Our Short History - Hardcover

"In Our Short History, Lauren Grodstein breaks your heart, then miraculously pieces it back together so it's bigger--and stronger--than before. This novel will leave you appreciating both the messiness of life and the immense depths of love."
--Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You

"One of the best books of 2017....Grodstein has not just written another beautiful book, but one with deep purpose and meaning."
--Roar

"-Grodstein's heartbreaking, character-driven story is told in the remarkable, believable voice of a courageous, sympathetic character."
--Library Journal, starred review

"A tender tale...Grodstein has a fine touch, alternately sarcastic, perceptive and wistful."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Lauren Grodstein has subtly written a cathartic and unexpectedly profound book...It's also impossible to put down."
--St. Louis Post Dispatch

"Lauren Grodstein has written a book with such a complicated range of emotion that I can't quite understand how she does it. In highlighting the fragility and depth of the relationship between a parent and a child, Grodstein miraculously makes you love the complexity of this world even as it tears you apart. Our Short History is a novel that will reverberate in your heart long after you finish it."
--Kevin Wilson, author of The Family Fang

"Fans of Wit and Life and Other Near-Death Experiences will love Karen's unflinchingly honest journey."
--Booklist, starred review

"Funny and fast-paced and extraordinarily insightful on every page. . . . Anyone lucky enough to get roughed-up by Grodstein's devastating, fearlessly honest, often hilarious, gorgeously written novel will exit it changed."
--Karen Russell, author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove

"Karen is a character many will love--determined, flawed, loving, witty. . . . a poignant and realistic portrait."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A meditation on love and grief . . . Lauded novelist Lauren Grodstein plunges into both beautiful and ugly emotions without hesitation."
--Bookpage

"(A) deeply affecting novel...This is a tearjerker of a story, but not a mushy one -- and it provides a charming, occasionally funny portrait of a mother trying to come to terms with both her death and her legacy."
--The National Book Review

"Funny as well as poignant, sad but not maudlin."
--Shelf Awareness

"This gave me all the feels. I didn't want it to end."
--Jaime Herndon, Book Riot

"Grodstein deftly explores family relationships."
--Publishers Weekly

"A tender, heartrending book."
--Flavorwire

"Poignant."
--Harper's Bazaar