Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen: A Novel

by Alix Kates Shulman, Jennifer Baumgardner (Introduction)

Overview

Twenty-five years after it first shocked readers nationwide, this landmark book continues to hit home with its eye-opening portrayal of growing up female in middle-class America.

Described by the New York Times as "the voice that has for three decades provided a lyrical narrative of the changing position of women in American society," Alix Kates Shulman takes a wry look in this sardonic, funny novel at a world of experience long considered taboo or trivial. As relevant and delicious as ever, this frank story of one woman's intellectual and sexual awakening is so superbly written and devastatingly--sometimes frighteningly--on target that readers will treasure this beauty for many years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374530792
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	03/06/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Alix Shulman is the author of four other novels, three memoirs including the award-winning Drinking the Rain, two books on the anarchist Emma Goldman, an essay collection, and three children's books.

Editorial Reviews

"A breakthrough book, innovative both in its rendering of the feminie experience and in its quite perfect marriage of thesis to art.. The identification for women here should be strong..."

Saturday Review

"One of the more fun (explicitly) feminist novels ever written. It's replete with dirty losses of virginity in parking lots and sexy snorkeling, and I highly recommend." —Lizzie Skurnick, Jezebel

"Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen is a vivid reminder of just how much—and sometimes, how little—has changed for women in the last 35 years. Typing prowess and wedding-night virginity may no longer be expected, but Shulman's tale of Sasha Davis's struggle to find herself amid conflicting cultural messages about beauty, brains, and sex will be resonant for many more years to come." —Andi Zeisler, editorial/creative director of Bitch magazine

"Extremely relevant—I loved it! Growing up female in America forces many to become obsessed with how they look and how others see them, yet these cultural pressures and their effect on young woman are too rarely taken seriously and it was valuable and comforting to read a book that recognizes this and puts it in perspective. I only wish I'd found Alix Shulman's classic earlier.” —Sophie Pollitt-Cohen, co-author of The Notebook Girls

“An extraordinary novel . . . Sad and witty, expertly conceived and executed . . . Important." —Peter Prescott, Newsweek

"This story, told with astringent wit, explores every facet and cliché of what it means to grow up female and beautiful." —San Francisco Chronicle

“A vicious little gem of a novel.” —Cosmopolitan

From the Publisher