If You Love It, Let It Kill You
A Novel
by Hannah Pittard
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Pub Date Jul 15 2025 | Archive Date Aug 15 2025
Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co.
Description
A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A refreshingly irreverent novel about art, desire, domesticity, freedom, and the intricacies of the twenty-first-century female experience, by the acclaimed writer Hannah Pittard
Divorced and childless by choice, Hana P. has built a cozy life in Lexington, Kentucky, teaching at the university, living with her boyfriend (a fellow academic) and helping raise his pre-teen daughter. Her sister’s sprawling family lives just across the street, and their long-divorced, deeply complicated parents have also recently moved to town.
One day, Hana learns that an unflattering version of herself will appear prominently—and soon—in her ex-husband’s debut novel. For a week, her life continues largely unaffected by the news—she cooks, runs, teaches, entertains—but the morning after baking mac ’n’ cheese from scratch for her nephew’s sixth birthday, she wakes up changed. The contentment she’s long enjoyed is gone. In its place: nothing. A remarkably ridiculous midlife crisis ensues, featuring a talking cat, a visit to the dean’s office, a shadowy figure from the past, a Greek chorus of indignant students whose primary complaints concern Hana’s autofictional narrative, and a game called Dead Body.
Steeped in the subtleties and strangeness of contemporary life, If You Love It, Let It Kill You is a deeply nuanced and disturbingly funny examination of memory, ownership, and artistic expression for readers of Miranda July’s All Fours and Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend.
Advance Praise
“The real Ann Beattie has always enjoyed and admired Hannah’s ability to convince the reader that ordinary things aren’t ordinary, but neither are they necessarily extraordinary—just different, complicated, and worth noticing and thinking about. This book, which either is or isn’t a novel, because the real Ann Beattie knows better than to believe in categories, is a wonderful meta turn, and invokes daily life very much the way her, and my, much-appreciated Donald Barthelme would view it: as an of-the-moment ‘Critique de la Vie Quotidienne,’ seen through close examination that suggests expansive metaphoric possibilities. Good reading. Really.”
—Ann Beattie
“Hannah Pittard’s new novel is utterly compelling. I felt like I was standing beside Hannah while she peered in a mirror, looking for truth (in fiction, where it of course resides), pointing out flaws, but allowing the cracks of beauty to be revealed too. Pittard’s work lets nothing off the hook, and I read the book in one sitting, desperate to know if she—and therefore I—would be all right by the end. I love Hannah Pittard’s dark and squirrelly mind. I’m a huge fan.”
—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful
“Hannah Pittard has always been so adept at delving into the interior, unafraid of what might reside there, able to create stories where the specificity of relationships and family and identity touch you in these unexpected ways. If You Love It, Let It Kill You asserts that it is ‘neither a comedy nor a tragedy but something much worse: real life’ but Pittard and these characters know better. Real life, the strangest place to reside, is where Pittard does the most incredible work.”
—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
“Hannah Pittard’s If You Love It, Let It Kill You is a masterclass in autofiction: incisive, hilarious, heartbreaking, and mercilessly candid. This novel, its narrator makes clear, is ‘neither a comedy nor a tragedy but something much worse: real life.’ If You Love It, Let It Kill You is Pittard’s most impressive and innovative book yet.”
—Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful
“I was going to say, one of the many reasons I love Hannah Pittard as a writer is that she looks at the world with an unflinching clarity. ‘Unflinching’ is a word writers love to use about other writers. I think it’s another word for brave. But then I thought maybe the word unflinching is too easy, and actually now that I think about it, unflinching isn’t even true at all. Hannah is a flincher. She flinches at the world and remembers that flinching, how exactly it felt to be surprised when her life turned topsy turvy. And it’s in that honest reaction to life where she manages to be the one seemingly impossible thing: funny. She is not just interested in facts, but the absurdity of facts and, in her gaze, even dark moments can become hilarious.”
—Ada Limón, Poet Laureate of the United States
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781250910271 |
| PRICE | $28.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 304 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Laura J, Reviewer
"If You Love It, Let It Kill You" is a wild piece of autofiction that includes lots of zany scenarios, surreal details (cue the talking cat), and very dark and heartbreaking moments as well. This novel runs the emotional gamut and I enjoyed it so much that I researched the author while reading it and discovered a well-reviewed ' kind of' memoir which appeared to contain quite a bit of the content in this novel. I learned, as others may have already known, lots of backstory. That was cool to know but had little to do with how much I loved THIS book in and of itself.
I found the protagonist instantly relatable. "Hana P." is a Kentucky college professor who is describing her journey into depression. She is questioning her life choices as she navigates her daily world: her past marriage to her (writer) ex-husband who is actively using her and her (kind of) new "husband" as writing material.. Though she has expressly not wanted children, the latter has an 11 year old daughter who basically views her as a mother figure (another 'kind of' conflict). Relationships are complicated in this book -- including her poky and, at times, too intimate students and ever-present family of origin. Finally, there is her unresolved grief over a beloved dog, now gone, a mysterious and kinda creepy gentlemen with whom she had a romantic encounter, and her adventures in rescuing an injured cat (who happens to talk) and becomes a "throughline" in the novel. Whew!
Pittard's mind is a complicated container of experiences--hilarious and deeply painful thoughts--that seem to ping off the page. The novel captivated me from start to finish. Meeting her best friend, Jane, in the first few pages, I simply wanted to hang out with the two women and be the "other" friend from down the street! And speaking of down the street, it appeared that nearly her entire family had moved within a mile radius, minus her pretty "together" brother who maintains a sarcastic and endearing text relationship with Hana. The family has some "issues" -- drinking and codependency for sure -- and maybe some perfectionism (Hana's sister sends out an "amended" birthday invitation to include a bounce house...).
This novel is well written, vulnerable, and emotionally charged. And SO funny. With flashes of magical realism and stories within stories, the plot is absolutely wild - it glides from deep trauma to mundane daily events and past and present relationships--effortlessly. I look forward to reading her entire catalog.
Pub Date 7.15.2025 📖🖊️✨
Jimmie K, Reviewer
I absolutely loved If You Love It, Let It Kill You—it was quirky, unpredictable, and an all-around wild ride. The way Hannah Pittard crafted the story to feel like we were diving into the personal diary of the protagonist, Hana, was brilliant. I found myself laughing out loud one moment and cringing in the best possible way the next. There wasn't a single point where I had any idea where the story was headed, and that's what made it so exciting. I’ve seen comparisons to Miranda July, and I totally agree! This was my first book by Pittard, and I’m already eager to explore more of her work.
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