Named a Top 10 Book of the Year by Slate
Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker
Named a Best Book of 2022 by Vulture
A New York Times Editors' Choice
Shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction
"There aren't enough shady adjectives in the dictionary to describe the narrator of Andrew Lipstein's Last Resort. What fun! . . . [An] anti-Künstlerroman . . . not about the formation of genuine artists but about the self-destruction of phony ones . . . [Last Resort] could mark the advent of a whole genre that allegorizes the professional writer's suspicion that he might be a scammer." – Molly Young, The New York Times
"Splayed across these pages is the dark terror that lurks within any creative person's breast . . . As
Lipstein skewers the pretensions and delusions of literary ambition, he reveals the mental tricks that allow writers to imagine that they care only for art, not money or fame . . .
[A] deliciously absurd comedy about literary fame." – Ron Charles,
The Washington Post "
Last Resort, Andrew Lipstein's almost perfectly plotted debut novel on a topic – creative envy and artistic theft – that
tastes like catnip to many readers of literary fiction . . . has one of the best endings in recent memory . . . . You'll think about [
Last Resort] for weeks after you read the last pages." – Nathan Deuel,
The Los Angeles Times "Lipstein
gleefully scrutinizes the nature of success in an industry that runs as much on vanity as on financial gain. The book's command of contemporary-hipster details is
wincingly precise." –
The New Yorker "A perfectly Pninian ending." –
Vanity Fair "
A brilliant morality tale about what happens when a person refuses to learn from their mistakes, all the way down to the final scene, which
had me laughing out loud and punching the air." – Louis Cheslaw,
Vulture "This smart and mean little novel [gives] a delectable twist to the deathless question of who owns a story . . .
I couldn't stop reading it, and felt absolutely grubby afterwards–what a joy." – Dan Kois,
Slate "[
Last Resort's] Caleb finds himself in a slow-motion literary-world car crash . . .
so horribly delicious that the reader (especially the reader who is also a writer) won't even dream of looking away." –
Emily Temple, Literary Hub (Most Anticipated Books of 2022)
"
You won't read a more brilliantly executed literary romp this year . . . An unsparing satire of a generation of millennials who fear that their lives lack gravitas and emotional depth" – Matt Rowland Hill,
The Guardian "
Luminous . . .
tantalizing . . . to be applauded for its frank depiction of the tussle between art and commerce." – George Cochrane,
The Times Literary Supplement "Talent is rare, which is why I let out a big yippee reading Andrew Lipstein's
Last Resort . . .
Lipstein doesn't just blast chunks out of the inflated artifice of New York's literary scene, he turns his fire on the city at large too." – Ethan Croft,
The Times (UK)
"As funny and fast-paced as it is
sharp and cutting." –
Monocle "If there's nothing new under the sun, can anyone be original without lying? Would truth still be stranger than fiction if people were honest in real life? This fast-paced simulacrum of a commercial novel is not out to please the critics.
I finished it in a day." –
Nell Zink, author of
Doxology "
Lipstein wittily captures all the savagery of the publishing industry, from Goodreads reviews to awkward author photos. But for all the metafictional layers here,
at its heart [Last Resort] is a surprisingly traditional, almost Dickensian, story about the vagaries of fate. For anyone who can't look away from a juicy literary scandal." –
Kirkus Reviews "Last Resort is a
rare accomplishment, a novel of ideas–about art, authorship, money, ethics–with the momentum of a great thriller." –
Rumaan Alam, author of
Leave the World Behind "
Last Resort is a witty, propulsive and often mesmerizing novel, a kind of creative-class thriller, full of wry social observation and subtle emotional textures, and it builds beautifully toward a bracing showdown between knowingness and self-knowledge. With its insular milieu and quality lit namechecks, not to mention its quasi-satirical anxiety of auto-fictional influence,
Andrew Lipstein plays a risky game, and he plays it superbly, with feeling." –
Sam Lipsyte, author of
Hark "
A brilliant take on what it means to be an artist in a world of endless compromises. Look out, Faust, there's a new sheriff in town." –
Gary Shteyngart, author of
Lake Success "
A darkly comical thriller about writers and publishers, emulation and betrayal, written in an excitingly careful, clear, and original prose style." –
Tao Lin, author of
Leave Society "
Last Resort is a strange and beguiling book about the contrivances, connivances and mysteries of creation, with an especially visceral depiction of male anxiety and
an absolutely blistering end. A terrific debut." –
Joshua Ferris, author of
A Calling for Charlie Barnes "Lipstein asks the timely question: does one possess sole title to one's own story?
A sharply written, headlong romp." –
Lionel Shriver, author of
Should We Stay or Should We Go "
With its seductive, chilled intelligence and frictionless style, Last Resort plunged me summarily into a one-sitting read. I came up for air awed by this sophisticated, high-stakes moral drama." –
Hermione Hoby, author of
Virtue "A comic
masterpiece" – David Gutowski,
Largehearted Boy "
If Less by Andrew Sean Greer left a hole in your life, good news: Last Resort will fill it. Fast and funny, it feels like a backstage pass to the book world." –
Meg Mason, author of
Sorrow and Bliss "
Last Resort raises incisive questions about authorship, the tension between art and commerce, and the elusive nature of self-fulfillment, all while unspooling a compelling story with humor and great suspense.
I didn't want it to end." –
Julia Pierpont, author of
Among the Ten Thousand Things "
A blissfully wicked work of art . . . a lightning-streak of a novel." – Christopher Bollen,
Interview "Last Resort satisfies that yen for literary scandal . . .
[Lipstein's] wit and elan propel the novel to its sly ending." –
National Book Review (Five Hot Books)
"
Last Resort is
witty, profound and blisteringly intelligent. Andrew Lipstein asks major questions about ambition and authenticity and artistic ethics, while keeping me frantically turning the pages to see what happens next. A fantastic, fast-paced and deeply funny novel." –
Molly Antopol, author of
The UnAmericans "Authenticity and possession of stories are the surface themes of
Last Resort, but it is really about ambition and emptiness, about a callow young man with nothing to say self-destructively looking for shortcuts in literature and life. But the great irony is that Andrew Lipstein's impeccably written debut has quite a lot to say, and,
as with the best comic novels, his semi-hero's misadventures have an undertow of real sadness." –
Teddy Wayne, author of
Loner "A delightfully nightmarish satirical chronicle of one young author's reckoning with the consequences of his own blind ambition.
Caleb's journey had me cringing with pure pleasure." –
Antoine Wilson, author of
Panorama City "A
propulsive tale of American literary ambition, this novel exposes the status-hunger that motivates plenty of writing–far more than writers like to admit. A
keenly observed and sharp-witted debut that's assured from first page to last." –
Tom Rachman, author of
The Italian Teacher
