{"product_id":"like-a-dog-9780872867345","title":"Like a Dog","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Tara Jepsen's \u003cem\u003eLike a Dog\u003c\/em\u003e is outrageously funny and soul-scrapingly grim, in the tradition of our most intrepid, shameless, and shame-filled comedians and storytellers. It also announces a singular new voice in American fiction--one which is deeply alive, hard-hitting, and tender.\"--\u003cstrong\u003eMaggie Nelson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e, \u003c\/em\u003eauthor of \u003cem\u003eThe Argonauts\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA skateboarder in her early thirties, Paloma is aimlessly winging it through life. She takes low-paying jobs, drinks neon-colored wine coolers in the park, and drives to the Central Valley to skate the empty swimming pools dotting the sun-blasted landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaloma struggles to have a relationship with her brother Peter, whose opiate addiction makes that nearly impossible. Her own delusions about the nature of addiction help to keep the threat of Peter's death by overdose at a comfortable enough distance, and as he slides into a dangerous spiral, Paloma tries out the world of stand-up comedy, happier than she's ever been.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eLike a Dog\u003c\/em\u003e: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This book beat the crap out of me. I am bruised and laughing. Thank you Tara Jepsen, may I have another?\"--\u003cstrong\u003eDaniel Handler\u003c\/strong\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eAll The Dirty Parts\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Tara Jepsen captures the absurd, animal humor of residing in a human female body on planet Earth like no other, and \u003cem\u003eLike a Dog\u003c\/em\u003e sets it loose within a hazy California underground of abandoned skate pools, weed farms and comedy open mics. Eccentric and insidery, taking on the bonds of family and addiction, the effort to find a life and the drive to end it, \u003cem\u003eLike a Dog\u003c\/em\u003e brims with hyper-conscious gems of hilarity and pathos.\"--\u003cstrong\u003eMichelle Tea\u003c\/strong\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eBlack Wave\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Tara Jepsen's blunt eloquence takes us deep into the difficulty of our desires, where the things we most want--intimacy, realness, safety, guarantees--are the things we are the least likely to get. In the desolate hardscapes and nowheres of California, north and south, she reveals how closeness can still be alienating: a brutal fact of her stark realism that brings both laughter and tears.\"--\u003cstrong\u003eKaren Tongson\u003c\/strong\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eRelocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"How can this be Tara Jepsen's first book? Her inimitable voice has been a beloved part of the underground art scene for years--in comedy, performance, and personal essays. With her fiction debut, she turns all her pathos and humor on her protagonist Paloma as she explores the eternal pursuit for love and meaning among and between humans. Jepsen's specialty is the off-kilter observation or indignant proclamation that hits you in the funny bone and then resonates with real soul. I loved this book. I'm ecstatic she could lasso her eccentric and significant cosmology and weave it into this beautiful story.\"--\u003cstrong\u003eBeth Lisick\u003c\/strong\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eYokohama Threeway and Other Stories\u003c\/em\u003e, co-founder of the Porchlight Storytelling Series\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTara Jepsen is a writer and actor living in Los Angeles, California. She's appeared in Emmy-winning series \u003cem\u003eTransparent\u003c\/em\u003e. She and longtime collaborator Beth Lisick created, wrote and acted in original web series \u003cem\u003eRods and Cones\u003c\/em\u003e, released by Jill Soloway and Rebecca Odes's Wifey.tv in September 2014, named one of Indiewire's 25 Best Series\/Creators of 2014. Tara has written and performed original sketch comedy with Lisick throughout the U.S. since 1999. They have appeared at Dixon Place in NYC, at San Francisco's Sketchfest, at the UCB in Los Angeles, and myriad additional venues. Jepsen has been published by \u003cem\u003eThe Believer\u003c\/em\u003e, xojane.com, and \u003cem\u003eSF Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e, among others. She has toured and performed extensively with the seminal queer cabaret Sister Spit since 1997. And, she co-hosted the legendary San Francisco open mic K'vetsh at a gay men's bath house for over ten years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"City Lights Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50414170734866,"sku":"9780872867345","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_332d7150-514c-48ab-aba0-ce6fbe5b1c08.jpg?v=1729360198","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/like-a-dog-9780872867345","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}