Sucker Punch

October 1, 2024

Koul, a senior writer at Slate, follows up her bestselling One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter with another collection of autobiographical essays. She uses her life experiences, insight, and humor to reflect on the unexpected turns her path has taken and reflect on what's worth fighting for. With a 100K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

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January 15, 2025
Reflections about divorce and other difficulties by a millennial Canadian journalist/internet personality of Indian descent. "My ex is the hero of my first book because that's how it felt to me at the time. I felt rescued. It's bad enough to lie to yourself privately, but to sell it to a public who believes those stories, too? It feels like a scam. Strangers are sad to hear about my divorce because they thought my marriage stood for something bigger than just my own relationship." Unfortunately, the story of Koul's divorce from a white partner 13 years older than she, the main subject of this follow-up collection, also suffers from that limitation. Readers hoping to find themselves through reading about someone else's experiences may get a bit frustrated by this hall of mirrors (of mirrors of mirrors of mirrors...). Not that readers will never stumble upon a funny sentence or a relatable insight--but it's not enough. "Writing about yourself for the internet means pulling off little pieces of your body and letting them walk around without you. You have to let them go, and when you meet them again, you might not like them anymore." This is certainly the case with the story of her rape by a college classmate, a subject dissected at length in the first book, but now subject to radical and extended revision based on new developments. On other topics--body image, eating disorders, women's relationship to food--if there is anything new to say, and there really might not be, Koul hasn't found it. The attempt to hang all this on a framework of Hindu mythology is...a nice try. After reporting the mending of her relationship with her father after an estrangement, the decision to end the book with a section called Moksha (meaning enlightenment) that consists entirely of "A Comprehensive List of Everything My Dad Has Called Bergdorf Goodman"--H�agen-Dazs, The Googleheim, Goodman Goldstein, etc.--is a bit of a sucker punch for her dad and a cop-out for readers. The author's trademark self-lacerating humor does not quite save the day.

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March 1, 2025
Koul (One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, 2017) offers another collection of incisive essays on love and marriage in her unmistakable blend of acerbic wit and sardonic humor. The daughter of Kashmiri immigrants in Canada, Koul grew up steeped in stories of the Hindu gods and goddesses, especially Shiva and his wife Parvati. For Koul, Parvati becomes a symbol of the ideal partner, selflessly devoted to Shiva, meditating for years until she receives a divine blessing from the gods to marry him. Drawing parallels between herself and Parvati, Koul fights to win her parents' blessing after becoming engaged to a white man 11 years her senior. They eventually marry, move to New York, and settle into married life. Years of unhappiness follow, but fearful of her parents' reaction, Koul is unwilling to leave. Fans of essay collections by Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling will enjoy Koul's unflinchingly honest thoughts on the all-consuming nature of relationships and how to stay true to yourself no matter what others think.

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