Come On Up


224 pages

Trade Paper

List Price US $16.99
ISBN: 9781942658801


Ebook

ISBN: 9781942658818




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“In Lethem’s witty translation from Catalan, the 11 stories [of Come On Up] are heartbreaking and hilarious, tender and violent.”

New York Times Book Review

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“Filled with caustic wit and pointed satire . . . [Come On Up] paints a sympathetic portrait of people trying to adapt to the instability that defines their ‘new normal’.”

World Literature Today

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“[Nopca’s] stories skillfully traverse decadence and depravity, splendor and squalor, the tragic and the comic, the boring and the absurd.”

Cleaver Magazine

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“Delightfully witty, insightful, and masterfully told.”

Booklist

“These short stories chronicle the romantic, intellectual, and economic frustrations of disparate characters. . . . From intellectual satire to slapstick comedy, [Come On Up] covers plenty of emotional terrain.”

Kirkus Reviews

“[Come On Up] movingly illustrate[s] the human shame of financial insecurity, with multidimensional characters that give life to sterile government jobless reports.”

Shelf Awareness

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“All of the stories make noise, and some of them really take off.”

Publishers Weekly

“Jordi Nopca’s stories, written with clarity and flair, are smart and modern, filled with sharply observed detail. They capture the unease of the times and the flux of contemporary life in Barcelona with wit, wisdom, moments of pure hilarity, and a mixture of sympathy and dark laughter.”

Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn and House of Names

“The day will come when there’ll be no need to keep repeating how Nopca’s talent and his corrosive humor have exploded and electrified the literature of Spain: it will be common knowledge.”

Enrique Vila-Matas, author of Bartleby & Co. and Mac’s Problem

“Wry yet tender, Nopca’s stories are a chronicle of the sentimental and existential doubts of Barcelona’s struggling younger generation—just trust me: read them.”

Jordi Puntí, author of Lost Luggage and This Is Not America

“A set of eleven stories from Catalan author Jordi Nopca, Come On Up is a solid collection of short fiction centered amidst our modern moment of frustrated ambitions, declining opportunity, and the 21st century paradox of unlimited choices and meaningless decisions. Nopca’s tales, situated in his hometown Barcelona, focus mostly on couples and interpersonal relationships, many with a deliciously absurdist bent. A caustic, sly humor and sardonic social malaise pervade Come On Up, but never in a disaffected, indifferent way—on the contrary, there’s a liveliness to all the listlessness. Also an award-winning journalist, Nopca’s storytelling and sharp wit are each remarkably entertaining. Come On Up employs a verve that is simultaneously of the times and contrary to its darker, deleterious impulses.”

Jeremy Garber, Powell’s Books (Portland, OR)

What happens when the hopes of a generation are dashed by austerity policies and underemployment? Come On Up is a group portrait of contemporary Barcelona, beaten by the economic crisis and divided by a secessionist movement. Always witty, often absurdist, these stories offer a mesmerizing glimpse into the daily lives of couples, families, and neighbors living the new normal of the 21st century.

A husband seeks revenge on his wife as they stalk author Peter Stamm; an out-of-work bartender fills his empty days by shoving bananas into the tailpipes of parked cars; a mysterious ritual, spied through a neighbor’s window, arouses deadly spirits. Masterfully paced, the eleven mordant stories of Come On Up draw us into an embattled world whose past is unresolved and whose future is uncertain.

Come On Up is translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem.

Documenta Prize Winner

Big Other Book Award Finalist

Bookshop.org “New Releases” selection

Powell’s Books “Must-Read Short Story Collection” & “New Literature in Translation” selections

Symposium Books “New Releases” selection

Excerpt from Come On Up



Watch Jordi Nopca in conversation about Come On Up at the PEN World Voices festival and Toronto Public Library.

Watch translator Mara Faye Lethem read from Come On Up for the Big Other Book Awards.