Though the heart remains heavy and the world continues to challenge, one slogs forward … I am pleased to announce that my newest novel, Bright College Years (or, If That’s Not Life), has arrived—perhaps a brief distraction from the darkness.
Fast, moving, and funny, Bright College Years brings you back “to those simultaneously halcyon and turbulent days, with that delicious mixture of nostalgia, promise, and regret,” says one review, and “is smart, funny, sweet, bittersweet, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and most of all meaningful—everything college typically is, in short, as well as the life in the ‘real world’ that typically follows.”
Here's a brief description:
When a former close friend and rival is murdered, world-weary but still aspiring optimist Jeffrey goes back to the beginning, to those fraught college years and to her, to make sense of what happened—only to discover that what most needs making sense of is himself. By turns smart, funny, and heart-wrenching, Bright College Years tracks Jeff and an ensemble cast as they navigate the shortest, gladdest, most complex years of life—and then the rest of it.
Coming of age doesn’t only happen to the young.
Set primarily at Yale in the 1980s, the book should appeal to all college grads as it explores how our college years and friendships shape our future trajectories and how, looking back, we relate to earlier, often less palatable, versions of ourselves. It’s about time, memory, loves past, present, and maybe future, and how those all tangle together to produce the mysterious complex mess that is you. Its glimpse into the very different world of the 1980s is also a mirror onto today: “A vision of what higher education could be, once was, perhaps could be again,” another review notes, “a mix between the classroom and real relationships, with raw honesty, in the pursuit of ‘full frontal truth’—and a lot of fun at the same time. You’ll enjoy this book.”
Did I mention it’s available NOW, at this link?
It’s a perfect gift for your college friends, your other friends, your adult kids, your colleagues, random strangers on the street—a fantastic book club selection—maybe it’s time to finally organize that Zoom book club with your college pals to discuss the book over an escapade down memory lane?
Full info and loads of endorsements at the website, but here’s what some folks are saying about it:
“A wistful trip in a time machine, back to those college years so filled with fun, friendship, and heartache.”
“Philosophical probing meets the nostalgia of memory in this timeless story.”
“Both comical and poignant, fast and fun but serious too, a perfect mix of sentimentality, profundity, and college hijinks.”
"The rarest of novels: a witty page-turner that's also philosophically astute. A delight."
“About many things, really, but most of all about friendship, which is really at the heart of the college experience. You’ll feel yourself hanging out with this gang as they form the relationships that carry on, and confront the fun and the challenges and the heartbreak that make us who we are. ‘If that’s not life,’ as the subtitle has it, indeed.”
"Bright College Years hits home in all the ways a great book should.”
“Hilarious, moving, richly-written, thought-provoking and replete with wisdom. A must read.”
Order here.
Thanks so much, and be in touch with questions or concerns--or just to say hi.
Andrew