The Hitch

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A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Pick “Winningly zany . . . [Levine’s] commitment to boinging around the loopy little world she’s built is total. Only a killjoy would refuse t o join her.”—New York Times Book Review From the author of the cult classic Treasure Island!!!, a delightfully unhinged comedy following a woman as she attempts to exorcise the spirit of a dead corgi from her nephew and renegotiate the borders of her previously rational world Sara Levine debuted with her outrageously original and unforgettable novel Treasure Island!!!, which became a cult classic and bookseller favorite. With the ferocious absurdity of Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch and the inventive comedy of Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here, Levine’s highly anticipated second novel, The Hitch, follows a woman as she attempts to exorcise the spirit of a dead corgi from her nephew and renegotiate the borders of her previously rational world. As an antiracist, secular Jewish feminist eco-warrior, Rose Cutler is convinced she knows the right way to do everything, including parent her six-year-old nephew Nathan. When his parents reluctantly agree to let Rose babysit him while they go on a vacation designed to save their marriage, she is determined to follow their rules and not overstep. But on her first day with Nathan, Rose’s beloved Newfoundland attacks and kills a corgi at the park and Nathan starts acting strangely: barking, overeating, talking to himself. Rose believes this is how Nathan’s child imagination is coping with the dog’s death, but Nathan insists the dog isn’t dead; her soul leaped into his body, and now she’s living inside him. With only a week left before his parents return, Rose races to banish the corgi from her nephew. An off-kilter comedy about loneliness, bad boundaries, and the exacting nature of unconditional love, The Hitch is a big-hearted novel that exposes the fault lines of our pieties and asks how far a person should stretch to fit into their own family. Praise for The Hitch: An NPR Book of the DayAn Indie Next Pick “Her writing voice, sardonic, breezy, chimes with Joy Williams and Donald Barthelme, but it’s hard not to hear Curb Your Enthusiasm and even The Office — that nexus where unraveling people lacking self-awareness stumble across empathy”—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune “[A] careful character study set to absurd proportions, delivering dark, deadpan humor that always lands. Sara Levine is utterly brave in her commitment to these fascinating and flawed characters. I absolutely adored reading this novel.”—Michael Welch, Chicago Review of Books “An incredible writer. [Levine] embraces oddity, and is relentlessly committed to telling her stories exactly how she wants to tell them. Every word of every sentence is a pleasure to behold.”—Roxane Gay, The Audacity Show more