De schrijfstijl van Zoe Whittall wordt gekenmerkt door een gedurfde, compromisloze stem die resoneert met zowel kritische erkenning als populaire waardering. Haar verhalen duiken in de complexiteit van menselijke relaties en maatschappelijke verwachtingen met scherpe humor en diepe eerlijkheid. Whittall combineert meesterlijk de gevoeligheid van een dichter met scherpe observatie, en creëert werken die zowel tot nadenken stemmen als diep menselijk zijn. Haar stijl, zowel elegant als rauw, trekt lezers met meeslepende intensiteit naar haar verhalen.
Exploring the inner divide, this poetic memoir delves into the complexities of self-identity and the deceptions of poetic form. It intertwines medical language with profound reflections on humanity, love, and connection. With a focus on compelling lesbian themes, the collection balances humor and self-discovery, capturing the joys and struggles of girlhood in a blend of elegance and scruffiness.
Exploring the complexities of desire and queer femininity, this debut collection features a range of characters grappling with intimacy and danger. From a dominant woman toying with a co-worker's heart to a doomed romance between an agoraphobic and a hiker, each story unveils unique struggles. A teen girl's confusion at a skate park and idealistic roommates caught in a true crime podcast add depth to the narrative. Whittall's characters confront themes of shame, attachment, and disconnection in a captivating exploration of outsider experiences.
Welcome to Montreal in the months before the 1995 referendum. Riot Grrl gets bought out and mass marketed as the Spice Girls, and gays are gaining some legitimacy, but the queers are rioting against assimilation; cocktail AIDS drugs are starting to work, and the city walls on either side of the Main are spray-painted with the words YES or NO. It's been five years since the OKA crisis and the sex garage riots; revolution seems possible when you're 18, like Eve. Eve is pining to get out of her parents' house in Dorval and find a girl who wants to kiss her back. She meets Della: mysterious, defiantly non-monogamous, an avid separatist, and ten years older. Initially taken in by a mutual other-worldly sense of rapture, they hole up in Della's apartment, trying to navigate spaces of jealousy. On the night of the 1995 referendum, politics and romance come to a head and Eve's naiveté begins to fade. From naive teenager to hotshot rough girl, Eve decides her own fate.
Poetry. LGBTQIA Studies. Tenth Anniversary Edition. THE EMILY VALENTINE POEMS, Zoe Whittall's second collection of poetry, challenges the impossible notions of femininity that permeate our culture. The texts within include self-portraits, prose poems, fake fan letters, and confessional lyric snapshots. These are pharmaceutically enhanced tributes to the hangovers of twenty-something love and to the pop icons from an unconventional 1980s childhood. With THE EMILY VALENTINE POEMS, Zoe Whittall offers up the perfect soundtrack for the culturally literate rebel in all of us. "This reminds me that I would like to know everything about this person." --Eileen Myles "Zoe Whittall's poems are snake bite cures masquerading as candy." --RM Vaughan "Zoe Whittall might just be the cockiest, brashest, funniest, toughest, most life-affirming, elegant, scruffy, no-holds-barred writer to emerge from Montreal since Mordecai Richler." --The Globe and Mail
International bestseller Zoe Whittall brings us a fierce and tender novel about family and unconventional motherhood.
A con artist walks into a grief support group. Chaos ensues. After the death of her wife, Shelby is suffering from prolonged grief. She's increasingly isolated, irritated by her family's stoicism and her friends' reliance on the toxic positivity of self-help culture. Then, in a grief support group, she meets Cammie, who gives Shelby permission to express her most hopeless, hideous feelings. Cammie is charismatic and unlike anyone Shelby has ever met. She's also recovering from cancer and going through several other calamities. Shelby puts all her energy into helping Cammie thrive--until her intuition tells her that something isn't right. Gibson is fresh from divorce, almost forty, and deeply depressed. Then he falls in love with Cammie. Not only is he having the best sex of his life with a woman so attractive he's stunned she even glanced his way, he feels truly known for the first time in his life. But Gibson's friends are wary of Cammie, and eventually he, too, has to admit that all the drama in Cammie's life can feel a bit over the top. When Gibson and Shelby meet, they realize Cammie's stories don't always add up. In fact, they're far from the truth. But what kind of a person would lie about having cancer? And what does it say about Shelby and Gibson that they fell for it? From the author of The Best Kind of People and The Spectacular comes a sharp, emotional novel about lies, liars and the people who love them.
"'Holding Still' explores an unusual love triangle involving Billy, a former teen idol, now an anxiety-ridden agoraphobic; Josh, a shy transgendered paramedic who travels the city patching up damaged bodies; and Amy, a fashionable filmmaker coping with her first broken heart."--Back cover.
A finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a national bestseller, Zoe Whittall's The Best Kind of Peopleis a stunning tour de forceabout the unravelling of an all-American family. George Woodbury, an affable teacher and beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual impropriety at a prestigious prep school. His wife, Joan, vaults between denial and rage as the community she loved turns on her. Their daughter, Sadie, a popular over-achieving high school senior, becomes a social pariah. Their son, Andrew, assists in his father's defense, while wrestling with his own unhappy memories of his teen years. A local author tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men's rights activist attempts to get Sadie onside their cause. With George locked up, how do the members of his family pick up the pieces and keep living their lives? How do they defend someone they love while wrestling with the possibility of his guilt? With exquisite emotional precision, award-winning author Zoe Whittallexplores issues of loyalty, truth, and the meaning of happiness through the lens of an all-American family on the brink of collapse.
"After the death of her wife, Shelby is suffering from prolonged grief. She's increasingly isolated, irritated by her family's stoicism and her friends' reliance on the toxic positivity of self-help culture. Then, in a grief support group, she meets Cammie, who gives her permission to express her most hopeless, hideous feelings. Cammie is charismatic and unlike anyone Shelby has ever met. She's also recovering from cancer and going through several other calamities. Shelby puts all her energy into helping Cammie thrive -- until her intuition tells her that something isn't right. Gibson is fresh from divorce, almost forty, and deeply depressed. Then he falls in love with Cammie. Not only is he having the best sex of his life with a woman so attractive he's stunned she even glanced his way, but he feels truly known for the first time in his life. But Gibson's friends are wary of Cammie, and eventually he, too, has to admit that all the drama in Cammie's life can feel a bit over the top. When Gibson and Shelby meet, they realize Cammie's stories don't always add up. In fact, they're far from the truth. But what kind of a person would lie about having cancer? And what does it say about Shelby and Gibson that they fell for it? From the author of The Best Kind of People and The Spectacular comes a sharp, emotional novel about lies, liars, and the people who love them." -- Provided by publisher
THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN FOR ADULTS WITH LOW LITERACY SKILLS. Missy Turner thinks of herself as the most ordinary woman in the world. She has a lot to be thankful for—a great kid, a loving husband, a job she enjoys and the security of living in the small town where she was born. Then one day everything gets turned upside down—she loses her job, catches her husband making out with the neighbor and is briefly taken hostage by a young man who robs the local café. With her world rapidly falling apart, Missy finds herself questioning the certainties she's lived with her whole life.
