Come one, come all, as First-Year faculty member Tara FitzGerald welcomes novelist Karen Havelin for a reading and reception for the new book Please Read This Leaflet Carefully.
Written in first person and following a reverse chronology which subverts the typical illness story, Please Read This Leaflet Carefully follows Laura Fjellstad in her struggles to live a normal life. Having been diagnosed with severe endometriosis in her twenties, she believes that the only way to survive her painful and debilitating illness is to be completely self-reliant. In between doctors’ appointments and in and out of hospitals, Laura confronts single parenting after her divorce, leading a life her own teenage self would be in awe of.
To be devoured intensely in one sitting, Please Read This Leaflet Carefully is an exceptional debut novel with bracing emotional insights and piercing descriptions of pain that linger in one’s mind long after the last page. It is a beguiling meditation on relationships, motherhood, menopause, sexuality, pain and a woman’s life journey to come to terms with her own body.
Published simultaneously in both Norwegian and English, and translated by the author, this book offers us an exciting opportunity to talk about narrative, translation, chronic illness, experimentation, and feminism. Join us to celebrate this new book!
Details:
Wednesday afternoon, May 8, 4p
The New School’s Arnhold Hall, Dorothy Hirshon Suite
55 West 13th Street, room I-203
The event, which includes a signing, is free and open to the public.