The Smash-Up

What happened?

Everyone asked the question, had been asking for over a year. They asked while watching the news, that shitstorm of headlines, jump-cut footage of marches and speeches and hand-Sharpied cardboard, an endless swirling blizzard a siege, really of protests and counter-protests, action and reaction, people screaming at each other in the street, neighbor vs. neighbor, friend vs. friend. (Or too often: friends no more. We were in new territory. People were learning they had limits.)

What happened? Reporters asked it in small-town diners over $7.50 lunch specials, BLTs cut into neat triangles, Heinz bottles perched like microphones on scratched formica tables.

What happened? People asked each other in church basements, community centers, gyms, coffee shops, living rooms where they came together to weep, process, scribble on postcards, plan the revolution.

What happened? Parents snapped off NPR mid-story, not wanting to answer questions from the backseat. College students climbed flagpoles, ripped down stars and bars. A giant inflatable chicken appeared behind the White House lawn, some sort of protest that no one entirely understood. Everything was some sort of protest now.

Ali Benjamin is the author of the young adult novel The Thing About Jellyfish, an international bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. Her The Next Great Paulie Fink was named a top children s book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library. Her work has been published in more than twenty-five languages in more than thirty countries. Originally from the New York City area, she now lives in Massachusetts. This is her first adult novel.

An exhilarating ride . . . hilarious . . . there are no heroes here; I got whiplash trying to figure out who I trusted and what I was rooting for, and the sensation was mesmerizing. Benjamin is like an overly chatty but skilled magician . . . a modern and energetic story about a marriage on the skids. The New York Times

Borrow names and plot elements from Edith Wharton s Ethan Frome. Satirize progressive parenting and education à la Where d You Go, Bernadette. Then light it all up with the feminist fire ignited by the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and what do you get? A fun, timely novel that s unexpectedly full of hope. People

It is not the transposition of that well-trod narrative and its character types that compels; it is the contrast sharpened in the act. . . . Benjamin doesn t remake Ethan Frome so much as she contends with it. The Smash-Up is an homage and a critique. . . .  An astute commentary on the differences between Wharton s time and ours. Los Angeles Times

The story s day-by-day format builds a brisk page-turning momentum. . . . Benjamin has a keen eye and ear for the revealing cultural detail, whether it s billionaire couples critiquing their children s school reading lists at parents night or someone in their 20s working some questionable side hustles in the gig economy. It s as if she Marie Kondo d her scenes to keep only the elements that would bring readers some joy. WBUR, The ARTery

Just when you think you know where this narrative is going, Benjamin flips the script expertly. . . . In her fantastic adult debut, YA and middle grade author Benjamin (The Next Great Paulie Fink) skewers her subjects but still preserves their humanity. New York expats, middle-aged Gen-Xers, disaffected millennials, conniving school moms, exasperating children with improbable names all get the gimlet eye in this timely, witty novel. Library Journal (starred review)

Ambitious . . . With