PRAISE FOR THE MEANS
“The Means is such a fast-paced, breezy comedic novel that you may find yourself surprised that Fusselman deftly and directly leads you to existential dilemmas and the absurdity of capitalism and striving for more.”
—THE MILLIONS
“Delicious…”
—GOOD MORNING AMERICA
“A plucky jaunt of a novel…very funny”
—THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Very funny…Ms. Fusselman is warmhearted and generous, and reading this novel was as pleasurable as — well, a day at the beach.”
—EAST HAMPTON STAR
"Just like its title, Amy Fusselman’s new novel is breezy-sharp, super-funny, and full of second meanings and surprising insights into THE MEANS, and what it means to have and lack them. You don’t have to want to live in a shipping container in the Hamptons to understand Shelly Means, the shames and yearnings that drive her hilarious desperate measures. But if you need a hint, Twix the socialist dog will yell it at you. (SPOILER, but look: Maria Semple and David Sedaris are brilliant, but have they written a talking dog as funny as Twix? The answer, my friends, is no. You can only find this, and so much else, in THE MEANS)"
—John Hodgman, author of Vacationland
"Amy's new novel isn't absurd. Life is absurd. What makes Amy so brilliant, I think, is her talent for finding the humor in what Ernest Becker calls our 'ludicrous situation. And what makes her so charming is that she always makes us feel like we're in on the joke.'
—LITTLE ENGINES
“The Means is such a fast-paced, breezy comedic novel that you may find yourself surprised that Fusselman deftly and directly leads you to existential dilemmas and the absurdity of capitalism and striving for more.”
—THE MILLIONS / Most Anticipated Books of 2022
“A trenchant comedy of class and the way we live now.”
—KIRKUS, Starred Review
“No matter how serious the topic, Fusselman reveals the humor.”
—LIBER, A Feminist Review
“Entertaining debut.”
—LIBRARY JOURNAL
“Fusselman (Idiophone, 2018) delivers a well-paced story with gentle humor, compassion, and a sparkling, original look at the absurdities of everyday life in a world filled with inequities, financial and otherwise.”
—BOOKLIST
"Location, location, location that is the real estate chant. In Amy Fusselman’s The Means those words are intermingled with laugh, laugh, laugh. Fusselman is a prescient observer chronicling the one couple’s desire to live near where the other half live. Fusselman deftly captures the absurdity of the everyday and the American quest for more. The Means is funny, playful and at times painfully accurate."
—A.M. HOMES, author of The Unfolding
"This charming novel bears the Fusselman touch that makes all of her books so brilliant: touching, uncanny, and deceptively simple observations that dismantle complex assumptions about the world."
—SARAH MANGUSO, author of Very Cold People
Amy Fusselman’s The Means is an absolute delight! Anyone who’s ever wanted more than they had—so, all of us—will be unable to turn away from this wise, funny, page-turning story of relationships, motherhood, and real estate ambitions.”
—JESSICA ANYA BLAU, author of Mary Jane
PRAISE FOR IDIOPHONE
“[Fusselman] has transformed the traditional essay into something far wilder and more alive.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“At its essence, Idiophone is a hilarious, fast-paced, deliciously messy voyage into the thinking mind of a very smart person.”
—The Kenyon Review
“Idiophone stands as Fusselman’s boldest reckoning yet.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“I read this in a single sitting. No one acrobats between beauty, confession, rueful humor, and deep insight with such amazing trapeze-y ease as Amy Fusselman.”
—John Hodgman, bestselling author of VACATIONLAND
PRAISE FOR SAVAGE PARK
“Savage Park is a deeply felt and brilliant evocation of one of motherhood’s most pressing concerns: safety. In asking whether we can live fully–or parent successfully–when we’re governed by an unacknowledged fear of death, Fusselman jumps high above the tedious Mommy Wars, elevating crucial questions of parenting to a profound philosophical level. Here’s hoping more writer-mothers follow her lead.”
—Darcey Steinke, author of Sister Golden Hair
“Fusselman’s mind is a playground in and of itself. [Her] prose has a spare, clean elegance that can carry a knife-like precision.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“This brief, passionate book….never fails to engage.”
—Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe
“In this unusually refreshing meditation (which reads like a novel), we are given a tour of the space around and within us. With poetic efficiency Amy Fusselman reveals what makes us savage or not; why secret, wild spaces are essential; and, why playing should be taken seriously.”
—Philippe Petit, High Wire Artist
“I yield to no one in my admiration for Amy Fusselman’s work. Her new book, Savage Park, further explores with astonishing power, eloquence, precision, and acid humor her obsessive, necessary theme: the gossamer-thin separation between life and death.”
—David Shields, author of Reality Hunger
PRAISE FOR 8
"It can be remarkably difficult to meditate on joy, especially when that joy is laces with serious ugliness an trauma; Amy Fusselman's 8 calmly and incisively takes on this important task. With admirable economy, 8 offers an expansive philosophy of the everyday which is both impatient with convention and rich with good heart."
—Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts
"A sweet, funny and scary book written by Holden Caulfield's older sister. 8 is a 10!"
—Danny Gregory, author of Everyday Matters
"With both humor and horror Fusselman fixes an unsentimental eye on those mysteries that most often elude explanation."
—Samantha Hunt, author of The Seas
PRAISE FOR THE PHARMACIST’S MATE
'A memoir [that is] both endearingly eccentric and enduringly innovative.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Fusselman’s conversational, intimate voice and heartfelt musings charm the reader. In less than 100 pages she movingly conjures an impressive emotional depth and range, making The Pharmacist’s Mate seem like a much longer work.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“This sweet, sincere story of Fusselman’s attempts to get pregnant by artificial insemination and to come to terms with her father’s death is told in a wholly original epigrammatic style.”
—Vogue
"In this memorable, beautifully structured book, she gives us more than ironic asides or a catalog of her pop-culture… she makes the world strange again, a place where dying and making life are equally mysterious and miraculous activities."
—Time Out New York
Amy Fusselman’s first two books, The Pharmacist’s Mate and 8, weave surprising beauty out of diverse strands of personal reflection. Half memoir and half philosophical improvisation, each focuses loosely on a relationship with a man in the author’s life: The Pharmacist’s Mate with her recently deceased father, and 8 with “my pedophile” (as Fusselman painfully refers to her childhood assailant). Along the way, Fusselman covers sea shanties and artificial insemination, World War II and AC/DC, alternative healers and monster-truck videos. Fusselman’s “wholly original epigrammatic style” (Vogue) “makes the world strange again, a place where dying and making life are equally mysterious and miraculous activities” (Time Out New York).
“Ms. Fusselman’s book, brief as it is, affected me deeply. Not only that, the talent displayed therein was somewhat unnerving.”
—Zadie Smith
“One of the best books about loss I’ve ever read.”
—Rosie O’Donnell