News
Reviewed in the Boston Globe: “a transcendent work of art… [transformed by] her empathy for all her characters.” Read the review here.
Reviewed in the Times of London: “Bad Bad Girl is shocking, illuminating and in places truly heartbreaking. When a book contains all of that, does it really matter which category it falls into?” Read the review here.
Reviewed in the Los Angeles Times: “How rich this book is, and how humane… If there is such a thing as an intimate epic, this is it.” Read the review here.
Interviewed by the BBC Radio 4 “Front Row” on the subject of John Updike. Listen to the segment here. Begins at 14:10.
Interviewed by the BBC Radio 4 “Woman’s Hour.” Listen to the segment here. Begins at 20:15.
Included in Time’s “100 Must-Read Books of 2025”: “Jen’s comic brilliance infuses her tale as the narrator grapples with long-repressed feelings, her mother’s voice still ringing in her ears… “tactful as a sledgehammer.” Read the piece here.
Published a piece on world-making and the Trump administration in NOTUS (News of the United States): “It is time to return from ‘normal’ to normal. ‘Thumpus Trumpus!’” Read the piece here.
Interview in the Harvard Gazette here.
Reviewed in the Washington Post: “If memory is the mother of the muses, as the Greek poet Hesiod observed, then perhaps a difficult mother is just the right muse for a memorable tale.” Read the review here.
Interview in the Washington Independent Review of Books here.
Q&A in Oldster Magazine: “This is 70.” Read it here.
Interview in the Orange County Register here.
Interview on ‘GBH’s The Culture Show with Jared Bowen, here. (Gish starts at 22:23).
Interview by Joe Donahue on WAMC here.
Interview on Writers on Writing podcast here.
Interview on The Mothers podcast here.
Adopted by RuPaul’s book club. See link here.
Reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle: “inventive, empathetic… poignant, genre-bending…the novel’s strength lies in how Jen blends fact, fiction and emotional inquiry.” Read the review here.
Reviewed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “captivating…brims with hard-won insights…nearly every page will have readers nodding in recognition.” Read the review here.
Named a People Magazine “Best New Book.” See the page here.
Published a piece about Shanghai in the Boston Globe Magazine. See the piece here.
An Indie Next pick for November 2025.
Interviewed by WHMP. Listen here.
Named one of Amazon’s 10 Best Fiction Books of October. Read the review here.
Chosen by NPR as a new book to “pay attention to”, here.
Chosen by AppleBooks as one of the #BestBooks of October.
Named one of 10 Books to Read in October by the LA Times: “Originally intended as memoir… works brilliantly as a novel.”
Received a starred review on BookPage. Read the review here.
Received a starred review in Shelf Awareness. Read the review here.
Received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. Read the review here.
Received a starred review in Library Journal. Read the review here.
Received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews. Read the review here.
Received a starred review in Booklist. Read the review here.
Included in Joysauce’s fall reading round up: “The lives of two outspoken women unfold before the reader, resulting in a deeply vulnerable, poignant, and extraordinary life story.”
Listed in the Seattle Public Library’s New Fiction Roundup
Shout out in the San Francisco Chronicle for “Gish Jen’s scorchingly moving (though also funny!) 10th book, Bad Bad Girl.”
Included in the LA Times’ 30 Books to Read This Fall: “Two generations of bad girls emerge as strong women and complete human beings.”
Included in the Boston Globe’s Best Fall Reading list: “Moving and healing.”
Included in Oprah Daily’s list of 25 Best Books of Fall: “Jen weaves an unexpectedly endearing portrait of two “bad bad girls.”
Included in the Toronto Star’s list of best fall books: “Jen reckons with her mother’s death. . .casting a wide and compassionate eye on the patterns that repeat over generations.”
Included in Kirkus Review’s Most Anticipated Books of the Fall.
Included in LitHub’s Ultimate Fall 2025 Reading List.
“Review” of the Wild Turkey (aka Meleagris gallopavo) in Believer magazine. Read the piece here.
Selected for Harvard Book Store’s “Signed First Editions” book club.
Selected for Odyssey Bookstore’s “Signed First Editions” book club.
Top of of Writer’s Digest’s 12 Books to Add to your TBR List for Fall.
Included in Book Browse’s 10 Books You’ll Love Reading in Fall 2025.
Listed among W Magazine’s 18 Must-Read Books for Fall.
Included in Dandelion Chandelier's list of Best New Books of October 2025.
Included by Camille Styles among the 20 Books We Can’t Stop Talking About.
Listed by Story Exchange in their feature, We’re Falling In Love With These 10 Books. .
Included by BookBub on their list of the Best Historical Fiction of Fall.
