You Are Here: A Novel

by Karin Lin-Greenberg, Jennifer Aquino (Read by)

Overview

As a once-bustling mall prepares to shut its doors for the final time, the residents of an upstate New York town must reckon with a shocking act that forces them to reevaluate who they are in this "remarkable study of ordinary people's extraordinary inner lives" (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

The inhabitants of a small town have long found that their lives intersect at one focal point: the local shopping mall. But business is down, stores are closing, and as the institution breathes its last gasp, the people inside it dream of something different, something more. In its pages, You Are Here brings this diverse group of characters vividly to life—flawed, real, lovable strangers who are wonderful company and prove unforgettable even after the last store has closed.

The only hair stylist at Sunshine Clips secretly watches YouTube primers on how to draw and paint, just as her awkward young son covertly studies new illusions for his magic act. His friend and magician’s assistant, a high school cashier in the food court, has attracted the unwanted attention of a strange boy at school. She tells no one except the mall’s chain bookstore manager, a failed academic living in the tiny house he built in his mother-in-law's backyard. His family is watched over by the judgmental old woman next door, whose weekly trips to Sunshine Clips hide a complicated and emotional history and will spark the moment when everything changes for them all.

Exploring how the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are inextricably bound to the places we call home, You Are Here is a keenly perceptive and deeply humane portrait of a community in transition, ultimately illuminating the magical connections that can bloom from the ordinary wonder of our everyday lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212719100
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)

About the Author

Karin Lin-Greenberg is a Chinese American, award-winning writer whose debut collection, Faulty Predictions, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and won gold in Foreword Reviews's INDIE Award in the Short Story category. Her second collection, Vanished, was the winner of the Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize in Fiction. She is the recipient of fellowships from MacDowell, the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in publications including the Southern Review, Story, and Boulevard. Her short story "The Sweeper of Hair," the basis of You Are Here's opening chapter, was a finalist for the Nelson Algren Literary Award and was published in the Chicago Tribune. Lin-Greenberg is an associate professor in the English Department at Siena College in upstate New York.

Jennifer Aquino is an American actor and award-winning narrator based in Los Angeles. She works in film, television, theater, and voice-over. She's one of the doctors who killed McDreamy on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Her theater background includes performances at East West Players, The Actors' Gang, LaJolla Playhouse, Theatre West, El Portal Theatre, and Center Stage Theatre. Jennifer loves giving voice to young adults, and reading journeys of empowered women in romantic comedies, LitRPG books, fantasy/sci-fi novels, mysteries, and thrillers. Her background in theater and voice contributes to her narration in giving each character a unique life.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/06/2023

Lin-Greenberg’s exceptional debut novel (after the collection Vanished) explores a complex web of relationships at a fading mall in Albany, N.Y. Among the people drawn together by the mall are Tina Huang, the last remaining stylist at a struggling hair salon, and Ro Goodson, an 89-year-old white woman who is Tina’s only regular customer, and who Tina believes comes in because she’s lonely. Ro takes a dim view of her Black neighbor Joan for moving into Ro’s predominantly white neighborhood years earlier. Ro also doesn’t think much of Joan’s daughter, Gwen, an adjunct professor, or Gwen’s white husband, Kevin, manager of the mall’s bookstore, both of whom live in a tiny house on Joan’s property. Maria, a high school senior who hopes to become a professional actor, dons a chicken outfit for her food court job and is upset when she doesn’t get a lead part in her school’s production of West Side Story. The other characters are past worrying their dreams won’t come true; Tina secretly yearns to be an illustrator of children’s books but “knows it’s not a practical thing to pursue,” while Ro plants a lemon tree that she knows won’t bear fruit until after she’s gone. After establishing a quirky tone, the novel’s third act reaches a grand scale as an active shooter prowls the mall, though the real drama rests in the characters’ reckoning with the limits of what is possible. This is a remarkable study of ordinary people’s extraordinary inner lives. Agent: Kathy Schneider, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Amazon, A Best Book of the Year
Oprah Daily, A Best Book of the Year
Elle, A Best New Book of the Summer
Library Journal, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
Zibby's Mag, A Most Anticipated Book of 2023
Goodreads, A Buzziest Debut Novel of the Year

"Lin-Greenberg’s web of characters illustrate the complex lives of ordinary people." —Laura Zornosa, Time

"Like Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, the charm of Lin-Greenberg’s engaging story lies in the sweetness of the characters’ everyday lives." —Becky Meloan, The Washington Post

"Charming . . . The small lies woven into a lifelong marriage, the petty resentments harbored by polite neighbors and, above all, the comic discrepancy between a character’s outer and inner life—all emerge unforced and unadorned in this multifaceted narrative . . . But the everyday reality that Ms. Lin-Greenberg so memorably creates is not easily eclipsed. Compassion and wry understatement remain her strengths, and in You Are Here she captures not only the frayed texture of suburban existence but also the turbulent emotions, immediate and long buried, of protagonists who are ultimately far more than stereotypes." —Anna Mundow, The Wall Street Journal

"Beautifully written and radically sympathetic . . . Among its achievements, You Are Here is a breathtaking depiction of a community—even one at the mall." —Jeffrey Condran, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Absolutely irresistible." —People

"This poignant novel by Karin Lin-Greenberg movingly portrays a community of people whose local mall is shutting down. Rich and nuanced in her descriptions of her characters, Lin-Greenberg illustrates both the humanity of their private lives and the layered entanglements of their relationships." —Karla Strand, Ms.

"Karin Lin-Greenberg’s thoughtful, empathic You Are Here [is] such a bittersweet treat." —Elle, A Most Anticipated Title of the Year

"The novel is entertaining and incisive, and Lin-Greenberg captures a range of human experiences, with a reminder that no one ever knows what another person is experiencing." —Katie Tamola, Shondaland

“Lin-Greenberg brings a diverse range of characters to life—flawed, real, lovable strangers who are company and prove unforgettable. The book is really fantastic.” —WAMC/"The Roundtable"

"Saying You Are Here is about a mall closing in a small town is like saying Moby Dick is about a whale. The commonplace happening is merely a tool to explore both how human beings are intimately connected and how others are fully unknowable. This books reminds me of early Celeste Ng—in the best way."—Sarah Gelman, A Sarah Selects Pick

"Lin-Greenberg is a captivating storyteller and deploys the shopping mall setting to show that no matter one’s background, people are more alike than different . . . [H]er story is a universal one about finding joy in one’s interests. And it’s also a reminder that people can—and do—change. In a world that seems fraught with division, this simple message is perhaps the one needed the most now." —Susan Blumberg-Kason, Asian Review of Books

"Within [You Are Here] are characters you will grow to feel deeply for—their embarrassment, guilt, and disillusionment will make you want to lean in and give them a hug. While each one of them may be flawed, they are so believably human and fleshed out that you can understand why they are the way they are and each one harbors a secret or background that furthers your understanding of their current state. You can picture them in your own life, or mall, almost seeing them walking past you in the food court. You Are Here is gentle, introspective, and human in every sense of the word. It brings to life a community, loosely yet clearly, bound together by a mall on the decline. Even though it is still early in the year, I’m ready to call it one of the best books of 2023." —Audrey Fong, Soapberry Review

"Lin-Greenberg weaves together [...] individual stories with skill and nuance. The small details of each character's experience provide a kaleidoscopic portrayal in this heartfelt exploration of what makes up a life: secret hopes and dreams, human interactions, moments of kindness and care."—Kerry McHugh, Shelf Awareness

"With Lin-Greenberg’s in-depth character development, You Are Here shows both the unexpected connections between strangers and the unshakeable assumptions we have about one another. Lin-Greenberg mines the spectacular within everyday life, whether that is a moment of public violence or intense beauty. Similarly, she highlights how mall culture functions simultaneously as a dying part of suburbia, a symbol of lost dreams, and—perhaps surprisingly—a form of controlled community." —Jaeyoon Yoo, Electric Literature

"Exceptional . . . This is a remarkable study of ordinary people’s extraordinary inner lives." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Lin-Greenberg’s masterful and understated debut novel is an engrossing, character-driven story that will delight fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng . . . At its heart, this is a story about our ties to and interactions with others and how our communities impact our actions, influence our aspirations, and shape our identities. Lin-Greenberg beautifully translates the lives of an ordinary group of people into an extraordinary, even triumphant novel. You Are Here is sure to be a book-club favorite." —Booklist

"This novel is a community and a tour de force account of small town America. How do we survive ourselves and each other? How can we thrive instead of simply co-exist? Lin-Greenberg brings her imperfect yet perfect cast of characters to answer this very question and shows us a way. A magical book, brimming with soul." ––Weike Wang, author of Joan Is Okay

"A boy, a beauty, an elderly gardener, a failed PhD and an artist with scissors: where else could all of these characters meet but at the mall? In Karin Lin-Greenberg’s clear-eyed and heartfelt You Are Here, the failing Greenways Mall makes community out of a group of characters so fractious and real, you feel like you’re hanging out with them at the food court." —Alexandra Lange, author of Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

“A charming and witty work that will also break your heart—a story about America, set in that most American of places: the dying shopping mall.” —Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of The Evening Hero

"With great insight and care, Lin-Greenberg chronicles the daily lives of neighbors connected to a local mall that's soon closing. You Are Here shows that times keep changing, but the American Dream persists." —Sarah Langan, acclaimed author of Good Neighbors

From the Publisher

2023-02-24
This debut novel offers a group portrait of people in upstate New York trying to figure out how to build new lives.

Every day after school, Jackson Huang joins his mom, Tina, at Sunshine Clips in Greenways Mall. She tends to the needs of a dwindling roster of clients. He does his homework and sweeps up hair. Her most loyal customer is Ro Goodson, an elderly woman with a prickly personality and a knack for being offensive. Ro’s next-door neighbor Kevin manages the bookstore across from the salon. He’s been stalled on his dissertation long enough to realize that he doesn’t really want to be in academia. He lives with his wife and two kids in a tiny house he built in his mother-in-law’s backyard. Maria, who works at the fried-chicken place in the food court, is a high school senior who dreams of being an actor. Losing the lead role in West Side Story to a girl who is blond and blue-eyed makes her question herself. Their lives intersect in a variety of ways, and all of them are wondering what they’ll do when the mall closes. A dying shopping center seems like a perfect metaphor for…something, but what that something might be never quite coalesces. Instead, the mall feels like a set built for this very small cast. The scenes set in Ro and Kevin’s neighborhood and in Maria’s school also seem like they’re happening on a soundstage. Perhaps the intention here was to invoke the claustrophobia of a small town, to create the sense that the outside world isn’t real. But nothing that happens within this circumscribed environment feels real, either—not even the act of violence that serves as something of a climax. Lin-Greenberg earned critical recognition for Faulty Predictions (2014) and Vanished (2022), her collections of short fiction. But the invention and energy readers found in those stories are missing here.

A disappointing novel from a much-praised writer.

Kirkus Reviews