Zusatztext 43897394 Informationen zum Autor Anna North is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and her writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlantic, Glimmer Train, Nautilus, and Salon ; on Jezebel and BuzzFeed; and in the New York Times , where she is a staff editor. The author of America Pacifica , she lives in Brooklyn, New York. Klappentext Winner of the 2016 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction "I read The Life and Death of Sophie Stark with my heart in my mouth. Not only a dissection of genius and the havoc it can wreak, but also a thunderously good story."-Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of Room "This novel is perceptive, subtle, funny and lingers in unexpected ways. The analysis of a woman who puts her art above all else is equal parts inspiration and warning story. Anna North makes prose look easy."-Lena Dunham Who is Sophie Stark? A brilliant filmmaker, a lover, a wife, a friend, a traitor. A troubled misfit who becomes a star, at great cost to the people who love her and, ultimately, to herself. Gripping and provocative, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is a story of the power of art to transform lives and to destroy them, and of an artist's drive to create something greater than herself, even if it means sacrificing everything-and everyone-she loves. Allison When Sophie first saw me, I was onstage. This girl Irina who I lived with at the time had organized a storytelling series at a bar in Bushwick, and after a couple weeks of watching I decided I wanted to tell a story too. I wasn't like the other kids in the house; I'd never assumed I'd be an actor or a writer or anything creative. When I was growing up, everybody figured I'd stay in Burnsville, West Virginia, and have some kids. But there I was in New York and for ten minutes I could make people listen to me and treat me like I was important. The theme that week was scary camping stories. I was wearing my only pretty dress, a blue halter with a full skirt that I'd bought for seven dollars at a vintage store, and I got up onstage after some girl talked for twenty minutes about seeing a possum. Here's the story I told, the one that started everything for Sophie and me. My school had some good kids, Christian kids, kids who got married at eighteen before they started popping out babies. But my family was one hundred percent trash for five generations back, and I didn't fit in real well with the church crowd. Instead I used to hang out with this guy named Bean. Bean was a couple years older than me, and he'd dropped out of high school to sell weed, and he made enough money to rent half a run-down old farmhouse outside of town. He was nicehe always shared his weed, especially with girls, and he'd give me a place to stay when things got bad at home. But he had an edge to himhis dad was a Marine and he had taught Bean this trick where you snap someone's neck in a single motion. And Bean always made you feel like you were so cool, part of this secret club with just him, and you wanted to do exactly what he said so you could be in the club forever. I never saw a girl turn Bean down until he decided he was into Stacey Ashton. Stacey was my only friend who was a good girl. She was in the French club and she didn't smoke weed and she wanted to go to Emory somedayshe had a sweatshirt from there and everything. Maybe that's why Bean liked her, because she was so different. But she wasn't interested. He'd go up to her at a party and she'd just be polite and then turn away, talk to some other guy. It made Bean really angry. I'd never seen him mad beforethings usually went so well for him. But now every time Stacey turned her back on him, he got that look on his face like pressure building up. Bean convinced me to talk to Stacey for himhe said maybe she'd...

"Last month I bragged about having purchased The Life and Death of Sophie Stark and now I can brag about having finished it. This book is deceptively simple--what seems like a collection of loose and easy interwoven recollections is actually thriller-paced, with mysteries revealed at every turn. The great mystery at the center is Sophie Stark, a totally unforgettable female antihero who conforms to absolutely none of our expectations and suffers deeply for it."**—Lena Dunham

“I read The Life and Death of Sophie Stark with my heart in my mouth. Not only a dissection of genius and the havoc it can wreak, but also a thunderously good story.” —Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of *Room

*“Powerful…This provocative book by North, a staff editor at The New York Times, illustrates just how far an artist will go in pursuit of authentic expression…North’s prose is as skillful as her protagonist’s shot list. Filled with ‘the sad fumbling of human love,’ Sophie’s story examines the relationship between art and suffering.”—Sarah Ferguson, *The New York Times Book Review

****“*As with every experimental approach to art, this subsection of fiction has yielded plenty of successes and failures over the years. Fortunately, though, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North definitely belongs in the former category. ‘Told from the perspectives of those who knew Sophie best—her brother, her girlfriend, [and] her husband [among others],’ the book offers one riveting, comprehensive, and ultimately moving account after another. Through these reflections, readers become enveloped not only in the essence and circumstances of Stark herself, but also in the histories, feelings, and traits of those who remember her. North creates vivid and relatable characters whose reactions, exchanges, and decisions are intriguing yet wholly realistic and unspectacular, allowing each moment to radiate subtle beauty and sincerity. By the end of it, Stark has affected the reader’s life as much as she has any around her…. Not only is The Life and Death of Sophie Stark a brilliant character study, but it also serves as an fascinating commentary on the balance between morality, artistry, genius, and integrity…. Suffice it to say that North crafted a gem full of complex personalities, tragic yet redeeming circumstances, and striking conversations and judgments. Her language strikes a lovely balance between poeticism and practicality too, making each sentence graceful and luminous without prioritizing stylishness over substance. In the end, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is utterly captivating, surprising, and rewarding. You won’t forget about it (or her) for a long time.” —PopMatters.com

“[By] turns disturbing, enchanting and enthralling….North’s writing is lovely and lithe, a supple conversational style that draws you in with each fresh perspective on the enigmatic Sophie….a completely compelling read that asks whether broken hearts and ruined relationships are prices worth paying in the name of creativity.” —Daily Express (UK)

"Anna North is a natural, butter-smooth storyteller, and *The Life and Death of Sophie Stark *is an elegant, kaleidoscopic look at a challenging artist and at the way our lives are, in some respects, only silhouettes made from the perceptions of those who know us." —Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements

"Anna North has woven a circle of longing and frustration around her commanding central character, the enigmatic Sophie Stark. This novel isn’t just a character study, though—it’s a story of art, manipulation, and dependence. And, in its unique and satisfying structure, it’s a narrative high wire act, deftly executed." —**Rebecca Makkai, author of *The Hundred-Year House *and Music for Wartime …