One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
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One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter

by Scaachi Koul
  • critically-acclaimed
  • feminism
  • humour
  • memoir

A debut collection of acerbic and poignant essays addressing sexism, cultural stereotypes and the universal miseries of life by irreverent and hilarious cultural critic Scaachi Koul, with the emotional intelligence of Roxane Gay, vulnerability of Jenny Lawson and perfectly precarious funny-sad balance of David Sedaris, Koul’s is a voice we need now more than ever.

In One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi Koul deploys her razor-sharp humour to share her fears, outrages and mortifying experiences as an outsider growing up in Canada. Her subjects range from shaving her knuckles in grade school, to a shopping trip gone horribly awry, to dealing with internet trolls, to feeling out of place at an Indian wedding (as an Indian woman), to parsing the trajectory of fears and anxieties that pressed upon her immigrant parents and bled down a generation. Alongside these personal stories are pointed observations about life as a woman of colour, where every aspect of her appearance is open for critique, derision or outright scorn. Where strict gender rules bind in both Western and Indian cultures, forcing her to confront questions about gender dynamics, racial tensions, ethnic stereotypes and her father’s creeping mortality—all as she tries to find her feet in the world.

With a clear eye and biting wit, Scaachi Koul explores the absurdity of a life steeped in misery. And through these intimate, wise and laugh-out-loud funny dispatches, a portrait of a bright new literary voice emerges.

Contributors

Scaachi Koul, author

Scaachi Koul is a senior writer at BuzzFeed and malcontent based in Toronto. Born and raised in Calgary, she attended the School of Journalism at Ryerson University. Before joining BuzzFeed in 2015, she worked for Huffington Post Canada, Maclean’s Magazine, Hazlitt, and freelanced for various publications including Toronto Life, Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, Maisonneuve, and Canadian Business.

Reviews

  • Scaachi Koul has a way with words. She yells at them and punches them in the arm and calls them a baby until they do what she wants. A sculptor whose clay is anger, she hollers ‘Don’t be a baby, you dumb words,’ until honest, insightful, occasionally funny sentences are formed. It couldn’t be that she is just good at writing. That can’t be it. - Corey Mintz, author of How To Host A Dinner Party
  • Scaachi’s writing is flat-out funny, well-observed, never maudlin and yet sometimes sincerely, hilariously, moving. A fresh yet (and this is uncommon in one so young) refined voice. She knows what she’s doing. I’d read anything she writes, buy stock in her if I could. - Tabatha Southey, columnist at The Globe and Mail and Elle
  • Koul covers both broad and intimate territory, from her fear of flying to ethnic stereotypes and body image, with the sharp perspective of a perpetual outsider. - FASHION
  • The sly, cutting sarcasm—and the misery—still reverberate through "One Day We’ll All Be Dead", but they’ve been tempered, leaving breathing room for Koul to share more vulnerable observations of her life and her roles as a young woman, a girlfriend, a best pal and a daughter of Indian immigrants. - Metro
  • She’s funny, she’s outspoken and the popular BuzzFeed writer (and prolific Twitter personality) is now out with this personal essay collection. It’s refreshing to have a Canadian voice talking about race and being a woman. - Toronto Star Link to review
  • Clear-eyed concision met with wry humour, a trademark brand of tragicomedy the writer’s followers know well... If 140 characters confine your opinion of Koul, that is truly a shame: tear any two pages out of ODWABDANOTWM’s 200 and you’ll see just how remarkable her prose can be in full. - National Post Link to review
  • Human behaviour is Koul’s specialty. Her wide-ranging book of essays touches upon many subjects – sexism, racism, feminism and culture – in a deeply personal and humorous narrative... bringing her vulnerability, honesty and, of course, wry sense of humour to the discussion. She weaves stories, which through their cultural uniqueness and specificity, become universal and applicable to all. - The Globe and Mail Link to review
  • One of my publishers sent me this book by @Scaachi to read... and it is good, y’all. - Jenny Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things and Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir
  • You might not be the child of Indian immigrants, you might not be Canadian, and you might not even have an irrational fear of death, but I can guarantee that... [this] is the most relatable book you’ll read this year. - Bustle Link to review
  • Simultaneously uproarious and affecting... The specifics of Koul’s life are unique, but the overarching theme of inheritance is universal, particularly the vacillation between struggling against becoming one’s parents and the begrudging acceptance that their ways might not be so bad. - Publishers Weekly, starred review Link to review
  • Koul serves as a reminder that even in different political climates and journalistic ecosystems, it’s possible to do what Nora Ephron did best: remind your readers that just because forces in women’s lives and urges we have in response might be ridiculous doesn’t mean they’re any less powerful. . . Koul sets a forceful standard that other writers should follow. - The Washington Post Link to review
  • Equal parts hilarious and profound, it’s simply a must-read. - Cosmopolitan Link to review
  • “One Day We’ll All Be Dead" made me laugh embarrassingly loud on the train while surrounded by snarling, irritated commuters, approximately 1,729 times. And she has so many killer lines that destroyed me. Scaachi Koul is a miracle. - Samantha Irby, author of Meaty
  • Koul is a voice for outsiders, children of immigrants and just about any other millennial trying to make their way in today’s perplexing world with this entertaining and thought-provoking collection of essays. - Rolling Stone Link to review
  • At once hilarious and passionate, razor sharp and free flowing, this fearless collection of essays proves why Scaachi Koul’s voice will set the agenda for how we talk racial and sexual politics for years to come. A masterful storyteller and a full-time provocateur, Koul challenges, entertains, educates—and along the way has written a gorgeous love letter to her family roots and women everywhere. - Kamal Al-Solaylee, award-winning author of Brown and Intolerable
  • An absolutely wonderful, impossible-not-to-love book. Whether writing about race or girlhood, the internet or family, Scaachi Koul’s writing makes each issue feel fresh and newfound. Hilarious but thoughtful, Koul draws you into her life and makes you never want to leave. - Jessica Valenti, New York Times bestselling author of Sex Object
  • Somehow Scaachi Koul manages to be impeccably dry and extravagantly vulnerable at the same time. She makes you feel less alone by being completely herself—funny (so funny), uncertain, clear-eyed, and good. I love her and I love this book. - Lindy West, New York Times bestselling author of Shrill
  • It sounds heavy, but we promise you’ll laugh out loud. - Canadian Living
  • [A]lternately light-hearted and heavy hitting, rich with humour that is never without an edge of wisdom and cultural criticism, while simultaneously showing Koul to be as self-conscious, sentimental and sometimes lost and confused as the rest of us. - Quill & Quire Link to review
  • I want to compare Koul to Nora Ephron and David Sedaris so that you’ll buy the book (and because it is that funny), but her deft voice ― with its smirking gut punches, its generous exasperation ― is unmistakable, or at least will be soon. - The Village Voice Link to review
  • Despite her tough topics, Koul’s voice snaps with the same wit as her advice column on Hazlitt and her culture commentary on BuzzFeed Reader. - NOW

Awards

  • 2017 A Paste Best Book
  • 2017 A Best Book by Chicago Review of Books
  • 2017 A National Post Best Book
  • 2017 A Globe and Mail Best Book
  • A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
  • 2017 A Buzzfeed Best Book
  • 2017 A Book Riot Best Book
  • 2017 A Chatelaine Best Book
  • 2017 A NPR Best Book
  • 2017 A Kobo Best Book
  • 2017 A Popsugar Best Book
  • 2017 A CBC Best Book
  • 2017 A Amazon Best Book

Rights Holder

Rights Holder: Cooke International

email: rights@cookeinternational.com

website: http://www.cookeinternational.com/

rights sold: English (Canada, Doubleday Canada; India, Penguin Random House India), US (Picador), TV (First Generation Films)

rights available: World

Additional Information

number of pages: 256

publication date: 03/07/2017

Original language of pub: English

Materials Available: finished book