{"product_id":"the-small-backs-of-children-a-novel-isbn-9780062383242","title":"The Small Backs of Children: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eNational Bestseller\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA masterful literary talent explores the treacherous, often violent borders between war and sex, love and art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWith the flash of a camera, one girl’s life is shattered, and a host of others altered forever. . .\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a war-torn village in Eastern Europe, an American photographer captures a heart-stopping image: a young girl flying toward the lens, fleeing a fiery explosion that has engulfed her home and family. The image wins acclaim and prizes, becoming an icon for millions—and a subject of obsession for one writer, the photographer’s best friend, who has suffered a devastating tragedy of her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the writer plunges into a suicidal depression, her filmmaker husband enlists several friends, including a fearless bisexual poet and an ingenuous performance artist, to save her by rescuing the unknown girl and bringing her to the United States. And yet, as their plot unfolds, everything we know about the story comes into question: What does the writer really want? Who is controlling the action? And what will happen when these two worlds—east and west, real and virtual—collide?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA fierce, provocative, and deeply affecting novel of both ideas and action that blends the tight construction of Julian Barnes’s \u003cem\u003eThe Sense of an Ending\u003c\/em\u003e with the emotional power of Anthony Marra’s \u003cem\u003eA Constellation of Vital Phenomena\u003c\/em\u003e, Lidia Yuknavitch’s \u003cem\u003eThe Small Backs of Children \u003c\/em\u003eis a major step forward from one of our most avidly watched writers.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eIn a war-torn village in Eastern Europe, an American photographer captures a heart-stopping image: a young girl flying toward the lens, fleeing a fiery explosion that has engulfed her home and family. The image, instantly iconic, garners acclaim and prizes—and, in the United States, becomes a subject of obsession for one writer, the photographer's best friend, who has suffered a devastating tragedy of her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a bid to save the writer from a spiraling depression, her filmmaker husband enlists a group of friends—including a fearless bisexual poet, an ingenuous performance artist, and the writer's playwright brother and painter ex-husband—to rescue the unknown girl and bring her to the United States. And yet, as their plot unfolds, everything we know comes into question: What does the writer really want? Who is controlling the action? And what will happen when these two worlds—East and West, real and virtual—collide?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA fierce, provocative, and deeply affecting novel exploring the often violent borders between war and sex, love and art, \u003cem\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/em\u003e is a major step forward from one of our most avidly watched writers.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Lidia Yuknavitch’ s explosive new novel…is fierce in its vision, with captivating prose that carries its own momentum. Yuknavitch has created a reading experience that is uncomfortable and dazzling, with a vital intensity that grabs at the gutstrings.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/i\u003e is deeply complex and layered, yet also deceptively simple…exquisite in its lyricism and its ability to articulate and amplify the experiences of suffering and survival.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Nervous Breakdown\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Yuknavitch writes about art, violence, sex, ferocity, willpower and womanhood with explosive force, in a language that evokes modern mythology.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/i\u003e beautifully examines the fractures of loss and the myriad ways we can recover from it. ” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Yuknavitch has a point of view and a fragmented and fractured visionary elegance in her poetic, allusive punk-infused voice. She grabs readers by the throats and immerses them in an intense, wrenching fictive world, but lets them up for air through careful structuring and pacing.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuffalo News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Yuknavitch has emerged as a trailblazing literary voice that spans genres and dives deep into themes of gender, sexuality, art, violence, and transcendence.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSuleika Jaouad, Lenny Letter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Yuknavitch’s writing style works in absolutes and blanket statements like large swaths of color on a canvas…if you ask me to follow Yuknavitch’s plume into a raw, experimental work, I gladly will.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePortland Mercury\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is a novel for the bold of heart.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Journal of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“If you want a novel that is going to swallow you alive this summer, turn to Lidia Yuknavitch whose \u003ci\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/i\u003e is the kind of book that goes straight for your heart and your mind…This one is important.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBustle Summer Reading Roundup\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“…this story packs a powerful punch.  It may sound heavy but, trust us, everyone is going to be talking about this book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoats International\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An intensely corporal, potently feminist, tenaciously written work as alert to animal resilience as to the capacity for bruised and battered suffering, for desire, for ecstasy.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Genuinely subversive and challenging . . . Not since Kathy Acker has an American novelist written so vitally from within this [feminist] tradition, claiming the body, especially the female body, as her primary subject. . . . Yuknavitch’s sex scenes are remarkable among current American novelists, not just for their explicitness but for the way she uses them to pursue questions of agency, selfhood, and the ethical implications of making art.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I have never felt so wrung out by a novel and yet simultaneously invigorated…a terrifically good novel and powerfully written.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eParis Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[An example] of thrilling storytelling with universal appeal.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lidia Yuknavitch burns through sex, art, and war in \u003ci\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/i\u003e.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lidia Yuknavitch’s first novel for a big publisher is a big winner.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Oregonian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Gorgeous, scary, and a breathtaking rush to read, this book is less a meditation than a provocation on the power and dangers of art.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In the latest book from Lidia Yuknavitch, she delves into the aftermath of conflict and tragedy, showing how one image can impact the lives of numerous characters...” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eVol 1Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdvance Praise for THE SMALL BACKS OF CHILDREN \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  “Yuknavitch is a gifted writer whose dizzying passages are often as compelling as they are grotesque.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An important book…Yuknavitch’s formal and linguistic playfulness, and her insistence that this experimentalism is distinctly gendered, places her in the vanguard of contemporary American writing . . . and places [the novel] squarely in the realm of the most accomplished experimental fiction. . . . Yuknavitch’s novel, like the work of the radical artists who inspire her, is difficult in the truest and best sense of the word. While male writers, such as Franzen and Marcus, remain busy debating the value and future of experimental fiction, Yuknavitch and her female peers have written their way into its canon.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lidia Yuknavitch’s writing is a sizzle wire.  Her fierce prose will jumpstart your heart and electrify your brain…and her new novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a provocative and thrilling jolt of a book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Small Backs of Children\u003c\/i\u003e proves once again that Yuknavitch is witness to the kind of stories we ought to read.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Rumpus.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888789319909,"sku":"NP9780062383242","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062383242.jpg?v=1730229835","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-small-backs-of-children-a-novel-isbn-9780062383242","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}