Banal Nightmare

“Butler has crafted a novel in which every character proves to be completely, uniquely crazy. Her sense of humor should be studied and celebrated.”

—David Sedaris

"Butler writes with a bee-sting-sharp sense of humor and irony, and nothing is sacred, not Hillary Clinton, not Ruth Bader Ginsburg, not Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before Congress. What’s most surprising is that this cooler-than-the-cool-kids novel actually has an emotional center that will make your pulse race….A tart, irreverent rant of a novel that takes a sharp turn toward something more serious."

—Kirkus (starred review)

"In Halle Butler's world, everyone hates each other, every day is excruciating in its mundanity, every thought is the beginning of an Escherian journey round and round in hell, and somehow the whole thing is unbelievably funny. With the force of an episode of marijuana psychosis and the extreme detail of a hyperrealistic work of art, Banal Nightmare attempts transcendence through anxiety and dissociation, nailing a series of contemporary characters—better pray you're not one of them—to the wall."

—Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror

"Halle Butler's Banal Nightmare is a masterpiece, her best book yet. It burns with a wild, unforgiving fire, making most other novels seem vague and ho-hum in comparison. This novel exhibits an eerily spot-on understanding of the private mind as it delves deep into an array of lives, revealing harrowing experiences of loneliness, love, heartbreak, abuse, malaise, depression, obsession, hatred, and revenge. No feeling is skipped over. No thought is simplified. No idea is dumbed-down. Like a knife dancing through air, it's a manic, nerve-wracking read, painful and so weirdly funny, I felt gripped by it from beginning to end. An unapologetic, totally original, modern marvel."

—Rachel B Glaser, author of Paulina & Fran

"Oh man, this book! Halle Butler's new novel is a blistering assault on contemporary pieties about art and love, an epic Woolfian tapestry of perfect comic rants, terrifying panic attacks, and, most gratifying of all, sincere attempts at human connection. This the best, most ambitious book yet by one of my favorite writers."

—Andrew Martin, author of Early Work

"Brilliantly observed and unsparing, Banal Nightmare is an intense, exhilarating, often-hilarious kaleidoscopic inquiry into contemporary relationships. With the comprehensive social gaze of Balzac and the cold logic of Renata Adler, Halle Butler conjures a latticework structure of life, rage, dark humor, and incalculable grace."

—Patrick Cottrell, author of Sorry to Disrupt the Peace