Days of Awe - Hardcover

Advance praise for Lauren Fox's "Days of Awe:
"
""Days of Awe "is clever, funny, and emotional, the kind of book another writer reads jealously, wishing to have written it. Honest and accurate about female friendship, this is my favorite Lauren Fox book yet."
--Jennifer Close, bestselling author of "Girls in White Dresses "and "The Smart One"
"Funny, mordant, and heartbreaking, "Days of Awe" is a marvel. With a deft touch, Lauren Fox manages to swoop from tenderness to absurdity in a single line, pulling her readers through a thicket of emotion without a stumble or a missed turn. I loved this novel."
--Christina Baker Kline, #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of "Orphan Train"

Advance praise for Lauren Fox s"Days of Awe:
"
What makes the book so special is Isabel's smart, acerbic voice and her way of seeing everything from a sharp angle. Fox ("Friends Like Us, " 2012, etc.) studs Izzy's narration with surprising metaphors, turning ordinary domestic items into dangerous beasts ( the herd of wild minivans ) and Josie's fatal accident into something almost domestic ( Her rusty 11-year-old Toyota skidded off the slick road like a can of soup rolling across a supermarket aisle ). Isabel (and Fox) has such an offbeat way of looking at things that you'll eagerly keep reading just to see what she's going to say next. Read it for the magnetic voice and Fox's ever interesting perspective on work, love, friendship, and parenthood because, really, what else is there?
"Kirkus "(Starred Review)
"What's wonderful about reading a novelist's books in back-to-back sequence is that you witness the writer grow not gradually, but seemingly overnight... Fox's latest novel, "Days of Awe.".. treads on new territory: parenthood, loss and death... Fox paints touching portraits of the bonds between mothers and daughters. Helene has a wonderful verve...Iz wins the reader's sympathy by continually putting herself out there.".."Careful and nuanced.
Patricia Park, "The New York Times Book Review
""The hands of time stop for no one, not even Lauren Fox. With each new novel, the characters of this irrepressibly comedic chronicler of friendship, marriage and romantic foibles among white Milwaukeean Generation X-ers advance and mature in concert with their author. And yet her prose remains as fresh as if it spritzed from the wordsmith s fountain of youth. With Days of Awe, however, Fox s insouciance is tempered by an omnipresent awareness of 'that cold lick of mortality...' The fearlessness with which Fox frees her women to behave badly heightens both the credibility and the pleasure of her fiction."
Jan Stuart"Boston Globe"
" "
Following the success of her first two novels, Fox lays out a tale about a woman s attempt to piece her life together following the death of her best friend... Filled with insecurities and anxieties, Isabel s nuanced character is relatable her struggles are universal and the reader will root for her to succeed. Raw and darkly humorous at times, Fox s novel is a winner.
"Publishers Weekly
"
Isabel s world crumbles in the year following the sudden death of her best friend, Josie But despite the weight of sadness, Isabel is a clever, self-deprecating narrator, and humor lights up her descriptions... As Isabel learns to move on, she also learns to accept some truths about her friend Josie s adventurous spirit skirted dangerously close to recklessness at times.
"Booklist
" An insightful novel by Lauren Fox that explores how grief can make every arena of life feel suddenly disorienting Humor brings levity to Fox's frank, thought-provoking story that adds surprising depth and meaning, layer upon layer, page by page Fox once again explores, with a smart and refreshing perspective, the underside of friendships, marriage, love and loss--and the range of emotions that can plague and liberate the human heart.
Kathleen Gerard, "Shelf Awareness
""Lauren Fox ... takes women who are falling apart and pulls wit, snark, pith, and occasional insight out of them. No contemporary novelist makes me stop as often to mark or admire one of her sentences. Plenty of people can write limpid or fancy prose, but Fox ladles out one flavorful reduction ... after another.... "Days of Awe" draws its title from the period of the solemn introspection urged upon Jews between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, though Fox's narrator, Isabel Applebaum Moore, also experiences gentler moments of wonder and appreciation.... Were Days of Awe the pilot script for a TV series, elderly actresses would throw elbows to audition for Helene... Poignant."
Jim Higgins, "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"

"Days of Awe "is clever, funny, and emotional, the kind of book another writer reads jealously, wishing to have written it. Honest and accurate about female friendship, this is my favorite Lauren Fox book yet.
Jennifer Close, bestselling author of "Girls in White Dresses "and "The Smart One"
Funny, mordant, and heartbreaking, "Days of Awe" is a marvel. With a deft touch, Lauren Fox manages to swoop from tenderness to absurdity in a single line, pulling her readers through a thicket of emotion without a stumble or a missed turn. I loved this novel.
Christina Baker Kline, #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of "Orphan Train
"Milwaukeean Lauren Fox s third novel follows an East Side woman, Isabel Moore, for whom much is going wrong. Her best friend dies as her marriage is falling apart, and the story follows the battle raging in her psyche. Armed with a thick shield of dark humor, Moore struggles to set her life aright and repair her relationship with her teenage daughter.
"Milwaukee Magazine"'s summer reading list"

Advance praise for Lauren Fox s"Days of Awe: "
"What's wonderful about reading a novelist's books in back-to-back sequence is that you witness the writer grow not gradually, but seemingly overnight... Fox's latest novel, "Days of Awe.".. treads on new territory: parenthood, loss and death... Fox paints touching portraits of the bonds between mothers and daughters. Helene has a wonderful verve...Iz wins the reader's sympathy by continually putting herself out there.".."Careful and nuanced.
Patricia Park, "The New York Times Book Review"
Darkly hilarious Fox is a master of emotional misdirection, and what she presents here tastes like carbonated grief, an elixir of sorrow gassed up with her nervous humor With "Days of Awe," Fox has created a winding internal monologue as Isabel tries to catch her bearings in a world that suddenly seems out of kilter Leavened with wry silliness that fans will remember from Fox s previous novels, "Friends Like Us" and "Still Life with Husband" [Isabel is] an extremely endearing narrator, the kind of woman who makes straight-faced jokes that her uptight colleagues don t get, and then feels both superior and mortified There are veins of Anne Lamott running through these pages, a sweet blend of sentimentality and wit And Fox is a great comic on the subject of aging, too. Her narrator wears sweatpants that are a blend of cotton and self-loathing. She could be channeling Nora Ephron Surprisingly buoyant.
Ron Charles, T"he Washington Post "
What makes the book so special is Isabel's smart, acerbic voice and her way of seeing everything from a sharp angle. Fox ("Friends Like Us," 2012, etc.) studs Izzy's narration with surprising metaphors, turning ordinary domestic items into dangerous beasts ( the herd of wild minivans ) and Josie's fatal accident into something almost domestic ( Her rusty 11-year-old Toyota skidded off the slick road like a can of soup rolling across a supermarket aisle ). Isabel (and Fox) has such an offbeat way of looking at things that you'll eagerly keep reading just to see what she's going to say next. Read it for the magnetic voice and Fox's ever interesting perspective on work, love, friendship, and parenthood because, really, what else is there?
"Kirkus"(Starred Review)
"The hands of time stop for no one, not even Lauren Fox. With each new novel, the characters of this irrepressibly comedic chronicler of friendship, marriage and romantic foibles among white Milwaukeean Generation X-ers advance and mature in concert with their author. And yet her prose remains as fresh as if it spritzed from the wordsmith s fountain of youth. With"Days of Awe," however, Fox s insouciance is tempered by an omnipresent awareness of 'that cold lick of mortality...' The fearlessness with which Fox frees her women to behave badly heightens both the credibility and the pleasure of her fiction."
Jan Stuart, "Boston Globe"
As Fox deconstructs the myth of perfect womanhood, her humor and humanity remind us that love s the only lifeboat through grief.
"People Magazine"Book of the Week
Following the success of her first two novels, Fox lays out a tale about a woman s attempt to piece her life together following the death of her best friend... Filled with insecurities and anxieties, Isabel s nuanced character is relatable her struggles are universal and the reader will root for her to succeed. Raw and darkly humorous at times, Fox s novel is a winner.
"Publishers Weekly"
Isabel s world crumbles in the year following the sudden death of her best friend, Josie But despite the weight of sadness, Isabel is a clever, self-deprecating narrator, and humor lights up her descriptions... As Isabel learns to move on, she also learns to accept some truths about her friend Josie s adventurous spirit skirted dangerously close to recklessness at times.
"Booklist"
An insightful novel by Lauren Fox that explores how grief can make every arena of life feel suddenly disorienting Humor brings levity to Fox's frank, thought-provoking story that adds surprising depth and meaning, layer upon layer, page by page Fox once again explores, with a smart and refreshing perspective, the underside of friendships, marriage, love and loss--and the range of emotions that can plague and liberate the human heart.
Kathleen Gerard, "Shelf Awareness
"
""Days of Awe"" will keep you reading Fox's previous novels, "Still Life With Husband" and ""Friends Like Us"," were celebrated for witty and intelligent examinations of friendship and marriage. ""Days of Awe"" is no exception.
Mary Ann Grossman, " "St. Paul Pioneer Press " """
Her latest work explores the ever-shifting landscape of a woman in her 40s with the same sly humor and snappy dialogue that has made Fox one of my favorite novelists to recommend ""Days of Awe"" is an examination of grief and how one can move past it, or at least make it through each day without succumbing to its persistent demands.
Meganne Fabrega, ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"""
""Lauren Fox ... takes women who are falling apart and pulls wit, snark, pith, and occasional insight out of them. No contemporary novelist makes me stop as often to mark or admire one of her sentences. Plenty of people can write limpid or fancy prose, but Fox ladles out one flavorful reduction ... after another.... "Days of Awe" draws its title from the period of the solemn introspection urged upon Jews between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, though Fox's narrator, Isabel Applebaum Moore, also experiences gentler moments of wonder and appreciation.... Were Days of Awe the pilot script for a TV series, elderly actresses would throw elbows to audition for Helene... Poignant."
Jim Higgins, "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"
"Days of Awe "is clever, funny, and emotional, the kind of book another writer reads jealously, wishing to have written it. Honest and accurate about female friendship, this is my favorite Lauren Fox book yet.
Jennifer Close, bestselling author of "Girls in White Dresses "and "The Smart One"
Funny, mordant, and heartbreaking, "Days of Awe" is a marvel. With a deft touch, Lauren Fox manages to swoop from tenderness to absurdity in a single line, pulling her readers through a thicket of emotion without a stumble or a missed turn. I loved this novel.
Christina Baker Kline, #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of "Orphan Train
"Milwaukeean Lauren Fox s third novel follows an East Side woman, Isabel Moore, for whom much is going wrong. Her best friend dies as her marriage is falling apart, and the story follows the battle raging in her psyche. Armed with a thick shield of dark humor, Moore struggles to set her life aright and repair her relationship with her teenage daughter.
"Milwaukee Magazine"'s summer reading list"

Advance praise for Lauren Fox sDays of Awe:
"What's wonderful about reading a novelist's books in back-to-back sequence is that you witness the writer grow not gradually, but seemingly overnight... Fox's latest novel, Days of Awe... treads on new territory: parenthood, loss and death... Fox paints touching portraits of the bonds between mothers and daughters. Helene has a wonderful verve...Iz wins the reader's sympathy by continually putting herself out there...Careful and nuanced.
Patricia Park, The New York Times Book Review
Darkly hilarious Fox is a master of emotional misdirection, and what she presents here tastes like carbonated grief, an elixir of sorrow gassed up with her nervous humor With Days of Awe, Fox has created a winding internal monologue as Isabel tries to catch her bearings in a world that suddenly seems out of kilter Leavened with wry silliness that fans will remember from Fox s previous novels, Friends Like Us and Still Life with Husband [Isabel is] an extremely endearing narrator, the kind of woman who makes straight-faced jokes that her uptight colleagues don t get, and then feels both superior and mortified There are veins of Anne Lamott running through these pages, a sweet blend of sentimentality and wit And Fox is a great comic on the subject of aging, too. Her narrator wears sweatpants that are a blend of cotton and self-loathing. She could be channeling Nora Ephron Surprisingly buoyant.
Ron Charles, The Washington Post
What makes the book so special is Isabel's smart, acerbic voice and her way of seeing everything from a sharp angle. Fox (Friends Like Us, 2012, etc.) studs Izzy's narration with surprising metaphors, turning ordinary domestic items into dangerous beasts ( the herd of wild minivans ) and Josie's fatal accident into something almost domestic ( Her rusty 11-year-old Toyota skidded off the slick road like a can of soup rolling across a supermarket aisle ). Isabel (and Fox) has such an offbeat way of looking at things that you'll eagerly keep reading just to see what she's going to say next. Read it for the magnetic voice and Fox's ever interesting perspective on work, love, friendship, and parenthood because, really, what else is there?
Kirkus(Starred Review)
"The hands of time stop for no one, not even Lauren Fox. With each new novel, the characters of this irrepressibly comedic chronicler of friendship, marriage and romantic foibles among white Milwaukeean Generation X-ers advance and mature in concert with their author. And yet her prose remains as fresh as if it spritzed from the wordsmith s fountain of youth. WithDays of Awe, however, Fox s insouciance is tempered by an omnipresent awareness of 'that cold lick of mortality...' The fearlessness with which Fox frees her women to behave badly heightens both the credibility and the pleasure of her fiction."
Jan Stuart, Boston Globe
As Fox deconstructs the myth of perfect womanhood, her humor and humanity remind us that love s the only lifeboat through grief.
People MagazineBook of the Week
Following the success of her first two novels, Fox lays out a tale about a woman s attempt to piece her life together following the...

Celebrated for her irresistibly witty, strikingly intelligent examinations of friendship and marriage, Lauren Fox (“An immensely gifted writer—a writer adept at capturing the sad-funny mess that happens to be one woman’s life” —Michiko Kakutani,The New York Times) has written her most powerful novel to date. Days of Aweis the story of a woman who, in the wake of her best friend’s sudden death, must face the crisis in her marriage, the fury of her almost-teenage daughter, and the possibility of opening her cantankerous heart to someone new.

Only a year ago Isabel Moore was married, was the object of adoration for her ten-year-old daughter, and thought she knew everything about her wild, extravagant, beloved best friend, Josie. But in that one short year her husband moved out and rented his own apartment; her daughter grew into a moody insomniac; and Josie—impulsive, funny, secretive Josie—was killed behind the wheel in a single-car accident. As the relationships that long defined Isabel—wife, mother, daughter, best friend—change before her eyes, Isabel must try to understand who she really is.

Teeming with longing, grief, and occasional moments of wild, unexpected joy, Days of Awe is a daring, dazzling book—a luminous exploration of marriage, motherhood, and the often surprising shape of new love.