“A 1984 for Our Times”—Newsday
Op-Ed on the Atlanta spa shootings
SEQUEL COMING SOON FROM
audible ORIGINALS
Reviews:
“A suspenseful, deftly plotted narrative. . .Gish Jen’s fifth novel imagines a dystopia so chillingly plausible that an entire review could be spent simply describing its components.”
“Intricately imagined . . . The Resisters is a book that grows directly out of the soil of our current political moment.”
“Triumphantly original. . .Don’t dare call this fantasy or science fiction. This is a world all too terrifying, dangerous and real. . . A ‘1984’ for our times.”
— NEWSDAY
“The magic of Gish Jen’s latest novel is that, amid a dark and cautionary tale, there’s a story also filled with electricity and humor. . .Rippling with action, suspense and lovingly detailed baseball play-by-plays.”
“The power of The Resisters derives from Jen's inventive elaboration on how the change happened; how Americans gratefully handed over their autonomy. . . But, with her characteristic generosity and restrained optimism, Jen. . offers hope that, after a long, misbegotten seventh-inning stretch, Americans will once again take up the hard work of participatory democracy.”
“Winning, suspenseful. . .If you’re going to write a dystopian novel in our increasingly dystopian world. . . you may as well have some fun with it [and] Gish Jen certainly does.”
“[Gish Jen] has long had a feel for sweeping, subversive explorations of American life . . . Jen reveals how America became AutoAmerica, one seemingly tiny but cumulatively fatal development at a time.”
"Jen takes us on an entertaining ride in a new yet familiar world as we contemplate that 'it was we who made our world what it was. It was we who were responsible. . . Empowering.'”
“A feat. . . Gish Jen provides a new angle to the dystopian narrative while doing justice to that great literary sport: baseball.”
— LOCUS
Astutely realized and unnervingly possible. . .Jen masterfully entwines shrewd mischief, knowing compassion, and profound social critique in a suspenseful tale encompassing baseball ardor, family love, newly insidious forms of racism and tyranny, and a wily and righteous movement that declares “RIGHT MAKES MIGHT.”
— BOOKLIST ⭐️
Beautifully crafted and slyly unsettling. . ..The juxtaposition of America’s pastime and the AI-enabled surveillance state is brilliant.
— KIRKUS ⭐️
[A] shrewd and provocative near-future novel . . . [Jen’s] intelligence and control shine through in a chilling portrait of the casual acceptance of totalitarianism.
Masterfully built. . .at heart, a story about love, family, and the core values of freedom and independence.
— CHAPTER 16
A stunning and utterly captivating story set in an all-too-believable dystopic future.
— MEDIUM
A dramatic warning, offered with Jen’s signature humor and great affection for her characters.
Jen's captivating dystopian novel is about family and intolerance and how we slip-slide-surrender to technology, but its beating heart is baseball, and what it means to the real American spirit. . . the best of the spring baseball book lineup.
Much more than a cautionary tale, The Resisters feels like a generous space to sit with the sadder truths of our consumption-driven society.
— BOOKBROWSE (EDITOR’S CHOICE)
The Resisters is most exciting because its dystopian world is relayed in Gish’s trademark style, with her crisp, vivid prose and occasionally vicious, often lovable and completely human characters.
Readers weary of grim prognostications will appreciate Jen’s exuberant invention as she helps us consider a future we don’t want, how to avoid it, and the vitality of alternatives.
Stands with the best of dystopian literature.
George Orwell would be proud.
News and Interviews:
Interview for PBS’ ARTICULATE
Book Talk for the RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDY
Interview in the LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
20 Books to Read This Summer WASHINGTON POST
Podcast Interview on THE NEW YORKER RADIO HOUR
“Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan” Podcast Interview on LIT HUB
Excerpt in THE HARVARD GAZETTE
Profile in THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
“By the Book” in THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
TV Interview on NASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION
Radio Interview on WNYC
Radio Interview on WBUR
Print Interview on LIT HUB
Radio Interview on KQED
Radio Interview on KUCI
A Baseball Fangraphs Podcast, EFFECTIVELY WILD
Books Worth Reading Now, WASHINGTON POST
Asian and Pacific American Writers to Read, BOOKPAGE
Best Books of 2020, BUSTLE
Most Anticipated Lists: USA Today 5 Books Not To Miss, Kirkus Reviews’ What Our Fiction Editor Will Read, Elle Best Books of 2020 So Far, Entertainment Weekly 50 most anticipated books, Ms. Magazine Reads for the Rest of Us, Books & Books Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2020, The Millions Most Anticipated: First Half of 2020, Book Riot 20 Must-Read 2020 Science Fiction Books, Bustle If You Read One Book This Year, Nashville Scene Winter Arts Preview, San Francisco Weekly 5 Books We’re Excited About, The AV Club 5 Books to Read in Feb, 425 Magazine Your Feb Reading List, IndieNext Next Great Read List, San Francisco Chronicle 10 Books to Read, Pure Wow Books We Can’t Wait to Read, msn 13 Books We Can’t Wait to Read, Washington Post 10 Books to Read in Feb, New York Times Books to Watch For in Feb
The Resisters is a Signed First Editions Bookclub pick for Politics and Prose Bookstore, Parnassus Books, Square Books and Harvard Book Store.
Tell Me Everything
A new short story based on THE RESISTERS for the Privacy Project at the New York Times
Advance Praise:
An absolute joy. I finished The Resisters with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face. Who could ask for a better combo? Gish Jen has written a one-of-a-kind book with great characters—especially Eleanor, who is the heart of the story—and a warm heart. Remind Ms. Jen that the great Ernie Banks said, ‘Hey, guys, let’s play two!’ Which is my way of saying I wouldn’t mind a sequel. Probably won’t happen, but a guy can hope.
P.S. This lady knows her baseball.
— STEPHEN KING
The Resisters is palpably loving, smart, funny and desperately unsettling. The novel should be required reading for the country, both as a cautionary tale and because it is a stone-cold masterpiece. This is Gish Jen’s moment. She has pitched a perfect game.
— ANN PATCHETT
Can there be a dystopian novel of lightness, delicacy and charm? In which baseball, our subtle, determined summer game, is the means of resistance against the dehumanizing overlords? In which a girl who pitches like Satchel Paige is the blue-haired hero? Gish Jen says, Yes! And she is right! Where there is baseball, there is hope. And beautiful prose, too.
— CATHLEEN SCHINE
Inventive, funny, and tender, The Resisters is about family, baseball, and the future—but more than anything, it is about freedom, and it is about us—here, now.
— ALLEGRA GOODMAN
The Resisters is wonderfully inventive and poignant; a smart warning about a possible future that could come before we know it.
— ANNETTE GORDON-REED
I LOVE this novel as much as I fear the future Gish Jen has conjured in it. In this anything but brave new world, baseball is what survives and reminds us of our humanity, and a girl’s golden arm forms the kernel of resistance. What an enchanting conceit! Gish Jen has hit a grand slam.
— JANE LEAVY
Brilliant . . . A novel with the sensitivity, emotional range, and prophetic power of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
—JEAN KWOK
Praise for Gish Jen:
I am proud, proud, proud to share the novel and the world with Gish Jen.
— MAXINE HONG KINGSTON
Gish Jen’s characters are so alive one can hardly call them “characters.”
— CYNTHIA OZICK
Gish Jen is at the forefront of American writers dealing with that most basic of American issues—who we are as a country and as a culture.
— VIET THANH NGUYEN
Gish Jen is the Great American Novelist we’re always hearing about.
— JUNOT DIAZ
We might want to run Gish Jen for president.
— JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS