{"product_id":"if-you-follow-me-a-novel-isbn-9780061732850","title":"If You Follow Me: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“I love, love, love \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e. It’s\u003cbr\u003efearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can’t\u003cbr\u003erecommend it highly enough.” — Curtis Sittenfeld, \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e bestselling\u003cbr\u003eauthor of \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrep\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e and \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmerican Wife\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Malena Watrous' beautifully\u003cbr\u003ewrought and deftly written debut novel, we meet Marina, a young woman who has\u003cbr\u003ecome to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. For\u003cbr\u003eher, Shika is more than just her home as a “temporary person.” It’s also an\u003cbr\u003eattempt to escape the reality that has followed her since her father committed\u003cbr\u003esuicide only a year earlier. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarina is a big city girl is in a\u003cbr\u003esmall town filled with off-beat characters, including an ambitious town\u003cbr\u003ematchmaker, a dentist looking for free English lessons, a high school student who\u003cbr\u003eidolizes Western rap artists, and finally Marina’s America-obsessed supervisor,\u003cbr\u003eHiro, a town leader whose friendship teaches her more than she ever expected.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/em\u003e is\u003cbr\u003eat once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind\u003cbr\u003eof love story that explores the tension of being the outsider in an intimate\u003cbr\u003ecommunity and the joy in finding that human nature is the same everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eHoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/em\u003e is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters—from an ambitious town matchmaker to a high school student-cum-rap artist wannabe with an addiction to self-tanning lotion—it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“I love, love, love IF YOU FOLLOW ME. It’s fearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCurtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“How is it that If You Follow Me manages to be at once so funny and so moving?  In this beautiful novel, what is most “foreign” to Marina turns out to be her complex relationships with those she thought she knew best.  Malena Watrous’s writing is sharp-edged and generous, tragic and true.  I would follow her anywhere.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKatharine Noel, author of Halfway House\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In this beautiful novel, what is most “foreign” to Marina turns out to be her complex relationships with those she thought she knew best.  Malena Watrous’s writing is sharp-edged and generous, tragic and true.  I would follow her anywhere.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKatharine Noel, author of Halfway House\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/i\u003e is the kind of book you finish and then clutch to your heart as you run around telling everyone you know that they have to read it. Watrous has written a book of great genuine warmth, startling honesty, and remarkable power.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThisbe Nissen, author of Osprey Island\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I love, love, love \u003ci\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/i\u003e. It’s fearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCurtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[C]onfident and heartfelt, a finely sketched reminder of the ways in which new loves are like new countries....\u003ci\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/i\u003e will charm all readers who have ever fumbled, offended, raged, and had their hearts broken in a foreign land.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A smart, comic first novel.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Her writing is direct and conversational. And she is able to deliver an excruciating portrayal of Marina’s internal struggles.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEugene Register-Guard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Graceful, smart, and filled with wonder, \u003ci\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/i\u003e is a heartfelt delight from beginning to end.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMichelle Richmond, bestselling author of The Year of Fog\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A] deft, funny, and emotionally acute first novel...Watrous’s book crackles with atmospheric detail and sharp dialogue, and tells a vivid story of an American confronting grief and self-knowledge in an unfamiliar place.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This tragicomic debut novel spunky, feminist and perpetually wrong-footed college grad as she spends four seasons in rural Japan escaping the memory of her father’s suicide.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMs. magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887898423525,"sku":"NP9780061732850","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061732850.jpg?v=1730227688","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/if-you-follow-me-a-novel-isbn-9780061732850","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}