120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery 🚀 We’ve moved into our new bookstore and warehouse 🎉

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self

By Danielle Evans
0.0 (0 reviews)
4.06 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 5,176 ratings, 847 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self explores the complex lives of fiercely independent characters navigating adolescence, family struggles, and societal inequality. From a college student's unplanned pregnancy confronting class resentment, to a father's misguided gift revealing hidden truths, and two teenage girls facing the harsh consequences of growing up, these stories offer an original, emotionally immediate perspective on race and class in contemporary America.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2499
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in contemporary American fiction, particularly those who appreciate nuanced portrayals of race, class, and the transition to adulthood, with sharp wit and emotionally rich storytelling.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The first work from a star of her generation, an electric debut story collection about mixed-race and African-American teenagers, women, and men struggling to find a place in their families and communities.

The first work from a star of her generation, an electric debut story collection about mixed-race and African-American teenagers, women, and men struggling to find a place in their families and communities.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Fiercely independent, all of Evans's characters struggle for a place in a world intent on fencing them out. - New York Times Book Review

A college student's unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront her feelings of resentment toward her more privileged classmates. A father's misguided attempt to rescue a gift for his adult daughter magnifies all he doesn't know about her. And two teenage girls' flirt with adulthood leads to disastrous consequences.

Based in a world where inequality is reality, but where the shifting terrain of adolescence and family are the most complicating forces, Evans' characters are wry, wise and utterly original. Striking in their emotional immediacy, the electrifying, prize-winning stories in Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self offer a fresh perspective on race and class in contemporary America.

Danielle Evans is funny as hell - Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine

Knife-sharp wit and tender but unflinching eye - V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised by the New York Times Book Review as a whipsmart exploration of the liminal years between childhood and adulthood, Evans delivers blisteringly smart stories offering a fresh perspective on being young and Black in America. The Boston Globe admires how the collection surprises and pushes boundaries, while Time highlights its vivid characters who triumph by surviving without forgetting. The stories are noted for their knife-sharp wit and humour.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529073232

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 March 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 16.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 174g

Pages: 240

Collections

Danielle Evans Fiction General Fiction Humour Literary Fiction

About the Author

Danielle Evans is an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University and the author of short story collections, The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. Her first collection won the PEN American Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Hurston-Wright award for fiction, and the Paterson Prize for fiction; her second won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and The Bridge Book Award and was a finalist for The Aspen Prize, The Story Prize, and The LA Times Book prize for fiction. She is the 2021 winner of The New Literary Project Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts fellow, and a 2011 National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree.

More from General Fiction

View all
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    By Alison Espach
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE — Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE — Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE — Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS — Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale — Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    By Caro Claire Burke
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Dylan's Pick Dylan's Pick
    Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    By Allen Levi
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl
    The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman-now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition! You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
    Carl and Princess Donut have to team up with other contestants to not just survive, but to solve a deadly puzzle in this third, mind-twisting novel in the addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition! Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $4700
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Fourth Wing
    THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NUMBER ONE GLOBAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON! DON'T MISS OUT ON THE SERIES THAT EVERYONE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT: 'This book contains an addictive, drug-like essence that will make you relinquish all responsibility until the very last word. Do not say I didn't warn you' Glamour 'I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, and when I finished, I...
    By Rebecca Yarros
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Shirl's Pick Shirl's Pick
    Taipei Story
    TAIPEI STORY is the electrifying new novel by bestselling literary phenomenon Rebecca F. Kuang, a profoundly moving coming-of-age story that explores first love, second language and final goodbyes – all set against the backdrop of one unforgettable summer in Taipei. Yale student Lily Chen arrives in Taipei hungry: for family, for culture, for connection. But her summer of discovery quickly...
    By R.F. Kuang
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Gate of the Feral Gods
    The fourth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that's talent. Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy's most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $6000
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Iron Flame
    The instant number one Sunday Times bestseller and thrilling sequel to the global phenomenon, Fourth Wing! DON'T BE THE LAST TO DISCOVER THE SERIES THAT EVERYONE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT: 'Yarros is the true inheritor of Harry Potter and inspires Hunger Games levels of devotion' Guardian 'Fear not, levels of fighting, rebelliousness and all-round sexiness are still sky-high' Daily Mail...
    By Rebecca Yarros
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Haunting Adeline
    VIRAL BOOKTOK SENSATION AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR! The Manipulator I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me. I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh. But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave. He's always there, watching and waiting. And I can never look away....
    By H. D. Carlton
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $4699
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses
    The first instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON and TikTok sensation, from multi-million selling and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan – Time Harry Potter magic, Taylor Swift sass, Fifty Shades-level athleticism – The Sunday Times With bits of Buffy, Game of Thrones and Outlander, this is a glorious series...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

General Fiction lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all