One of the Goodreads Editor s '' August Book Picks One of Harper''s Bazaar ''s, Marie Claire ''s, and The Southern Review of Books '' Best New Novels of the Summer One of Ms. Magazine and Debutiful ''s Most Anticipated Debut Books of the Year One of The Millions '', and Alta ''s Most Anticipated Books of the Summer One of Autostraddle, Book Riot and LGBTQ Read ''s Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Fiction Books One of Lit Hub ''s and BookBrowse ''s Most Anticipated Books of the Year "Razor-sharp, audacious . For all the dead that a pandemic novel may incite, this one is worth revisiting that turbulent time." -- Marie Claire "Malavika Kannan''s debut book for adults is many things -- a campus novel, a coming-of-age story, a pandemic saga -- but for a certain audience, relatable may also make the list." -- People Magazine "Kannan is unafraid to write a queer woman of color as a real human person, with all the complexities and flaws that being human entails. Rishi is an audacious, acerbic, and unintentionally hilarious narrator. Ultimately, Unprecedented Times is really a story about unprecedented love -- romantic, platonic, and familial -- and how it creeps up on you when you least expect it." -- Autostraddle "Kannan''s debut has all the makings of a classic.
" -- Xtra Magazine "Kannan''s novel is not simply a story about COVID-19. It is about a generation that learned to narrate itself online, mobilized around political crises, and was promised that leaving home would produce independence. She has placed a generation''s interior life on the page, not to explain it away, but to let its confusion, intimacy, grief, and unfinished questions remain visible." -- GEN-ZiNE "This very well might be the first Great American Gen Z Novel." --Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful "Razor-sharp . Rishi is a relatable narrator, letting the reader in on both her most vulnerable thoughts and most biting social commentary. A sparkling work of fiction, this story feels like pages ripped straight from your funniest friend''s diary." -- Booklist (starred review) "Tender and sharp-witted .
Readers will find much to love in this smart and searching coming-of-age tale." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Kannan is an authentic and inviting new talent. Move over, Erica Jong!" -- Nob Hill Gazette "Malavika Kannan''s Unprecedented Times pulses with longing, intelligence, and the slippery thrills of trying to turn life into art. Kannan tracks the unruly force of Rishi''s mind with energy, wit, and tenderness. Rishi is deeply alive on the page--searching, funny, cutting, horny, insecure, grandiose, politically aware, and vulnerable. I loved her. This is a portrait of youth in crisis, but also of queer friendship and self-making: of coming of age in a burning world, of the ways we invent and undermine ourselves, of the ways intimacy can become both shelter and wreckage. Vivid and ambitious, sharp and moving, this debut confirms Kannan as a voice and mind to watch.
" -- Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of the National Book Award finalist All This Could Be Different "I''ve rarely read a novel so unapologetically situated within the mindset of the earliest years of adulthood, when making your way in the world is as thrilling as it is terrifying, and all of experience feels unprecedented. Malavika Kannan writes with such sharp perceptiveness about the wild confusion of youth -- the aimlessness and ambition, the simultaneous desire for independence and for communion -- that, night after night while reading this novel, I dreamt of being back there myself. I couldn''t put this book down." --Vauhini Vara, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Immortal King Rao "Rishi arrives at Stanford with dreams of being a writer but the world has other plans. Unprecedented Times is a bold and hilarious novel of big ideas and deep feeling. Malavika Kannan''s sentences tear across the page like a powerful storm. A life-giving debut." -- Laura van den Berg, author of State of Paradise " Unprecedented Times holds all the youth and assurance of a fresh new day.
Malavika Kannan writes with a rare fearlessness about what the world promises versus what our lives actually turn out to be. A deeply propulsive read, as well as wonderfully insightful and funny. Unprecedented Times is a bright and lovely work." --Kristen Arnett, bestselling author of Stop Me if You''ve Heard This One " Unprecedented Times made me laugh, cry, and rage--often within the same paragraph . Kannan''s voice is hilarious and generous, and her incisive portrayal of navigating college as a second-generation immigrant kept me up late into the night. I absolutely could not put this book down." --Lamya H, award-winning author of Hijab Butch Blues.