Taffy Brodesser-Akner

"Believe the hype. Fleishman Is in Trouble is even better than we were promised."

— The Washington Post

"...a maddening, unsettling masterpiece..."

— NPR

Fleishman Is In Trouble was long-listed for both the
National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, long-listed for The Woman’s Prize, short-listed for The British Book Award, named a New York Times Notable Book of 2019, named one of the most addictive books of the year by Kirkus, one of funniest books by Bookpage, and was one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Fiction of the Year picks.

Now available in paperback!

“Firing on all circuits, from psychological insight to cultural acuity to narrative strategy to very smart humor. Quite a debut!”
- Kirkus Review (starred)

“Shrewd and delectable, this would be a novel to savor, if it were possible to put it down.”
- Booklist (starred)

“Blisteringly funny, feverishly smart, heart-breaking and true. Fleishman Is In Trouble is an essential read for anyone who’s wondered how to navigate loving (and hating) the people we choose."
– Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest

“Fleishman Is In Trouble is a marvel, full of  shrewd observations, barbed wit, and deep insight. Taffy Brodesser-Akner reveals the twisted hearts of her characters—and the twisted soul of contemporary America—with an eye that is at once pitiless and full of compassion for our human foibles. This is a remarkable debut novel from one of the most distinctive writers around."
– Tom Perrotta, author of Mrs. Fletcher

"This glorious debut has the humor of Maria Semple, the heart of Meg Wolitzer, the lustiness of Philip Roth, and a voice that is pure. It’s wild and wonderful and goes in so many directions, each with profundity – my favorite thing that novels can do. How does one's favorite journalist become one's new favorite novelist? With this book."
– Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers

“From its opening pages, Fleishman Is in Trouble is shrewdly observed, brimming with wisdom and utterly of this moment.  Not until its explosive final pages are you fully aware of its cunning ferocity.  Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut is that rare and delicious treat:  a page turner with heft.”
— Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

“Here is a portrait of modern love and marriage that is blisteringly funny, searingly accurate, windingly painful and—ultimately—both heartbreaking and humane. Fleishman is In Trouble reminds me of the great novels of the 1960s and 1970s—just the sort of thing that Philip Roth or John Updike might have produced in their prime (except, of course, that the author understands women.) Taffy Brodesser-Akner can write the pants off any novelist out there. She's a star, and this book is a work of utter perfection.”
— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

"Believe the hype. Fleishman Is in Trouble is even better than we were promised."
— THE WASHINGTON POST

"...a maddening, unsettling masterpiece..."
— NPR

"...enthralling...Fleishman Is In Trouble will occasionally make you angry at the things the people in it do, but mostly it will make you hungry for whatever Brodesser-Akner is going to write next."
— ROLLING STONE

”…witty and well-observed...Brodesser-Akner has written a potent, upsetting and satisfying novel"
— THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A New York journalist’s debut recalls Franzen or Roth – but is much more than just another wannabe Great American Novel.”
— THE GUARDIAN

“Infusing candor, humor and social commentary, this book holds up a mirror to all of us, demanding that we take a hard look at how we live and how we love.”
— ASSOCIATED PRESS

“Firing on all circuits, from psychological insight to cultural acuity to narrative strategy to very smart humor. Quite a debut!”
— KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred)

“Shrewd and delectable, this would be a novel to savor, if it were possible to put down.”
— BOOKLIST (starred)

“Brodesser-Akner, a Michelangelo of magazine profiles…writes with a thrilling swagger…”
— THE NEW YORKER

“The novel—a debut by New York Times Magazine staff writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner—is an energetic, funny midlife crisis story, moored in the so-called First World problems of putatively successful American Jews.”
—JEWISH CURRENTS

"How miserable is too miserable? Taffy Brodesser-Akner poses the question and successfully mines it for laughs in her first novel."
— MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE

"When [Taffy Brodesser-Akner] writes a book about modern heterosexual marriage, you don’t roll your eyes; you clear your schedule. "
— THE HUFFINGTON POST

“This is a sardonically cheerful novel that readers will adore.”
— PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY

"....it will come as no surprise that her debut novel is an incisive, rousing success."
— THE DAILY BEAST

“A fast-paced, bighearted romp ….Fleishman Is In Trouble reads so smoothly, you'll want to speed right through, but it's in your best interest to slow down — lest you miss any of the quick barbs or droll asides that make this book so utterly delectable.”
— BUZZFEED

“…a story peppered with Brodesser-Akner’s shrewd, keen, cutting observations and wildly engaging prose. Ambitious and funny.”
— GOOP

“Run don't walk to your credit card and buy Fleishman Is in Trouble. …..Taffy's witty debut novel is one I'll be lending to my friends and annoyingly forcing them to read.”
— COSMOPOLITAN

“It's biting and bracing, and—like the best beach reads—offers unflinching insight into the unexplored depths of the human condition.”
— NYLON

“Certainly, she is fluent in the verbal tics, hypocrisies and eccentricities of the milieu she skewers, but Brodesser-Akner’s style is entirely her own: quick, modern, laconic and laugh-out-loud funny. “
— EVENING STANDARD

“Is Brodesser-Akner telling us that Fleishman is in Trouble isn’t truly a novel but rather observations of the world around her? Once again, answers are nowhere in sight. The power of the novel lies within its haziness.”
—YALE DAILY NEWS

“She creates a page-turner as insightful as it is impossible to put down.”
— REFINERY29

"...a truly masterful and often poignant examination of marriage and identity in midlife, as well as a brilliant example of how to structure a novel in surprising and innovative ways."
—BOOKREPORTER

“That’s the Taffy Brodesser-Akner trick, the thing that makes her profiles so clear-eyed and important, the thing that lifts her divorce novel head and shoulders above so many others in its genre: She is always willing to extend her empathy to people we are trained to believe are not worthy of our consideration.”
— VOX

“Just wow. This is definitely going to be one of the buzziest — if not the buzziest — book of the summer, and it does not disappoint.”
— HEY ALMA

“Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s sharp debut novel is packed with humor and heart.”
— SOUTHERN LIVING

“Anyone who has followed Akner’s illustrious career…will know she was destined to write a good book one day. Well, that day has arrived, and it’s just as blisteringly funny as you’d expect it to be…”
— SHEER LUXE

“Brodesser-Akner is a terrifically funny writer.”
— JEWISH EXPONENT

“Insightful, disturbing, and at times amusing.”
— LIBRARY JOURNAL

“All in all, Fleishman is in Trouble is an astute look at the complexities of long term relationships—both romantic and platonic—and what it means to grow and change while simultaneously staying devoted and committed.”
— BOOKBROWSE

“Best known for her award-winning celebrity profiles…Brodesser-Akner turns to fiction with this stimulating debut.”
— ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“…a highly entertaining novel about 40-something foibles, but it also delivers a piercing message about just how much within a relationship is prone to misinterpretation.”
— USA TODAY

“Debuts like this don’t come along very often.”
— EVENING STANDARD

“Taffy Brodesser-Akner has enough empathy for everyone – whether they’re navigating marriage, identity, capitalism, gender norms, and the 21st Century measures of success we’re all taught to aspire to.”
— THE FACE

“....it’s a grown-up comedy that actually has far deeper things to say about love.”
— STYLIST

“Fleishman Is in Trouble was published 2 weeks ago. It’s already on the Times bestseller list. It’s about to be the hot novel of the summer. Skip it at your peril.”
— THE GOOD MEN PROJECT

“..tension runs through Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s ripper of a novel, Fleishman Is In Trouble…”
— ROMPER

"Smart and sassy but also dark and scabrous..."
— RED

“…as a detailed examination of midlife crisis, in which the author also gleefully eviscerates a certain kind of wealthy Manhattanite lifestyle, it is playful, furious and occasionally heart-breaking.
— INEWS

“There is too much that is difficult and splendid in Fleishman is in Trouble to express in one review.”
— WINNIPEG FREE PRESS