http://www.laurengroff.com Author of Arcadia, Delicate Edible Birds and Monsters of Templeton Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:39:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.laurengroff.com/review-roundup/ http://www.laurengroff.com/review-roundup/#comments Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:27:05 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=1077 Clay here again, holding down the fort while Lauren is out on the Book Tour.

Arcadia is enjoying a great run! It is now out in the UK and on audiobook. There have been some more great reviews, here's a sampling:

"From the child’s-eye view of nature to the adult theme of caring for the sick, Arcadia’s careful critique of man’s various attempts to get life right prove that a tie-dye heart needn’t be incompatible with a pinstripe suit." --The Daily Telegraph [UK]

The quants, hedge fund managers, and titans of industry over at the Financial Times call it "brilliant," also saying in highbrow fashion: "The beauty of Groff’s creation lies in the fact that it is too richly particularised to function as allegory or synecdoche."

The New York Times made Arcadia an Editors' Choice Selection and had more great things to say in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Here's a quote that probably won't show up in the paperback edition, but I love the sentiment!

"Readers doomed to miss their subway stops will wish the cover also included a warning: “This novel will swallow you whole.”" - The New York Times Sunday Book Review [Editors' Choice Selection]

Lynn Neary interviewed Lauren for NPR's All Things Considered, which aired from coast to coast a few weeks ago. You can replay it at this link on the NPR website.

Haaah-vahd likes it: "It is a fulfilling and well written novel that can find solace for a character despite a string of lifelong disconnects, and by the end of “Arcadia,” Groff does just that. " -The Harvard Crimson

There's local love from the Gainesville Sun

And last but not least, Arcadia is The Millions' Staff Pick! Major street cred. And here's an interview.

]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/review-roundup/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/more-reviews-and-interviews-post-arcadia-release/ http://www.laurengroff.com/more-reviews-and-interviews-post-arcadia-release/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:02:40 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=1061 last news update. Ron Charles is calling Arcadia one of the best novels of 2012. Here's a quote and link:

"Groff’s miracle is to record the death of the fantasy but then show how the residue of affection can persist and, given the right soil, sprout again. “Arcadia” wends a harrowing path back to a fragile, lovely place you can believe in." --The Washington Post

Here are more that just arrived:

New York Times' Janet Maslin, woop woop!
"The raw beauty of Ms. Groff’s prose is one of the best things about “Arcadia.” But it is by no means this book’s only kind of splendor." And here's one more from Maslin for good measure: "Beneath this book’s dazzling veneer of commune life its true thoughts about freedom, love, fear and envy lie ready to be exposed. “Arcadia” is stunningly sensual and visceral in describing behavior straight out of a time capsule." -The New York Times

"Lauren Groff goes back to the garden and foresees a hellish future in her dazzling and unforgettable second novel, Arcadia (Voice), the sweeping story of one man’s journey from the utopian ideals of the 60s to a dystopian near future of pandemics and quarantines." -- Vanity Fair

"But it's not so much the story as the storytelling that grabbed me. It builds on the talents Groff displayed in her 2008 debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton, which re-imagined the myths of the author's hometown, Cooperstown, N.Y." -USA Today

"In Arcadia, Lauren Groff's excellent follow-up to her terrific debut novel, “The Monsters of Templeton,” paradise is located in upstate New York." -The Christian Science Monitor

Also, shoutouts to great reviews from NPR as well as the likes of the Seattle Times, Dallas Morning News, The Globe and Mail (Canada), Columbus Dispatch, Metro News, Kansas City Star, Sun Herald, Lexinton Herald Leader, Modesto Bee, The Republic, The Macon Telegraph, The Centre Daily Times, the Bradenton Herald, the Belleville News Democrat, the News Tribune, the Bellingham Herald, and many other news outlets who were kind enough to showcase Arcadia to their readers/viewers/listeners.

Here are some of the most interesting (in my personal opinion) in-depth interviews with Lauren:

The New York Observer on how Arcadia came to be.

largehearted boy has done a great feature on all Lauren's books, including ARCADIA, where readers can download a music playlist that relates to the book, and learn how the songs interact with each section.

Write Place, Write Time on Lauren's workspace, a converted workshop in our garage.

Other People does a (funny!) hour-long podcast interview.

]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/more-reviews-and-interviews-post-arcadia-release/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/arcadia-pre-release-praise/ http://www.laurengroff.com/arcadia-pre-release-praise/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:20:32 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=1044
So here's a giant heaping of advance praise for Arcadia:

"The still center of Groff's phantasmagorical universe, Bit feels achingly real and not at all crazy, man." -- PEOPLE Magazine (4 out of 4 stars)

"Lauren Groff's dazzling new novel brings the flawed visions of a '60s commune to life" -VOGUE Magazine

"Poetic and Ambitious" - ELLE Magazine

"a sensitive and skillfully written portrait of an eccentric bunch of survivors who are both damaged and sustained by their experience, and Groff spins their stories into a moving look at the value of human connection in a scary, chaotic world." - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"Lauren Groff's first book was a wonder and a delight. "the Monsters of Templeton" it was called, and it was funny, magnetic and clear-eyed in its wise portrayal of a young woman trying (and failing) to outrun her mistakes. What a happy relief to discover Groff's second novel is even better. Not every young writer lives up to the promise of a first book, but Groff has exceeded expectations." - The Miami Herald

"Lauren Groff’s second novel, “Arcadia,” is so tenderly moving it actually swells the heart." --New York Daily News

"an echo chamber of allusions to a gamut of literary Edens and Elysiums." -- The Wall Street Journal

"... the novel’s rich tapestry of story exploring how we sustain hope and idealism in a world that presents us with unavoidable sadness and sometimes seems bent on its own annihilation." -- Bookpage

"Bit reminds himself that to keep going, it's crucial to pay attention "not to the grand gesture, but to the passing breath." In a sense, this describes what Lauren Groff has achieved with this fine novel. Throughout, she's attentive to the smallest details, and "Arcadia" builds its power in a subtle, cumulative way. Somehow the author manages an epic sweep with her narrative, yet one that also feels intimate and concentrated." -- Newsday

"Groff not only piques our interest in her daring glimpse into the delicate workings of societal trial and error, but also in her scrutiny on how such experiments affect the generation born into them." -- The Chicagoist

" "Arcadia" is supremely authentic, capturing the grinding poverty and social arrangements (six-way marriages, for example) that commune life often entails. " -- The Sun Sentinel

More to come, stay tuned!]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/arcadia-pre-release-praise/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/los-angeles-vromans/ http://www.laurengroff.com/los-angeles-vromans/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:44:20 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=976 Vroman's, one of the country's legendary indies. More TK.]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/los-angeles-vromans/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/los-angeles-la-times-festival-of-books-university-of-southern-california/ http://www.laurengroff.com/los-angeles-la-times-festival-of-books-university-of-southern-california/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:42:03 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=974 http://www.laurengroff.com/los-angeles-la-times-festival-of-books-university-of-southern-california/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/mysterious-galaxy-redondo-beach-los-angeles-730-pm/ http://www.laurengroff.com/mysterious-galaxy-redondo-beach-los-angeles-730-pm/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:28:34 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=972 Mysterious Galaxy so very much. They were among the first to hop the THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON train, and have been unflagging in their support since. I cannot wait to visit them. This is their Redondo Beach location, which looks divine. It's chic and sleek.]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/mysterious-galaxy-redondo-beach-los-angeles-730-pm/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/little-rock-ar-arkansas-literary-festival/ http://www.laurengroff.com/little-rock-ar-arkansas-literary-festival/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:21:42 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=970 this event, so voila! Here we are. I will update with more information when more information is updatable. In the meantime, kittens, imagine this: Dan Chaon will also be there. Justin Torres. Greil Marcus. Heidi Julavits. All this to say that they have put together a humdinger this year.  ]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/little-rock-ar-arkansas-literary-festival/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/atlanta-ga-savannah-college-of-art-and-design-ivy-hall-630-pm/ http://www.laurengroff.com/atlanta-ga-savannah-college-of-art-and-design-ivy-hall-630-pm/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:13:21 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=968 http://www.laurengroff.com/atlanta-ga-savannah-college-of-art-and-design-ivy-hall-630-pm/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/orlando-university-of-central-florida-book-festival/ http://www.laurengroff.com/orlando-university-of-central-florida-book-festival/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:03:09 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=966 This event looks wonderful. I'm not sure what the schedule is like quite yet, but it appears that I will be on a panel with the lovely David James Poissant, one of my favorite young writers. There's more to Orlando than mouse-ears, my friends.]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/orlando-university-of-central-florida-book-festival/feed/ 0 http://www.laurengroff.com/richard-russo-greenlight-bookstore-brooklyn-730-pm/ http://www.laurengroff.com/richard-russo-greenlight-bookstore-brooklyn-730-pm/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:57:59 +0000 admin http://www.laurengroff.com/?p=963 Richard Russo. His books, his stories, his extremely kind heart. He's the kind of writer any young writer would love to someday be; critical darling, Pulitzer-winner, a man of extreme generosity to younger writers. He picked a story of mine for Best American Short Stories, then, when we were both in Paris for Festival America, he and his magnificent wife took  the wonderful writer Ben Percy and me out to dinner. I had squid-ink pasta and delicious prosecco, and can say that that night was possibly the best I've had in my literary career. Stars in my eyes. His daughter, Emily, is an amazing advocate for books and writers and she works at Greenlight. She is as kind as her father. We will talk. I will bring baked goods. I will try not to talk to fast and garble all the millions of questions I have for Mr. Russo. It will be a night. A night, I say. And you, too, can bask in the warmth the great man gives off.  ]]> http://www.laurengroff.com/richard-russo-greenlight-bookstore-brooklyn-730-pm/feed/ 0