
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay Named a Best Book of 2018 by TIME, Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, Esquire, Buzzfeed, Paste, Bitch, Bustle, The Chicago Review of Books and iBooks As a novelist, Alexander Chee has been described as 'masterful' by Roxane Gay, 'incendiary' by the New York Times, and 'brilliant' by the Washington Post. With How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, his first collection of nonfiction, he secures his place as one of the finest essayists of his generation. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is the author's exploration of the entangling of life, literature and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him. In these interconnected essays he constructs a self, growing from student to teacher, reader to writer, and reckoning with his identities as a son, a gay man, a Korean American, an artist, an activist, a lover and a friend. He examines some of the most formative experiences of his life and America's history, including his father's death, the AIDS crisis, 9/11, the jobs that supported his writing – Tarot-reading, bookselling, cater-waiting for William F. Buckley – the writing of his first novel, Edinburgh, and the election of Donald Trump. By turns commanding, heartbreaking and wry, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel asks questions about how we create ourselves in life and in art, and how to fight when our dearest truths are under attack.
Reviews

Erfan Abedi@erfan

jiaqi kang@jiaqi

Kevin Bertolero@kevin_bertolero

Marsh@marshkrueger

Rachel Beck@roch1120

Hannah Troy@hebaldwin1016

mico@micomi

Roman Micevic@romanima

Ariana Falco@arianafalco

Kwan Ann Tan@kwananntan

Ainsley Jeffery@ainsleyjeffery

Jada@ella_jada

Lizelle G@lizelle

Hannah Lee@hannahlee

Alberto@a55555

Mallory Foutch@malloryfoutch

Athena Eloy@athenaeloy

Maggie@magspot

Melody Moon@melodymoon

Terry Nguyen@nguyenterry

Cindy@cindyy

Rachel Peterson@r-petes

Celine Nguyen ✿@celinenguyen

Val Moon@valmoon