{"product_id":"if-you-follow-me-9780061732850","title":"If You Follow Me","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"I love, love, love \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e. It's fearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can't recommend it highly enough.\" -- Curtis Sittenfeld, \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e bestselling author of \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrep\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e and \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmerican Wife\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Malena Watrous' beautifully wrought and deftly written debut novel, we meet Marina, a young woman who has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. For her, Shika is more than just her home as a \"temporary person.\" It's also an attempt to escape the reality that has followed her since her father committed suicide only a year earlier. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarina is a big city girl is in a small town filled with off-beat characters, including an ambitious town matchmaker, a dentist looking for free English lessons, a high school student who idolizes Western rap artists, and finally Marina's America-obsessed supervisor, Hiro, a town leader whose friendship teaches her more than she ever expected.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf You Follow Me\u003c\/em\u003e is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story that explores the tension of being the outsider in an intimate community and the joy in finding that human nature is the same everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harper Perennial\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/09\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780061732850\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.64lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.98h x 5.84w x 0.98d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e Lambda Literary Awards - Finalist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e Lambda Literary Awards - Finalist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/18\/2010 pg. 30\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRomantic Times\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2010 pg. 55 - Excellent\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/04\/2010 pg. 20\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/11\/2010 pg. 22\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Malena Watrous","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43166027907253,"sku":"9780061732850","price":13.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_9a1cc68f-2220-42a3-94c7-d8df7cf359c4.jpg?v=1696918950","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/if-you-follow-me-9780061732850","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}