"A beautiful meander of a book." --Hanya Yanagihara, The New Yorker "Olivia Laing, in her new book, The Lonely City , picks up the topic of painful urban isolation and sets it down in many smart and oddly consoling places. She makes the topic her own . Perhaps the best praise I can give this book is to concur with Laing''s dedication: ''If you''re lonely, this one''s for you.''" --Dwight Garner, The New York Times "This book serves as both provocation and comfort, a secular prayer for those who are alone--meaning all of us." -- The New York Times Book Review "One of the finest writers of the new non-fiction . Compelling and original." -- Harper''s Bazaar "An uncommonly observant hybrid of memoir, history and cultural criticism .
A book of extraordinary compassion and insight." -- San Francisco Chronicle "Laing is an astute and consistently surprising culture critic who deeply identifies with her subjects'' vulnerabilities. Absolutely one of a kind." --Maureen Corrigan, NPR''s Fresh Air "It''s not easy to pull off switching between criticism and confession--and like Echo Spring , The Lonely City is an impressive and beguiling combination of autobiography and biography, a balancing act that Laing effortlessly performs. Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subject in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed." -- Elle "A lovely thing. Exceptionally skillful at changing gears, Laing moves fluently between memoir, biography (not just of her principal cast but of a large supporting one), art criticism and the fruits of her immersion in ''loneliness studies'' . She writes about Darger and the rest with insight and empathy and about herself with a refreshing lack of exhibitionism .
Every page of The Lonely City exudes a disarming, deep-down fondness for humanity." -- The Wall Street Journal "Laing''s prose is elegant and concise, with a breath of Joan Didion . In its interdisciplinary scope and mix of culture, theory, and memoir, The Lonely City brings to mind other nonfiction hits of recent years, books like Maggie Nelson''s The Argonauts or Leslie Jamison''s The Empathy Exams ." --The Millions " The Lonely City bristles with heart-piercing wisdom . It''s a ghostly blueprint of urban loneliness--an emotion that Laing calls ''a city in itself''--that reminds us how loneliness can sometimes bring us together." --Jason Heller, NPR "Laing''s meditation gradually gathers force into a manifesto, taking aim at the assumption of simple, unknowable ''mental illness'' to explain the life and creative work of the outsider artist Henry Darger or of Solanas--or of Warhol, for that matter . Without glamorizing either loneliness or the urban decay of New York in the ''70s, The Lonely City builds an impassioned case for difficulty and difference, for social rebellion and the unpredictable artistic richness that can result." --The Washington Post "Laing, who used group biography to examine the connections between alcoholism and literature in The Trip to Echo Spring , here performs an almost magical trick: Reminding us of how it feels to be lonely, this book gently affirms our connectedness.
" -- The Boston Globe "Laing is always circling back toward a piercingly relevant observation. And, oh, those observations! . Laing is a great critic, not least because she understands that art can and often does manifest multiple conflicting meanings and desires at once." --Laura Miller, Slate "Laing writes with a compassion and curiosity rarely seen in any genre . Although I read The Lonely City in the same urban spaces that usually impart a familiar loneliness--loud cafés, quiet apartments and slow trains choked with strangers--I felt different while reading it . Something surprising happened, something Laing most likely intended." -- The Rumpus "A singular, fiercely candid and rare book." -- The Buffalo News "[Anntifies with her subjects'' vulnerabilities.
Absolutely one of a kind." --Maureen Corrigan, NPR''s Fresh Air "It''s not easy to pull off switching between criticism and confession--and like Echo Spring , The Lonely City is an impressive and beguiling combination of autobiography and biography, a balancing act that Laing effortlessly performs. Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subject in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed." -- Elle "A lovely thing. Exceptionally skillful at changing gears, Laing moves fluently between memoir, biography (not just of her principal cast but of a large supporting one), art criticism and the fruits of her immersion in ''loneliness studies'' . She writes about Darger and the rest with insight and empathy and about herself with a refreshing lack of exhibitionism . Every page of The Lonely City exudes a disarming, deep-down fondness for humanity." -- The Wall Street Journal "Laing''s prose is elegant and concise, with a breath of Joan Didion .
In its interdisciplinary scope and mix of culture, theory, and memoir, The Lonely City brings to mind other nonfiction hits of recent years, books like Maggie Nelson''s The Argonauts or Leslie Jamison''s The Empathy Exams ." --The Millions " The Lonely City bristles with heart-piercing wisdom . It''s a ghostly blueprint of urban loneliness--an emotion that Laing calls ''a city in itself''--that reminds us how loneliness can sometimes bring us together." --Jason Heller, NPR "Laing''s meditation gradually gathers force into a manifesto, taking aim at the assumption of simple, unknowable ''mental illness'' to explain the life and creative work of the outsider artist Henry Darger or of Solanas--or of Warhol, for that matter . Without glamorizing either loneliness or the urban decay of New York in the ''70s, The Lonely City builds an impassioned case for difficulty and difference, for social rebellion and the unpredictable artistic richness that can result." --The Washington Post "Laing, who used group biography to examine the connections between alcoholism and literature in The Trip to Echo Spring , here performs an almost magical trick: Reminding us of how it feels to be lonely, this book gently affirms our connectedness." -- The Boston Globe "Laing is always circling back toward a piercingly relevant observation. And, oh, those observations! .
Laing is a great critic, not least because she understands that art can and often does manifest multiple conflicting meanings and desires at once." --Laura Miller, Slate "Laing writes with a compassion and curiosity rarely seen in any genre . Although I read The Lonely City in the same urban spaces that usually impart a familiar loneliness--loud cafés, quiet apartments and slow trains choked with strangers--I felt different while reading it . Something surprising happened, something Laing most likely intended." -- The Rumpus "A singular, fiercely candid and rare book." -- The Buffalo News "[An, deep-down fondness for humanity." -- The Wall Street Journal "Laing''s prose is elegant and concise, with a breath of Joan Didion . In its interdisciplinary scope and mix of culture, theory, and memoir, The Lonely City brings to mind other nonfiction hits of recent years, books like Maggie Nelson''s The Argonauts or Leslie Jamison''s The Empathy Exams .
" --The Millions " The Lonely City bristles with heart-piercing wisdom . It''s a ghostly blueprint of urban loneliness--an emotion that Laing calls ''a city in itself''--that reminds us how loneliness can sometimes bring us together." --Jason Heller, NPR "Laing''s meditation gradually gathers force into a manifesto, taking aim at the assumption of simple, unknowable ''mental illness'' to explain the life and creative work of the outsider artist Henry Darger or of Solanas--or of Warhol, for that matter . Without glamorizing either loneliness or the urban decay of New York in the ''70s, The Lonely City builds an impassioned case for difficulty and difference, for social rebellion and the unpredictable artistic richness that can result." --The Washington Post "Laing, who used group biography to examine the connections between alcoholism and literature in The Trip to Echo Spring , here performs an almost magical trick: Reminding us of how it feels to be lonely, this book gently affirms our connectedness." -- The Boston Globe "Laing is always circling back toward a piercingly relevant observation. And, oh, those observations! . Laing is a great critic, not least because she understands that art can and often does manifest multiple conflicting meanings and desires at once.
" --Laura Miller, Slate "Laing writes with a compassion and curiosity rarely seen in any genre .