How To Get Into the Twin Palms

How To Get Into the Twin Palms

<div><span></span>"Just as Anya reinvents herself, Waclawiak's novel (her first) reinvents<br><span><span><span>the</span></span></span> immigration story...At its most illuminating, <b><i>How to Get Into the<br>Twin Palms</i></b> <span><span><span>movingly portrays</span></span></span> a protagonist intent on both creating and<br><span><span><span>destroying</span></span></span> herself, on burning brightly even as she goes up in smoke."<br>-<b><i>New York Times Book Review</i></b><br><br>"Karolina Waclawiak's debut novel <b><i>How to Get into the Twin Palms</i></b> is a quietly stunning exploration of assimilation and personal identity."<br>- David Gutkowski, <b><i>Largehearted Boy's Favorite Novels of 2012</i></b><br><span></span></div><div><b><i></i></b></div><div><b><i></i></b></div><div><span><br>"Karolina Waclawiak's debut novel with the spunky little Two Dollar Radio press effectively upends the immigrant-novel formula (more vodka, less upwardly mobile striving), but she's also done a great job at depicting the desperate measures that truly lonely people can take in an attempt to belong. Her complicated <span><span>antiheroine</span></span>, Anya, carries this moody story right to its disastrous end."</span></div><div><span>- Jennifer Croll, <i><b>Georgia Straight Best Books of the Year</b></i></span></div><div><span><i><b></b></i></span></div><div><span><i><b></b></i></span></div><div><span></span><br>"Twin Palms has resonance, humor laid over a pulsing knot of emotion,<br><span><span><span>and</span></span></span> a clear, clean voice that you'll want to read more of in the<br><span><span><span>future</span></span></span>."<br>- Insatiable Booksluts, <b><i>Read This Book!</i></b><br><br>"<span><span><span>Waclawiak</span></span></span> writes about loneliness, isolation, and determination in a refreshing and quirky way."<br>- Michele Filgate, <b><i>New York Magazine</i></b><br><br>"<span><span><span>Waclawiak's</span></span></span> mix of sad, dark humor is compelling and creates an<br><span><span><span>other</span></span></span>-ness that's hard to shake. In the end, taking the bus along with<br>Anya-now car-less-we feel, like our narrator, a little singed and<br><span><span><span>covered</span></span></span> in ash. But heck, maybe that's not a bad way to start over?"<br>- Larissa Zimberoff, <b><i>The Rumpus</i></b><br><br>"The immigrant novel is a hallowed literary tradition, but<br>Believer deputy editor Waclawiak's fresh and bizarre reboot makes us<br><span><span><span>want</span></span></span> to read a million more."<br>- Emily Temple, <b><i>Flavorwire's 10 New Must Reads for July</i></b><br><br>"A taut debut... [<span><span><span><span>that</span></span></span></span>] strikes with the creeping suddenness of a brush fire."<br>-<b><i>Publishers Weekly</i> </b>(*starred*)<br><br>"<span><span><span><span>Waclawiak</span></span></span></span> takes the immigrant novel and spins it on its head. A great addition to 1.5 generation literature, beautifully written, funny and touching."<br>-Gary Shteyngart<br><br><i>How to Get Into the Twin Palms</i> is the story of Anya, a young woman living alone in a Russian neighborhood in Los Angeles, who struggles to retain her parents' Polish culture while trying to assimilate into her newly adopted community.<br><br>Anya stalks the nearby Twin Palms nightclub, the pinnacle of exclusivity in the Russian community. Desperate not only to gain entrance into the club but to belong there, Anya begins a perilous pursuit for Lev, a Russian gangster who frequents the seemingly impenetrable world of the Twin Palms.<br><br><b>Karolina Waclawiak </b>received her MFA in Fiction from Columbia University. She is Deputy Editor of <i>The Believer</i> and lives and writes in Brooklyn.</div> <span></span>