The UnAmericans: Stories

Longlisted for the National Book Award
A stunning exploration of characters shaped by the forces of history, the debut work of fiction by a 2013 National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Honoree.

An absentee father, a former dissident from communist-era Prague, needles his adult daughter for details about her newly commissioned play when he fears it will cast him in an unflattering light. An actor, imprisoned during the Red Scare for playing up his communist leanings to get a part with a leftist film director, is shamed by his act when he reunites with his precocious young son. An Israeli soldier, forced to defend a settlement filled with American religious families, still pines for a chance to discover the United States for himself. A young Israeli journalist, left unemployed after America's most recent economic crash, questions her life path when she begins dating a middle-aged widower still in mourning for his wife. And in the book's final story, a tour de force spanning three continents and three generations of women, a young American and her Israeli husband are forced to reconsider their marriage after the death of her dissident art-collecting grandmother.

"A writer of seismic talent....Not since Robert Stone has a writer so examined the nature of disillusionment and the ways in which newfound hope can crack the cement of failed dreams." Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Orphan Master's Son

"Fresh and offbeat...memorable and promising." Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Molly Antopol's stories display that wonderful combination of an original voice with settings that are masterfully rendered. A rich collection, a great read." Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

"[Antopol] draws the reader to her deeply flawed characters [with] their keen self-awareness, and their consequent ability to act with a semblance of moral, sometimes even selfless, integrity." Publishers Weekly

"[A] poised debut." Vogue

"A smart, empathetic, well-crafted first collection — Antopol is a writer to watch." Kirkus Reviews

"Sharply funny and always intelligent, and readers will find [these stories] immediately appealing." Library Journal

"In a word: Wow!" New York Journal of Books

Molly Antopol teaches writing at Stanford University, where she was a recent Wallace Stegner Fellow. A recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, she holds an MFA from