Perfect Life

by Jessica Shattuck

Overview

“Jessica Shattuck’s engrossing, deceptively ambitious novel explores a wide range of subjects . . . with a shrewd and sympathetic eye.”—Tom Perrotta

“In this smart and engaging follow-up to her well-received debut, The Hazards of Good Breeding, Shattuck focuses on three privileged Gen X college roommates who are now grown up, coupled up, and raising kids in pre-recession Boston. The cracks in their ‘perfect lives’ begin to show when the most precocious of the trio, a gorgeous striver named Jenny whose husband is infertile, makes the unconventional decision to have a baby with a sperm donation from Neil, her brainy, slacker ex-boyfriend from Harvard. . . . Stylish storytelling and sharp social commentary . . . make Perfect Life both topical and eminently readable.”—People

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393304596
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/14/2010
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	338
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jessica Shattuck is the New York Times bestselling author of The Women in the Castle, The Hazards of Good Breeding (a New York Times Notable Book and finalist for the PEN/Winship Award), and Perfect Life. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Glamour, Mother Jones, and Wired among others. A graduate of Harvard University, she received her MFA from Columbia University. Shattuck now lives with her husband and three children in Brookline, MA.

Hometown:

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

April 2, 1972

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A. Harvard College, 1994; M.F.A. in Writing, Columbia University, 2001

Editorial Reviews

"A social commentary on rampant capitalism, unbridled science, love and fidelity."

San Diego Union-Tribune

"With her elegant prose, Shattuck manages to make her characters’ stories feel both engrossing and utterly real."

Entertainment Weekly

"Each of the four fully delineated characters is unique, and their situations clearly reflect their personalities as Shattuck describes their feelings with great accuracy, reveling in the fact that her characters are well educated and reflective people who demonstrate admirable self-awareness. In all, this is an excellent, resonant novel."

Booklist

"Stylish storytelling and sharp social commentary—on issues ranging from adultery to genetic engineering—make Perfect Life both topical and eminently readable."

People