons?
Smart, wry, and laugh-out-loud funny, Ryan Chapman's Riots I Have Known is an utter gem--an approachable send-up that packs a punch. Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, says, "Ryan Chapman has written a rocket-powered ode to literary creation and mass incarceration. Weaving satire and seriousness into a singularly rambunctious monologue, Riots I Have Known is a breath of fresh air."
Synopsis
"Dark, daring, and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Riots I Have Known is one of the smartest--and best--novels of the year."--NPR "Chapman establishes himself as a master of wit, satire, and heart."--Apple Books
" A] gritty, bracing debut."--Esquire
"Dazzling...Supremely mischievous and sublimely written."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
An unnamed Sri Lankan inmate has barricaded himself inside a prison computer lab in Dutchess County, New York. A riot rages outside, incited by a poem published in The Holding Pen, the house literary journal. This, our narrator's final Editor's Letter, is his confession. An official accounting of events, as they happened.
As he awaits imminent and violent interruption, he takes us on a roller coaster ride of plot and language, determined to share his life story, and maybe answer a few questions. How did he end up here? Should he have remained a quiet Park Avenue doorman? Or continued his rise in the black markets of postwar Sri Lanka? What will become of The Holding Pen, a "masterpiece of post-penal literature" favored by Brooklynites everywhere? And why does everyone think the riots are his fault? Can't they see he's really a good guy, doing it for the right reasons?
Smart, wry, and laugh-out-loud funny, Ryan Chapman's Riots I Have Known is an utter gem--an approachable send-up that packs a punch. Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, says, "Ryan Chapman has written a rocket-powered ode to literary creation and mass incarceration. Weaving satire and seriousness into a singularly rambunctious monologue, Riots I Have Known is a breath of fresh air."
About the Author
Ryan Chapman is a Sri Lankan-American writer originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work has appeared online at The New Yorker, GQ, Bookforum, BOMB, Guernica, and The Believer. He is a recipient of fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and the Millay Colony for the Arts. He lives in upstate New York. Riots I Have Known is his first novel.