The New Me
Mar 2019 · Hachette UK
3,8star
5 reviewsreport
eBook
208
Pages
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About this eBook
'Terrific. So funny' Zadie Smith
'Monstrously depressing but so comic and well observed that I didn't really mind .... It is great' Dolly Alderton
'A dark comedy of female rage' Catherine Lacey
'Brilliant. For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation' Pandora Sykes
'Funny, shocking, clever, and hugely entertaining' Roddy Doyle
'A definitive work of milennial literature' Jia Tolentino
'The best thing I've read in years' Emma Jane Unsworth
'Vicious ... hilariously spot on' Guardian
In a windowless office, a woman explains something from her real, nonwork life - about the frustration and indignity of returning her online shopping - to her colleagues. One wears a topknot. Another checks her pedometer.
Watching them all is Millie. Thirty-years-old and an eternal temp, she says almost nothing, almost all of the time.
But then the possibility of a permanent job arises. Will it bring the new life Millie is envisioning - one involving a gym membership, a book club, and a lot less beer and TV - finally within reach? Or will it reveal just how hollow that vision has become?
'Made me laugh and cry enough times to feel completely reborn' The Paris Review
'A definite work of millennial literature. Wretchedly riveting, with the sick, obsessive pleasure of looking under a bandage at a wound' The New Yorker
'So darkly funny and acutely observed that it feels like a documentary' Andrew McMillan
'Anyone who has ever felt like their life is going nowhere - and to make it worse, going nowhere in an achingly slow manner - will recognize themselves' Nylon
'Monstrously depressing but so comic and well observed that I didn't really mind .... It is great' Dolly Alderton
'A dark comedy of female rage' Catherine Lacey
'Brilliant. For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation' Pandora Sykes
'Funny, shocking, clever, and hugely entertaining' Roddy Doyle
'A definitive work of milennial literature' Jia Tolentino
'The best thing I've read in years' Emma Jane Unsworth
'Vicious ... hilariously spot on' Guardian
In a windowless office, a woman explains something from her real, nonwork life - about the frustration and indignity of returning her online shopping - to her colleagues. One wears a topknot. Another checks her pedometer.
Watching them all is Millie. Thirty-years-old and an eternal temp, she says almost nothing, almost all of the time.
But then the possibility of a permanent job arises. Will it bring the new life Millie is envisioning - one involving a gym membership, a book club, and a lot less beer and TV - finally within reach? Or will it reveal just how hollow that vision has become?
'Made me laugh and cry enough times to feel completely reborn' The Paris Review
'A definite work of millennial literature. Wretchedly riveting, with the sick, obsessive pleasure of looking under a bandage at a wound' The New Yorker
'So darkly funny and acutely observed that it feels like a documentary' Andrew McMillan
'Anyone who has ever felt like their life is going nowhere - and to make it worse, going nowhere in an achingly slow manner - will recognize themselves' Nylon
Ratings and reviews
3,8
5 reviews
Arlene Finnigan
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08 May 2019
Well this was strangely compelling. I started off thinking this book was darkly funny and the protagonist was amusingly misanthropic, but it became more claustrophobic and full of despair as it went on. Millie is hopeless at being an adult and the chapter when she went back to visit her parents was sweet and sad.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Halle Butler is a writer living in New York City. Her first novel, Jillian, was called the "feel-bad book of the year" by the Chicago Tribune. Her second novel, The New Me, was named a Best Book of the Decade by Vox and a Best Book of the Year by Vanity Fair, Vulture, Chicago Tribune, Mashable, Bustle, and NPR, and the New Yorker called it a "definitive work of millennial literature." She was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree.
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