The post-recession Bay Area is a land fertile for world-changers and dreamers. This is the setting for Tell Us When To Go, a millennial coming-of-age story, part Silicon Valley satire and part urgent glimpse into the darker sides of privilege, troll culture, and class disparity. It asks the question, what comes of a friendship, or a city, with so much splitting it apart? Can it be saved?
Cole Gallegos is the ace of his college pitching staff, projected to make millions in the big leagues. But a ruthless case of “yips” leads him to break down and drop out of college.
Cole’s teammate Isaac Moss is a wallflower who lacks direction and independence, so he follows Cole to San Francisco, where they rent a dingy apartment and attempt adult lives.
Desperate for a job, Cole is hired by Seaside High to work one-on-one with foster youth Dizzy Benson, who is one strike from getting expelled. The two do not vibe, to say the least. Days are turbulent with standoffs and threats. But their disconnect is not without humor, and with time their grudges against the world clumsily unite them.
Meanwhile Isaac is hired as a temp at a growing startup in Silicon Valley, where he enjoys breakrooms with hammocks, and teambuilding beer-tastings. Through this, he begins to gel with this fast paced and vibrant workforce that’s begun to sweep through San Francisco. For once, he feels confident, even cool.
With such different days and perspectives, Cole and Isaac begin to diverge, much like the city itself. Told across one semester, Tell Us When To Go explores a city amid change, and the people and friendships that are liable to change with it.
Praise for Tell Us When To Go:"DeAndreis brings readers into a coming-of-age tale based on the real-life changes happening to the place he calls home. Through the divergent stories of two friends, the reader gets a sense of the dichotomies that exist in the Bay Area, as well as the influence of tech companies and local hip-hop culture."
—
KQED San Francisco"Bay Area author's novel a hallelujah to the imperfect beauty of friendship and baseball."
—
San Francisco Chronicle“Tell Us When To Go explores the ever-changing city and various lived experiences of SF residents.”
—
Megan Rose Dickey, AXIOS“DeAndreis is aware of the power of and suggestions made by language, evidenced by the nuanced characters and their grappling with class, friendship, and failure.”
—
Suzy Eynon, The Masters Review“DeAndreis has written a fiery satire about friendship,...Silicon Valley and the swiftly tilting madhouse which inequality has wrought...impossible-to-put-down and heartbreaking in all the right places …”
—
Junot Díaz is the author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award“Emil DeAndreis sees what so many of us miss, about the Bay Area and beyond. Tell Us When To Go has such great energy, such propulsive momentum in the telling. Here’s the truth delivered with intensity and humor. What more could anybody ask of a contemporary novel?”
—
Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here?, Esther Stories, and Last Car Over The Sagamore Bridge“Tell Us When To Go is funny and wise—a rollicking satire that’s not only timely but timeless."
—Molly Antopol, National Book award Nominee for The Un-Americans"We know from the first page of
Tell Us When To Go that we’re in good hands. Through the lens of baseball and San Francisco, DeAndreis brings to life the beauty and pain of loving something so much that it can be too much to bear. In the end, DeAndreis’s smart, moving novel is about one thing: how we save each other."
—Joan Ryan, author of Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
