Pissing in a River
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“An honest and genuine DIY punk-rock lesbian love story.” —Kirkus Reviews
Amanda moves to London with nothing but her guitar and her collection of punk music as the soundtrack to her every move. With the company of a few friendly voices in her head, she looks for—and finds—a best friend and new lover. She forms a band, Lesbian Raincoat, and completely rewrites the story of her life. In this irreverently funny yet profound novel, Amanda risks deportation, recalls the fervor of AIDS activism in the United States, connects to the class struggle of punk, and finds redemption in love. But she also must confront her own mental illness, her lover’s rape, and the violence of post-9/11 politics. Pissing in a River captures the glee and turbulence of surviving the cacophony of modern life.
“A love letter to the obsessions that captivated an outcast generation: punk, politics, passion, and provocation.” —Maria Raha, author of Cinderella’s Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An ex-pat punk enthusiast contends with mental illness, homophobia, and post-9/11 politics in this third novel from the author of Sister Safety Pin and Anxiety Attack. Ever since she first heard them while listening to Heart's debut album Amanda has been in pursuit of the voices in her head, a British duo whose presence has helped her through the worst moments of her obsessive-compulsive disorder. Restless, repulsed by American politics, and vaguely hopeful about finding the voices, Amanda moves to London, where she meets Nick and Melissa while saving the former from a would-be rapist. The trio become fast friends, and Amanda's fledgling mental health is soon threatened by a new complication: her "will-shattering, soul-crunching" love for Melissa, who is both straight and unaware of Amanda's complicated past. Spanning decades of controversial U.S. policy (Amanda is an AIDS activist in the 80s, and an opponent of the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay in the aughts), the novel is as much a manifesto as a romance, as well as an homage to punk music's legacy of challenging the status quo. "These songs were the way we communicated and understood each other," explains Amanda, who quotes song lyrics incessantly. "We lived our lives according to how we felt when we listened to them."
