Jana Casale

A razor sharp, emotionally resonant novel about three women who have followed all the rules but still can’t seem build the lives they’ve been promised--from an author who “makes a particular female experience vivid, centered, seen” (Elle). Joy and Annie are friends and roommates whose thirtysomething existences aren’t exactly what they’d imagined for themselves. Struggling to make ends meet, they decide to rent their extra bedroom to Theo, who charms Joy with his salt-and-pepper hair and adoration of their one-eyed cat. When Annie goes to live with her boyfriend, Theo and Joy settle into a comfortable domesticity. Then Theo brings home Celine, the girlfriend he’s never mentioned, who is possibly the most stunning woman Joy has ever seen. Joy resolves to do whatever it takes to nurture the bond she and Theo have forged. Anything Celine might deny him, Joy will grant. Distracted by her need to please Theo, Joy fails to see that Celine’s beauty doesn’t protect her from her own insecurities. Celine is so haunted by an event in her past that she can’t access the confidence she yearns to exude. Annie is worried about Joy’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she has her own troubles. Eager to please her commitment-phobic boyfriend, she can’t stop parsing his texts and pretending to be the easy-going, cool girl he wants. At work, where she leans into her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But then an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, and Annie is forced to decide who and what she’s willing to stand up for. Perceptive, mordantly funny, and full of heart, How to Fall Out of Love Madly tells the story of three women who believe in equality, yet inexplicably tolerate terrible behavior from men, equating being desired with worthiness. As Joy, Annie, and Celine grapple with the ways their lives have been subverted by the forces of gender, money, power, and the need for intimacy, they realize that their futures will be determined by how hard they’ll fight to reclaim control.

A Novel

How to Fall Out of Love Madly

Kirkus Reviews, "11 Debuts You Need to Pay Attention To" HelloGiggles, "Books you don't want to miss" Bustle, "Books you need to know" An ambitious debut, at once timely and timeless, that captures the complexity and joys of modern womanhood. This novel is gem like—in its precision, its many facets, and its containing multitudes. Following in the footsteps of Virginia Woolf, Rona Jaffe, Maggie Shipstead, and Sheila Heti, Jana Casale writes with bold assurance about the female experience. We first meet Leda in a coffee shop on an average afternoon, notable only for the fact that it’s the single occasion in her life when she will eat two scones in one day. And for the cute boy reading American Power and the New Mandarins. Leda hopes that, by engaging him, their banter will lead to romance. Their fleeting, awkward exchange stalls before flirtation blooms. But Leda’s left with one imperative thought: she decides she wants to read Noam Chomsky. So she promptly buys a book and never—ever—reads it. As the days, years, and decades of the rest of her life unfold, we see all of the things Leda does instead, from eating leftover spaghetti in her college apartment, to fumbling through the first days home with her newborn daughter, to attempting (and nearly failing) to garden in her old age. In a collage of these small moments, we see the work—both visible and invisible—of a woman trying to carve out a life of meaning. Over the course of her experiences Leda comes to the universal revelation that the best-laid-plans are not always the path to utter fulfillment and contentment, and in reality there might be no such thing. Lively and disarmingly honest, The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky is a remarkable literary feat—bracingly funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and truly feminist in its insistence that the story it tells is an essential one.

A novel

The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky

An ambitious debut, at once timely and timeless, that captures the complexity and joys of modern womanhood. This novel is gem like--in its precision, its many facets, and its containing multitudes. Following in the footsteps of Virginia Woolf, Rona Jaffe, Maggie Shipstead, and Sheila Heti, Jana Casale writes with bold assurance about the female experience. We first meet Leda in a coffee shop on an average afternoon, notable only for the fact that it's the single occasion in her life when she will eat two scones in one day. And for the cute boy reading American Power and the New Mandarins . Leda hopes that, by engaging him, their banter will lead to romance. Their fleeting, awkward exchange stalls before flirtation blooms. But Leda's left with one imperative thought: she decides she wants to read Noam Chomsky. So she promptly buys a book and never--ever--reads it. As the days, years, and decades of the rest of her life unfold, we see all of the things Leda does instead, from eating leftover spaghetti in her college apartment, to fumbling through the first days home with her newborn daughter, to attempting (and nearly failing) to garden in her old age. In a collage of these small moments, we see the work--both visible and invisible--of a woman trying to carve out a life of meaning. Over the course of her experiences Leda comes to the universal revelation that the best-laid-plans are not always the path to utter fulfillment and contentment, and in reality there might be no such thing. Lively and disarmingly honest, The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky is a remarkable literary feat--bracingly funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and truly feminist in its insistence that the story it tells is an essential one.

a novel

The girl who never read Noam Chomsky

“Three relatable thirty somethings drive this ode to womanhood. Learning the hard way to love themselves, the women teach invaluable lessons.”—People “Everyone who loves Sally Rooney should be reading Jana Casale!”—Julie Buntin, author of Marlena Three women confront the compromises they’ve made to appease the men they love. Joy and Annie are friends and roommates whose thirty-something lives aren’t exactly what they’d imagined. To make ends meet, they decide to rent their extra bedroom to Theo, who charms Joy with his salt-and-pepper hair and adoration of their one-eyed cat. When Annie goes to live with her boyfriend, Theo and Joy settle into a comfortable domesticity. Then Theo brings home Celine, the girlfriend he’s never mentioned, who is possibly the most stunning woman Joy has ever seen. Joy resolves to do whatever it takes to hold on to him, falling ever deeper into an emotional hellscape of her own making. She is too obsessed to realize that Celine’s beauty doesn’t protect her from pain. Haunted by an event from her past, Celine can’t escape her shame and finds herself in an endless cycle of self-sabotage. Annie is baffled by Joy’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she’s consumed by her own obsessions: she can’t stop parsing her commitment-phobic boyfriend’s texts in an exhausting mission to maintain his approval. At work, where she fully embraces her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But when an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, she is forced to decide who and what she’s willing to stand up for. Perceptive, mordantly funny, and full of heart, How to Fall Out of Love Madly examines women’s many relationships—with one another, their mothers, their work, men, and themselves—to reveal their underlying power and complexity. It asks, why do so many smart, compassionate, otherwise empowered women tolerate egregious behavior from the men they love? And what will it take for them to reclaim control?

Kirkus Reviews, "11 Debuts You Need to Pay Attention To" HelloGiggles, "Books you don't want to miss" Bustle, "Books you need to know" An ambitious debut, at once timely and timeless, that captures the complexity and joys of modern womanhood. This novel is gem like--in its precision, its many facets, and its containing multitudes. Following in the footsteps of Virginia Woolf, Rona Jaffe, Maggie Shipstead, and Sheila Heti, Jana Casale writes with bold assurance about the female experience. We first meet Leda in a coffee shop on an average afternoon, notable only for the fact that it's the single occasion in her life when she will eat two scones in one day. And for the cute boy reading American Power and the New Mandarins. Leda hopes that, by engaging him, their banter will lead to romance. Their fleeting, awkward exchange stalls before flirtation blooms. But Leda's left with one imperative thought: she decides she wants to read Noam Chomsky. So she promptly buys a book and never--ever--reads it. As the days, years, and decades of the rest of her life unfold, we see all of the things Leda does instead, from eating leftover spaghetti in her college apartment, to fumbling through the first days home with her newborn daughter, to attempting (and nearly failing) to garden in her old age. In a collage of these small moments, we see the work--both visible and invisible--of a woman trying to carve out a life of meaning. Over the course of her experiences Leda comes to the universal revelation that the best-laid-plans are not always the path to utter fulfillment and contentment, and in reality there might be no such thing. Lively and disarmingly honest, The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky is a remarkable literary feat--bracingly funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and truly feminist in its insistence that the story it tells is an essential one.

Jana Casale

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