A dazzling collection full of spellbinding prose...Through unrestrained characters and fresh scenarios, Vara masterfully makes anew what it feels like to be alive -- Jonathan Escoffery * New York Times Book Review *
In these tales, Vara has captured the fantasies, griefs and longings of life. From keen-eyed girlhood to delusional middle-age, the characters reach for more than is possible, falter, then reach for more. This Is Salvaged is a book for readers who need clarity and hope - that is to say: everybody. -- Andrew Sean Greer, author of LESS
It takes tremendous courage and wit to look with wonder at the darkest, most shameful places in the human heart and make them hilarious, tender and deeply moving; Vauhini Vara, with her grand-scale compassion and moral complexity in This is Salvaged, can do this magic with astonishing ease. -- Lauren Groff, author of MATRIX
The stories in Vauhini Vara's This Is Salvaged are brilliant, entirely human, abidingly strange. She is one of our most inventive writers of fiction, as well as visionary, with a gift for writing about grief both extraordinary and ordinary. This Is Salvaged is unforgettable. -- Elizabeth McCracken, author of THE HERO OF THIS BOOK
I finished This is Salvaged and immediately wanted to re-read it. What a ride. Vauhini Vara's writing is immersive, yielding stories that are clever and surprising, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny. A brilliant, deeply satisfying collection. -- Deesha Philyaw, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES
These dazzling stories take a kaleidoscopic and ferociously tender look at loss and what people hold onto or discover in the wake of it...Vara has written a wholly original, insightful and powerful collection. -- Danielle Evans, author of THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS
A poignant collection of stories that glimpse the salvation of human connection in the midst of modern alienation. * Kirkus Reviews *
Vara invigorates with emotional insights, whimsy, and a precision with language. It's a remarkable achievement * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
