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{{Short description|Novel by Lisa Birman}} |
{{Short description|Novel by Lisa Birman}} |
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{{Infobox book |
{{Infobox book |
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'''''How to Walk Away''''' is a 2015 novel and the [[debut novel]] of [[Australia]]n novelist Lisa Birman. The work was first published on 1 February 2015 in the United States by Spuyten Duyvil Press. The novel centers on veteran Otis and his wife Cat, a genealogist. ''How to Walk Away'' is an exploration of [[post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[obsessive compulsion]], [[Body integrity identity disorder|body integrity disorder]], and the grief of keeping secrets born in war. |
'''''How to Walk Away''''' is a 2015 novel and the [[debut novel]] of [[Australia]]n novelist [[Lisa Birman]]. The work was first published on 1 February 2015 in the United States by Spuyten Duyvil Press. The novel centers on veteran Otis and his wife Cat, a genealogist. ''How to Walk Away'' is an exploration of [[post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[obsessive compulsion]], [[Body integrity identity disorder|body integrity disorder]], and the grief of keeping secrets born in war. |
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==Synopsis== |
==Synopsis== |
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After three years in Afghanistan, Otis is adjusting to life back home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, he obsessively replays the traumas of war, cataloging the names of the dead. Cat, his wife, is a genealogist who makes maps of families in an attempt to understand her world. When a car accident takes Otis's left arm, he is grateful to bear a physical loss that makes his damaged emotional self visible. As he recovers, he and Cat confront the silences upon which their marriage is built.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/how-to-walk-away.html | title=How to Walk Away }}</ref> |
After three years in Afghanistan, Otis is adjusting to life back home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, he obsessively replays the traumas of war, cataloging the names of the dead. Cat, his wife, is a genealogist who makes maps of families in an attempt to understand her world. When a car accident takes Otis's left arm, he is grateful to bear a physical loss that makes his damaged emotional self visible. As he recovers, he and Cat confront the silences upon which their marriage is built.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/how-to-walk-away.html | title=How to Walk Away }}</ref> |
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==Awards== |
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==Author Biography== |
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{{Split section|Lisa Birman|date=March 2024}} |
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Lisa Birman is a poet and novelist. Her first novel, ''How to Walk Away'' was published by [[Spuyten Duyvil Press]] in 2015. |
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Birman is the author of the poetry collection For That Return Passage – a Valentine for the United States of America (Hollowdeck Press), and co-editor of the anthology Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action ([[Coffee House Press]]). Her work has appeared in a wide range of well-respected poetry journals and she has published several chapbooks of poetry, including deportation poems and a trilogy of chapbooks in collaboration with Berlin-based singer/songwriter Josepha Conrad. |
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Birman has been teaching writing in the United States, Australia, and the [[Czech Republic]] for the past fifteen years. She served as the Director of the prestigious Summer Writing Program at [[Naropa University]]’s [[Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics]] for twelve years and continues to teach for the MFA in Creative Writing. |
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Originally from [[Melbourne]], Australia, Birman moved to [[New York City]] via [[Seattle]] in 1995. She moved to [[Boulder, Colorado|Boulder]], [[Colorado]] in 1997 to pursue her MFA in Writing and Poetics. Now a [[dual citizen]], she’s still Australian at heart and often trades the Colorado winter for a few months of Melbourne summer to spend time with her family. |
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Birman resides in Boulder, Colorado, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. She is the editor of a forthcoming collection of letters from [[Frances LeFevre]] to poet [[Anne Waldman]], Dearest Annie, You wanted a report on Berkson’s class (Hanging Loose Press), and is currently{{when|date=May 2022}} completing her second novel.<ref>http://lisabirman.org</ref> |
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==Achievements== |
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On March 17, 2016 Birman's novel was named a finalist, in the genre of [[literary fiction]], by ''Colorado Humanities'' for their annual [[Colorado Book Awards]].,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists |title=2016 Colorado Book Awards Finalists | Colorado Humanities |access-date=2016-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815091115/http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists |archive-date=2016-08-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and on May 22, 2016 Birman's novel won the award for literary fiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners |title=2016 Colorado Book Award Winners {{!}} Colorado Humanities |website=www.coloradohumanities.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526143954/http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners |archive-date=2016-05-26}}</ref> |
On March 17, 2016 Birman's novel was named a finalist, in the genre of [[literary fiction]], by ''Colorado Humanities'' for their annual [[Colorado Book Awards]].,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists |title=2016 Colorado Book Awards Finalists | Colorado Humanities |access-date=2016-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815091115/http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists |archive-date=2016-08-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and on May 22, 2016 Birman's novel won the award for literary fiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners |title=2016 Colorado Book Award Winners {{!}} Colorado Humanities |website=www.coloradohumanities.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526143954/http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners |archive-date=2016-05-26}}</ref> |
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"Moment to moment we are with Otis as he tries to fit the pieces of himself back into the form called “normal.” We suffer his claustrophobia-along with his need to escape from his own thoughts." - Judith Podell,'' American Book Review''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Podell |first1=Judith |title=What Lies Beneath |journal=American Book Review |date=2015 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=21 |doi=10.1353/abr.2015.0018 |s2cid=144738830 |id={{Project MUSE|578868}} }}</ref> |
"Moment to moment we are with Otis as he tries to fit the pieces of himself back into the form called “normal.” We suffer his claustrophobia-along with his need to escape from his own thoughts." - Judith Podell,'' American Book Review''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Podell |first1=Judith |title=What Lies Beneath |journal=American Book Review |date=2015 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=21 |doi=10.1353/abr.2015.0018 |s2cid=144738830 |id={{Project MUSE|578868}} }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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* The author was interviewed by Peggy Alaniz about the novel for the Woodland Pattern Book Center weblog.<ref>{{cite web|title="Peggy Alaniz interviews Lisa Birman" |publisher= Woodland Pattern Book Center|url=https://woodlandpattern.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/peggy-alaniz-interviews-lisa-birman/|access-date= 16 May 2024}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Latest revision as of 22:08, 15 May 2024
 Cover of first edition, cover image: Untitled fresco by George Schneeman | |
| Author | Lisa Birman |
|---|---|
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Publisher | Spuyten Duyvil Press |
Publication date | February 1st, 2015 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (softcover) |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 9781941550021 |
How to Walk Away is a 2015 novel and the debut novel of Australian novelist Lisa Birman. The work was first published on 1 February 2015 in the United States by Spuyten Duyvil Press. The novel centers on veteran Otis and his wife Cat, a genealogist. How to Walk Away is an exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsion, body integrity disorder, and the grief of keeping secrets born in war.
Synopsis[edit]
After three years in Afghanistan, Otis is adjusting to life back home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, he obsessively replays the traumas of war, cataloging the names of the dead. Cat, his wife, is a genealogist who makes maps of families in an attempt to understand her world. When a car accident takes Otis's left arm, he is grateful to bear a physical loss that makes his damaged emotional self visible. As he recovers, he and Cat confront the silences upon which their marriage is built.[1]
Awards[edit]
On March 17, 2016 Birman's novel was named a finalist, in the genre of literary fiction, by Colorado Humanities for their annual Colorado Book Awards.,[2] and on May 22, 2016 Birman's novel won the award for literary fiction.[3]
Reviews[edit]
"How to Walk Away starts at the return. Enveloped and interspersed with letter narration, the short and shorter sections of the book craft a psychological domestic journey in three acts from Otis’ isolation to a delayed reunion with his wife, Cat. Birman's careful structure offers road signs for the reader travelling the confusion of the narrator's consuming obsessions." - Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, The Conium Review[4]
"Moment to moment we are with Otis as he tries to fit the pieces of himself back into the form called “normal.” We suffer his claustrophobia-along with his need to escape from his own thoughts." - Judith Podell, American Book Review[5]
See also[edit]
- The author was interviewed by Peggy Alaniz about the novel for the Woodland Pattern Book Center weblog.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "How to Walk Away".
- ^ "2016 Colorado Book Awards Finalists | Colorado Humanities". Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ^ "2016 Colorado Book Award Winners | Colorado Humanities". www.coloradohumanities.org. Archived from the original on 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Book Review: "How to Walk Away," A Kind of Cartography". 31 January 2015.
- ^ Podell, Judith (2015). "What Lies Beneath". American Book Review. 36 (2): 21. doi:10.1353/abr.2015.0018. S2CID 144738830. Project MUSE 578868.
- ^ ""Peggy Alaniz interviews Lisa Birman"". Woodland Pattern Book Center. Retrieved 16 May 2024.