“Pentru cine are curiozitatea să caute beletristica în limba engleza sub semnătura unor autori români, șansa este ca recenta apariție My Life on Craigslist să fie printre primele. Ne bucurăm de debutul american al colegei noastre Alexandra Ares din New York, teatrolog, producătoare de televiziune, și romancieră stabilită de ani buni pe Coasta de Est. Și promitem să revenim cu un portret al scriitoarei, care are amabilitatea de a ne oferi, în exclusivitate pentru numărul viitor, un amplu interviu. Până atunci, comunicatul de presa este incitant, la fel ca si premizele romanului:
Entertaining new novel depicts the ups and downs of life on Craigslist
My Life on Craigslist by Alexandra Ares sketches an entertaining satire of today’s mores as reflected on the fifth most popular website in the US and the most uninhibited. A book about survival in dog-eat-dog New York City in a unique blend of angst and humor. Emily Thompson is a 25 years-old girl with a passion for contemporary art and a desire to surpass her modest condition as a bank teller in Buffalo’s suburbs. One year after she moves to trendy East Village in New York City, where she lands a job in an art gallery and an artist boyfriend, her life is thrown in an uproar when she loses everything: her job, her boyfriend, who cheats on her with a girl he met online, and her friends, who all move out of New York because of the Great Recession.
Suddenly alone, with no boyfriend, no money in the bank (she only worked for cash and has no unemployment benefits), no friends and a family far away, Emily starts to live vicariously through Craigslist in an anxious search for a love connection and a work break. On that very site, Craigslist, she finds dates, an unexpected luxury sailboat trip and free theater tickets, an interesting cast of roommates and dates, one night stands and temporary jobs that all first seem like heaven and turn out to be hell. With each new experience she is either the con or the conned, and learns something about life and about herself. When things spiral out of control, Emily discovers the double edge of fame, morals, and the unexpected turn of fortunes in New York.
“So much of what occurs is beautifully tied up. I adored it. The Apatow films don’t do it better. This book is a D-flawless diamond, small but utterly perfect.”
Monique Raphel High, best-selling novelist
“Very cool. I can totally identify with Emily/Swan: Jobless, looking for a roommate, zero money in the bank, and above all desperately seeking some sort of sexual or intimate connection that would numb the pain of this lonely existence. Bravo!”
Ismael Corpas, Craigslist User
Alexandra Ares is a New York writer, novelist, screenwriter, playwright, TV producer/director, and publisher of Manhattan Chronicles. Born in the capital city of Romania, Ares studied theater at the prestigious “National University of Theater and Cinema Arts” in Bucharest , and worked as a theater critic for TVR1, the Romanian National Television, traveling extensively throughout Europe before she moved to the USA. Ares is the author of several books published in Europe: Stranded in the Past (short stories); Sam Shepard: a Rebel of Rigoris Mortis (nonfiction); Waking Beauty (a full length play), The Men Store (short plays) and the best-seller novel Dream Junkies translated in Romanian at the top publishing house in Romania, Polirom in 2008.
