PRAISE FOR THE INSEPARABLES:
"In this beguiling novel, three generations of articulate, self-aware women fall to pieces...With a fine understanding of women and a delicate wit, Nadler shepherds all three [women] through grief and humiliation and out the other side."
—Kim Hubbard, People
"There is much to enjoy about this book. I laughed out loud at scenes...but the most memorable moments examine the intricacies of familial lovethe bonds between mothers and daughters, men and women, boys and girls...[Nadler's writing is] carefully rendered, unpretentious and always with the reader's satisfaction on the front burner."—Ann Leary, The New York Times Book Review
"THE INSEPARABLES is funny and sad and so wise about so many thingssex in the modern age, feminism, food, ambition, animals, marriage, mothers and daughters. Fathers and daughters too, for that matter. Weeks after finishing this gorgeous novel, I'm still thinking about the wonderful Olyphant women in all their complexity."—J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Maine and The Engagements
"It's a testament to Stuart Nadler's powers of empathy that I identified with all three generations of women in this witty and wise tale of female trouble and family mayhem."—Lucinda Rosenfeld, author of I'm So Happy for You and The Pretty One
"THE INSEPARABLES accomplishes the rare feat of being both timelythis is an incisive commentary on our culture in the digital ageand completely timeless. Stuart Nadler is sharply attuned to the ironies of life and his novel is insightful, funny, and deeply moving. THE INSEPARABLES is a profound story, not just about the Olyphant women, but about America. This is proof that Nadler is one of the great novelists of our generation."—Elliott Holt, author of You Are One of Them
"THE INSEPARABLES reminded me of vintage Michael Chabon in all the right ways: keenly observed, raucously funny, and poignantly painful. The masterful prose sparkles and shines. But what makes THE INSEPARABLES so damn good are the perfectly realized characters, all popping off the page in 3-D. A great, great book."
—Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Beneath the Bonfire
"THE INSEPARABLES is a mature, sophisticated, self-assured, deeply entertaining piece of fiction. As I read it I couldn't stop saying to myself: now this is exactly how a book should work."—Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and Saint Mazie
"At turns funny, thoughtful, and heart wrenching, THE INSEPARABLES is a deeply satisfying sage of mothers and daughters, sure to be a hit with book clubs. Stuart Nadler writes with clear-eyed confidence, keen insight, and great empathy for his characters."
—Jonathan Evison, author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and West of Here
"Stuart Nadler is an incredible writerinsanely smart and funny, confident and compassionateand THE INSEPARABLES is a deeply moving and morally complex novel that pulls off the high-wire act of being both a brilliant examination of the psychological relationship between art and privacy, and a flat-out page-turner. Nadler writes with all the wit of Bellow and the psychological depth of Ozick. An extraordinary new novel by a writer with endless talent."
—Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans
"I love stories about the honest (and difficult!) messiness of life and Stuart Nadler's THE INSEPARABLES is just thatit's a big, bold, bubbling novel, and I was hooked from page one."
—Hannah Pittard, author of Listen to Me
"Stuart Nadler's savage wit and incendiary insights mix in this brilliant, funny and deeply moving novel to give us a glimpse into the generational moment we're all living in. This is a novel about how our culture treats sex, and the livesand rightsof women of any age."
—Alexander Chee, author of The Queen of the Night
"Stuart Nadler is a perceptive, sharp, and hilarious writer, working at the top of his game. Fans of Meg Wolitzer and Tom Perrotta will go crazy for this book, which is smart and funny in equal measure."
—Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers
"The sharp and immersive THE INSEPARABLES draws us deep into the lives of three devastated, indelible womenand masterfully illuminates how disaster can reveal new dimensions in the self. This is Stuart Nadler's finest work of fiction yet. From the first sentence to the last, the book inhaled my imagination like a bold and furious storm."
—Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me
"Nadler, a male writer in his 30s, truly dazzles with his understanding of womenthis is the kind of book that will cause female readers to fall in love with the author...Love this writer. Love these characters."
—Kirkus (Starred Review)
"Nadler writes with tenderness and empathy...The Inseparables feels urgent, but without losing its warmth and humor."
—Daniel Johnson, The Paris Review
"Nadler excels at setting and sustaining a scene, and he writes with confidence and compassion about people trying to navigate their way through disruption."
—Booklist (Starred Review)
"Elegantly written and often funny and sharply insightful...This story is ripe for thought and discussion."
—Eleanor Brown, The Washington Post
"Nadler's female protagonists are so fully formed and relatable that readers may be surprised to realize the author is male. The Inseparables braids the stories of these generations, creating an emotional landscape that draws the reader into each character's world."
—Carla Jean Whitley, BookPage
"[A] sharply written exploration of feminism in the digital age."
—Conde Nast Traveler
"Simultaneously probing and hilarious."
—Kevin Nance, The Chicago Tribune
"[A] droll, warm and trenchantly observed comic novel...the smartest and most touching romantic comedy you won't find at a multiplex theater this summer."
—Gene Seymour, Newsday
"Sharply drawn [and] amusingly observed."
—Shelf Awareness
"The best fiction illuminates life's realities, and Stuart Nadler spotlights the fact that we all skate on a very thin edge between joy and sorrow, respectability and shame, life and death."
—Martha Sheridan, Dallas Morning News
"Written with insight and warmth...[an] emotionally rich and sharply observed portrayal of three women and their journeys...compassionate and compelling."
—Wendeline O. Wright, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PRAISE FOR WISE MEN:
"I have no doubt that Stuart Nadler is going to be one of our great novelists, and it all starts here, on a dune in Cape Cod, with the Wise men. These charactersknotted together with obligation, guilt, and lovewill stay with me always."—Emma Straub
"Surprising...The story stretches over both Wise men's lifetimes and fills them with resonant complications...expertly wrought."—Janet Maslin, New York Times
"A tense, evocative, page-turning saga of the bruising encounters between two families across the 'colour line' over half a century. Every conversation rings painfully, beautifully true."—Emma Donoghue, author of Frog Music and Room
04/04/2016
Nadler’s (Wise Men) perceptive novel of a modern family unraveling revolves around three generations of women. Henrietta Olyphant is a recently widowed women’s studies professor, and the author of a decades-old trashy, sexy novel called The Inseparables, which is set to be reissued. Oona, Henrietta’s daughter, is divorcing her husband. And Oona’s daughter, Lydia, has suffered the misfortune of having a topless photo of her spread like wildfire around her private school. Without her husband, Henrietta struggles to keep up appearances and is forced to sell her home and possessions to pay the bills. Lydia worries that the boy who stole the photo from her phone will continue to release scandalous photos of her. Oona complicates her sad divorce—and her relationship with her daughter—by getting romantically involved with her couples counselor. Throughout each scene, Nadler captures the awkwardness of growing older during all phases of life. The characters share humiliations, yet also find the resilience to move on. This novel contains plenty of romance, tension, and tenderness to make for a rich and compelling read. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (July)
★ 2016-05-04
Three generations of smart, articulate women deal with challenging life passages.Henrietta, 70, lost her beloved husband—a famous chef—11 months ago and cannot recover emotionally or financially. Her straits are such that she has grudgingly allowed the reissue of The Inseparables, an X-rated bestseller she wrote in her 20s. She's also started selling tchotchkes from around her house, but the most valuable of them, a weathervane, has gone missing. Meanwhile, her daughter, Oona, an orthopedic surgeon, is navigating the waters of a choppy divorce from her pothead ex-lawyer spouse, Spencer, and has embarked on a dubious relationship with their couples therapist. Oona and Spencer's 15-year-old daughter, Lydia, has been the victim of a terrible classmate at boarding school, Charlie, who made her think he was her boyfriend, gave her her first kiss, and then posted pictures of her breasts on the Internet. "Hartwell took students as young as six, taught them Mandarin, Shakespeare, and computer coding, and spat them back out in to the world as currency traders or diplomats or white-collar criminals." This Charlie kid is getting started early; he's ruined Lydia's life in a way not completely different than the overexposure that still torments her ex-sex-writer grandmother. Nadler (The Wise Men, 2013), a male writer in his 30s, truly dazzles with his understanding of women—this is the kind of book that will cause female readers to fall in love with the author. The three parallel plots unfold very tautly for at least two-thirds of the duration, then things slow down with too many flashbacks and digressions in the climactic chapters. The resolutions of all the problems are a little flat, if unarguably realistic. But these things are more something for book groups to talk about than serious flaws.Love this writer. Love these characters.