The Smash-Up

Life for Ethan and Zo used to be simple. Ethan co-founded a lucrative media start-up, and Zo was well on her way to becoming a successful filmmaker. Then they moved to a rural community for a little more tranquility--or so they thought.

When newfound political activism transforms Zo into a barely recognizable ball of outrage and #MeToo allegations rock his old firm, Ethan finds himself a misfit in his own life. Enter a houseguest who is young, fun, and not at all concerned with the real world, and Ethan is abruptly forced to question everything: his past, his future, his marriage, and what he values most.

Ambitious, startling, witty, and wise, Ali Benjamin's debut novel offers the shock of recognition as it deftly tackles some of the biggest issues of our time. Taking inspiration from a classic Edith Wharton tale about a small-town love triangle, The Smash-Up is a wholly contemporary exploration of how the things we fail to see can fracture a life, a family, a community, and a nation.

The Smash-Up is an incandescent meteor of a novel, blazing through the preoccupations of our time with wit, originality and compassion. Timely, risky and dazzling. -- Polly Clark, author of TIGER
Sharply funny, perceptive, and surprising at every turn, The Smash-Up is a story that's acid-etched and full of heart, intimate, and relevant as it explores the impact on a family of the collapse of everything in this unsettled, unsettling world. Ali Benjamin is Edith Wharton with fresh eyes. -- Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses and Away
A great page-turner, this book could only have been written now. It made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me think. Every woman should read this book. Every woman, every feminist, every activist. And then, together we should all go and Burn It All Down. -- Jane Harris, author of Orange Prize shortlisted THE OBSERVATIONS
Benjamin's immediately engaging writing captures the complicated emotions and biting humour of these bruising times and their impact on relationships. Booklist
Funny, compelling and utterly relatable, this is the novel for you. Stylist
Benjamin is an absolutely brilliant satirist and deftly juxtaposes the battlegrounds of marriage, parenthood and middle-class aspiration with the fight for truth and justice in the bigger political picture. Daily Mail
A fun, timely novel that's unexpectedly full of hope. People's Pick
An exhilarating ride .... hilarious .... there are no heroes here; I got whiplash trying to figure out who I trusted and what I was rooting for, and the sensation was mesmerizing.... Benjamin is like an overly chatty but skilled magician .... a modern and energetic story about a marriage on the skids. The New York Times
Smart, funny and topical, this is an astute story of a once-happy couple dealing with temptation, familiarity, fury and the very real chance that their relationship will be smashed to smithereens under the pressure. Daily Mirror
Ambitious, startling, funny, furious, and wise, Ali Benjamin's debut novel offers the shock of recognition as it deftly tackles some of the biggest issues of our time. Taking inspiration from Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton's classic tale about a small-town love triangle, The Smash-Up explores a world Wharton couldn't have imagined in 1911. . . but it's ultimately a story that explores the same themes as her original: duty vs. passion; confinement vs. escape; the staggering tragedy of lost potential. Grazia (Best Books of 2021)
Smart, funny and topical, this is an astute story of a once-happy couple dealing with temptation, familiarity and fury. S Mag

Ali Benjamin has written about astrophysicists and athletes, cosmologists and Arctic conservators, geologists and psychologists and farmers and awesome children. What she enjoys, above all, is telling a good story. In addition to the books she's written, she's also written for the Boston Globe Magazine, Martha Stewart's Whole Living Online, and was the sole story researcher/casting director for the hour-long primetime special, Sesame Street: Growing Hope Against Hunger, which won a 2012 Emmy Award.

Life for Ethan and Zo used to be simple. Ethan co-founded a lucrative media start-up, and Zo was well on her way to becoming a successful filmmaker. Then they moved to a rural community for a little more tranquility--or so they thought.When newfound political activism transforms Zo into a barely recognizable ball of outrage and #MeToo allegations rock his old firm, Ethan finds himself a misfit in his own life. Enter a houseguest who is young, fun, and not at all concerned with the real world, and Ethan is abruptly forced to question everything: his past, his future, his marriage, and what he values most. Ambitious, startling, witty, and wise, Ali Benjamin's debut novel offers the shock of recognition as it deftly tackles some of the biggest issues of our time. Taking inspiration from a classic Edith Wharton tale about a small-town love triangle, The Smash-Up is a wholly contemporary exploration of how the things we fail to see can fracture a life, a family, a community, and a nation.

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