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In this blisteringly raw and emotional coming-of-age memoir, the brilliant co-creator of Hulu's Pen15 grapples with the reappearance of her estranged father—and whether it's possible to reconnect.
The doorbell rings again. The man on the other side is a mirror image of me, same hair, cheeks and nose. I haven't seen him for many years.
"Hi Dad."
"Hi, Anna." He almost never said my name.
"It's been so long."
For Anna Konkle's entire childhood, her father was her hero—a hyper-charismatic, larger-than-life human resource manager at 7-Eleven. He loved her dearly and was the pillar of her existence. But that closeness was constantly interrupted by the intense screaming matches and heavy silences between him and her mother, culminating in a bitter divorce that literally split the family house down the middle, with one parent on each side.
College is freedom, and Anna fills her time dating West Point cadets, waiting tables at fancy restaurants, and getting lackluster acting gigs, the strangest of which has her working celebrity Halloween parties. But just as she starts to thrive, her father starts to struggle. When she moves to LA after college to pursue acting and writing, her dad's increasingly erratic behavior culminates in a severe episode that forces her to cut off contact with him.
Showing up at her door all these years later, he has come to LA for cancer treatment. As they attempt to repair their relationship and regain the incredible bond they once shared, Anna worries that there may be too many traumas and too little time to heal from them.
Written in intimately beautiful prose, The Sane One is a tragicomic memoir of growing up, falling apart, getting older, and trying to come back together before it's too late.
"Elegant prose, laugh-out-loud dialogue, and a tender heart make this a delight even for readers unfamiliar with Konkle's TV work." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Konkle offers a rare picture of just-in-time forgiveness. A moving companion to a binge-watch of PEN15, as well as an inspiration for healing." —Kirkus Reviews
"The Sane One is as much about surviving the unbearable awkwardness of adolescence as it is about finally seeing your parents for who they are—and recognizing that loving them doesn't mean being their savior." —BookPage
"I loved this hilarious and harrowing memoir by the brilliant Anna Konkle. Konkle's writing superpower—familiar to all of us who loved Pen15—is her uncanny ability to vividly channel the inner lives of children with unflinching honesty and humor. Her book is an utterly transporting coming-of-age story that will remind you how each age actually, truly felt, in all its horror, messiness, and beauty." —Simon Rich, author of Ant Farm
"Anna Konkle brings her extraordinary gift for conveying childhood's agonies and ecstasies to this poignant family memoir—at once a powerful portrait of the brilliant millennial artist and a nuanced account of reckoning with, and eventually making peace with, flawed parents." —Ada Calhoun, the New York Times-bestselling author of Also a Poet
This information about The Sane One was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Anna Konkle is the co-creator and co-star of the critically acclaimed Hulu series Pen15. The series won the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series and was nominated for four primetime Emmys, three WGA Awards, and three Critics Choice Awards. Time recognized Pen15 as one of 12 Exciting New TV Shows created by women. Konkle has been named one of Variety's 10 Comics To Watch, as well as one of Hollywood's 50 Most Powerful TV Showrunners by the Hollywood Reporter. Originally from the East Coast, Konkle is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
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