{"product_id":"i-meant-it-once-by-kate-doyle-9781472158604","title":"I Meant It Once","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eI Meant It Once\u003c\/em\u003e explores longing, belonging, and the big emotions that can make us feel small with unusual elegance and depth.\u003c\/strong\u003e – Coco Mellors, author of \u003cem\u003eCleopatra and Frankenstein\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGorgeously written and staggeringly honest . . . It will bewitch you.\u003c\/strong\u003e – Tess Gunty, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Rabbit Hutch\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eI Meant It Once\u003c\/em\u003e signals the arrival of a major talent and voice.\u003c\/strong\u003e – Brandon Taylor, author of Booker Prize Finalist \u003cem\u003eReal Life\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI was enraptured by these stories... Perfect for fans of Greta Gerwig.\u003c\/strong\u003e – Edel Coffey\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith this sharp and witty debut collection, author Kate Doyle captures precisely that time of life when so many young women are caught in between, preoccupied by nostalgia for past relationships—with friends, roommates, siblings—while trying to move forward into an uncertain future. In \"That Is Shocking,\" a college student relates a darkly funny story of romantic humiliation, one that skirts the parallel story of a friend she betrayed. In others, young women long for friends who have moved away, or moved on. In \"Cinnamon Baseball Coyote\" and other linked stories about siblings Helen, Evan, and Grace, their years of inside jokes and brutal tensions simmer over as the three spend a holiday season in an amusing whirl of rivalry and mutual attachment, and a generational gulf widens between them and their parents. Throughout, in stories both lyrical and haunting, young women search for ways to break free from the expectations of others and find a way to be in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWritten with crystalline prose and sly humour, the stories in \u003cem\u003eI Meant It Once\u003c\/em\u003e build to complete a profoundly recognisable portrait of early adulthood and the ways in which seemingly incidental moments can come to define the stories we tell ourselves. For fans of Elif Batuman, Ottessa Moshfegh, Patricia Lockwood, and Melissa Bank, these stories about being young and adrift in today's world go down easy and pack a big punch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePerceptive, funny, forthright, and often alarmingly relatable, \u003cem\u003eI Meant It Once\u003c\/em\u003e is a tremendously good debut.\u003c\/strong\u003e – Claire Lombardo, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Most Fun We Ever Had\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46711932616940,"sku":"9781472158604","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3723563482712.jpg?v=1754259480","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/i-meant-it-once-by-kate-doyle-9781472158604","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}