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WORK TITLE: Family and Other Catastrophes
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WEBSITE: https://alexandraborowitz.com/
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PERSONAL
Married.
EDUCATION:Holds a college degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and novelist. Worked at several different advertising startups and agencies.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Alexandra Borowitz is a writer and novelist based in Chicago, Illinois. She has worked in several different advertising agency startups in San Francisco, California.
Family and Other Catastrophes, Borowitz’s debut novel, is a family comedy centered on the wedding of the youngest daughter. A writer on the Alexandra Borowitz website described the book as a “delightfully quirky debut about family bonds and the chaos that ensues when nature and lack of nurture collide.”
Emily Glass is the youngest of three siblings. Now in her late 20s, she has a wonderful fiance, David, and is heading back to Westchester for her much-anticipated wedding. Unfortunately for Emily, she also has to deal with some major anxiety and personality quirks in addition to getting ready to get married. Her psychologist mother hasn’t helped much with these issues, being more likely to make her feel guilty than relieved.
When Emily arrives at her family home, she reunites with her brother and sister. Lauren is an ultra-liberal progressive, while Jason is a recent divorced dad who is more than ready to get back in the running for a relationship. The three find unexpected comfort and sibling affection for each other, despite their mother’s subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) psychological manipulations. On the other side of the wedding aisle, some of David’s relatives add to the mix, including his little brother, who is a big fan of Renaissance Faires, and his teenage stepsister, who is bored and uninterested in all the festivities. All of these personalities will mingle and clash on Emily’s big day.
In an interview with Adam Morgan in the Chicago Review of Books, Borowitz stated that Family and Other Catastrophes “started as two totally different ideas, many years ago. I wanted to write about a lovable but dysfunctional family, but I came up with the idea when I was a teenager, and I had a really hard time writing adults that were believable, so I put it in a drawer.” Several years later, she had an “idea for a comedy surrounding an immature group of adult friends attending a wedding, she said. “One day I realized I could put these two ideas together.”
A writer on the website Novel Gossip commented that Family and Other Catastrophes was “laugh out loud funny with some heartfelt, endearing moments thrown in for good measure.” In assessing the novel, a Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked: “Humor and heart mix in Borowitz’s debut novel, which will resonate with anyone who loves their family despite said family’s best efforts.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2018, review of Family and Other Catastrophes.
ONLINE
Alexandra Borowitz website, http://www.alexandraborowitz.com (June 20, 2018).
Chicago Review of Books, http://www.chireviewofbooks.com/ (April 9, 2018), Adam Morgan, “Alexandra Borowitz Reveals the Chaos of Weddings,” interview with Alexandra Borowitz.
Novel Gossip, https://www.novelgossip.com/ (April 3, 2018), review of Family and Other Catastrophe.
Alexandra Borowitz Revels in the Chaos of Weddings
A conversation with the debut author of 'Family and Other Catastrophes.'
by Adam Morgan
April 9, 2018
Comments 0
Named after Margaret Anderson’s literary magazine founded in Chicago in 1914, The Little Interview asks Chicago poets and writers about their reading, writing, and relationship with Chicago.
A
lexandra Borowitz’s debut novel, Family and Other Catastrophes, is a family comedy centered around the wedding of Emily Glass, the youngest daughter in a sprawling, “neurotic, dysfunctional” family. HarperCollins says it “reads like if Mindy Kaling were to write This Is Where I Leave You,” but it reminds me of those classic 90s wedding movies like My Best Friend’s Wedding, Runaway Bride, and 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
We asked Alexandra about her writing life in Chicago, and why she wrote this book.
How did you wind up in Chicago?
It was a pretty sudden decision. I had been living in San Francisco for five years, and had really gotten sick of it. Obviously many people love San Francisco but…I just didn’t. I hated that we never got winter or summer; that nobody with a net worth under fifty million dollars could afford to have kids without moving far into to the suburbs; that restaurants left their front door open at all times even when it was forty-seven degrees outside (that is cold to me!); that you’d get a funny look for going to a fancy restaurant in anything other than an Everlane army jacket and yoga pants…honestly there were a million things that bugged me after five years.
My husband and I decided we wanted to move, and at first it was a joke. But then mold permanently invaded our apartment and we looked at each other and said, “Okay, we’re leaving now.” We had started out joking about the concept of moving, like it would literally be impossible, because even though we had issues with San Francisco, it seemed like we would also have issues with any other city—Austin had summer, but it was too hot. New York had better fashion, but it was just as expensive. Los Angeles required owning a car and I can’t drive (no, really, I can’t drive.)
Then finally he said “What about Chicago?” I couldn’t think of anything wrong with it, but assumed I’d find something eventually. I never did. So he went there for the weekend to look at houses, and, as if he was ordering takeout for me, he put a bid on what became our home in Chicago. And about a week later, we moved into our place without me ever having seen it before. Luckily, I liked it.
Of all the books you could have written, how and why did you settle on this one?
Family & Other Catastrophes actually started as two totally different ideas, many years ago. I wanted to write about a lovable but dysfunctional family, but I came up with the idea when I was a teenager, and I had a really hard time writing adults that were believable, so I put it in a drawer. Then, in my early twenties, I came up with an idea for a comedy surrounding an immature group of adult friends attending a wedding, but I couldn’t think of a plot for it other than “everyone eventually sleeps with each other.” One day I realized I could put these two ideas together. Once I started writing, I knew it would be a project I’d be able to see to completion.
What are you reading right now?
The Clasp by Sloane Crosley. Without giving away too many details about the book, there are so many great descriptions, it really makes me want to write more. And of course, it involves people reuniting at a wedding, so it’s right up my alley!
What is your all-time favorite book about (or set in) Chicago?
The Middlesteins is pretty great. I love anything involving deep-seated family resentments so this was perfect for me, plus, there’s a very emotionally and mentally diverse cast of characters. It’s also told from several perspectives, which doesn’t make a book great on its own, but for me it’s a plus because I just love that style.
What Chicago-based writer (past or present) do you wish everyone would read?
Laurie Devore and Samira Ahmed are two authors who I think deserve so much more attention! Read their books, people!
Where do you usually write? Do you have any favorite public writing spaces in Chicago?
I want to say that I love to write at some obscure coffee shop, and trust me, I’ve tried, but every time I do I wind up playing some juvenile dress-up game on my phone and never actually open my computer. It’s boring, but I’ve figured out over time that I write best when I’m at home with some episode of Arrested Development that I’ve already seen twelve times on in the background.
What forthcoming books from Chicago-based writers are you excited about?
Mr. and Mrs American Pie by Juliet McDaniel looks incredible– the book jacket is gorgeous, and the plot sounds right up my alley. I can’t wait to add it to my reading pile.
FICTION
Family and Other Catastrophes
By Alexandra Borowitz
MIRA
Published April 10, 2018
Alexandra Borowitz has been writing since she was six, and her family and friends provide endless inspiration. She was raised in New York, and spent her first years out of college in San Francisco working at advertising startups. FAMILY AND OTHER CATASTROPHES is her first novel.
About
A delightfully quirky debut about family bonds and the chaos that ensues when nature and lack of nurture collide.
Emily Glass knows she’s neurotic. But she’s got it under control. Sort of. She dons compression socks when she flies (because, you know, deep vein thrombosis) and responds to people routinely overestimating her age with more Lifespin classes and less gluten. Thankfully, she also has David, the wonderful man she’ll soon call husband—assuming they can survive wedding week with her wildly dysfunctional family.
Emily’s therapist mother, Marla, who’s been diagnosing her children since they were in diapers, sees their homecoming as the perfect opportunity for long-overdue family therapy sessions. Less enthused are Emily and her two siblings: ardently feminist older sister Lauren, who doesn’t think the wedding party should have defined gender roles, and recently divorced brother, Jason, whose overzealous return to singlehood is only tempered by his puzzling friendship with David’s Renaissance Faire—enthusiast brother.
As the week comes to a tumultuous head, Emily wants nothing more than to get married and get as far away from her crazy relatives as possible. But that’s easier said than done when Marla’s meddling breathes new life into old secrets. After all, the ties that bind family together may bend, but they aren’t so easily broken.
Laugh-out-loud funny and endearingly raw, Family and Other Catastrophes is as entertaining as your favorite sitcom and introduces Alexandra Borowitz as an outstanding new voice in humorous fiction.
Borowitz, Alexandra: FAMILY AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
Kirkus Reviews. (Feb. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Borowitz, Alexandra FAMILY AND OTHER CATASTROPHES Harlequin MIRA (Adult Fiction) $15.99 4, 10 ISBN: 978-0-7783-1755-5
A wedding weekend tests an eccentric family's bonds.
Emily Glass, a woman in her late 20s with a handsome fiance and a whole lot of anxiety in tow, flies back to the family home in Westchester for her wedding. The youngest of three, she quickly finds herself mixed back up in the dysfunctional ways of her family. Her older sister, Lauren, a progressive so far to the left she may as well be in a different country, and her brother, Jason, a recently divorced dad aggressively putting himself back on the market, provide surprising comfort to the bride as the three face guilt trips from their psychologist mother and family secrets unraveling as the wedding week marches on. With a fast pace and constantly shifting point of view, the book adeptly weaves between the characters, making them all feel real and three-dimensional without losing track of the narrative. Beyond just the members of the Glass family, Emily's fiance David's family, including his Renaissance Faire-loving, fedora-wearing little brother and eternally bored teenage stepsister, and various members of the wedding party fill out a cast that showcases many different perspectives while not seeming overrun with characters. It's brimming with humor and pop-culture references that will make older millennials smile but never seems too on-the-nose or cheekily self-aware. There are moments where the tone feels slightly off, and sometimes it punches down with its humor, especially when it comes to Lauren and her social justice ideals, but ultimately, it presents a sympathetic picture of a family with issues it doesn't want to face and the ties that bind them together anyway.
Humor and heart mix in Borowitz's debut novel, which will resonate with anyone who loves their family despite said family's best efforts.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Borowitz, Alexandra: FAMILY AND OTHER CATASTROPHES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525461642/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=dc564f4e. Accessed 28 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525461642
Review: Family and Other Catastrophes by Alexandra Borowitz @Alex_Borowitz
April 3, 2018
Goodreads|Amazon
Release date: April 10, 2018
Publisher: MIRA
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Blurb:
A delightfully quirky debut about family bonds and the chaos that ensues when nature and lack of nurture collide.
Emily Glass knows she’s neurotic. But she’s got it under control. Sort of. She dons compression socks when she flies (because, you know, deep vein thrombosis) and responds to people routinely overestimating her age with more Lifespin classes and less gluten. Thankfully, she also has David, the wonderful man she’ll soon call husband—assuming they can survive wedding week with her wildly dysfunctional family.
Emily’s therapist mother, Marla, who’s been diagnosing her children since they were in diapers, sees their homecoming as the perfect opportunity for long-overdue family therapy sessions. Less enthused are Emily and her two siblings: ardently feminist older sister Lauren, who doesn’t think the wedding party should have defined gender roles, and recently divorced brother Jason, whose overzealous return to singlehood is only tempered by his puzzling friendship with David’s Renaissance Faire—enthusiast brother.
As the week comes to a tumultuous head, Emily wants nothing more than to get married and get as far away from her crazy relatives as possible. But that’s easier said than done when Marla’s meddling breathes new life into old secrets. After all, the ties that bind family together may bend, but they aren’t so easily broken.
Laugh-out-loud funny and endearingly raw, Family and Other Catastrophes is as entertaining as your favorite sitcom and introduces Alexandra Borowitz as an outstanding new voice in humorous fiction.
Review:
If you think your family is slightly insane and highly dysfunctional then you probably haven’t met the Glass family. They are all SO messed up, reading this was like watching a train wreck, but I could not get enough of this bizarre family with dynamics and kooky behavior that simultaneously made me snort with laughter and shake my head in disgust.
Emily heads home the week before her wedding and this book is divided into sections, one for each day leading up to her wedding. Right from the start, you know you’re in for a good time, Emily may as well be the definition of neurotic and the rest of her family is just as unique and quirky. Her sister, Lauren was obnoxious, she takes the term social justice warrior to a whole new level, she’s contrary just for the sake of it and the stuff that came out of her mouth was horrifyingly hilarious. My other favorite character, (I use favorite loosely here, these people are no one I would actually want to meet, but they were amazingly entertaining) was Nathan, David’s brother. He was just such a weirdo, he spoke like some bizarre throwback to medieval times and had the social graces of a bull. I’m giggling again just thinking about his flirting.
This was laugh out loud funny with some heartfelt, endearing moments thrown in for good measure. Fun is the best way to describe my experience reading this little gem and the characters totally made the book for me, they’re insane and quirky and just what I needed to read over Easter weekend as I spent time with my own extended family! 😜
Family and Other Catastrophes in three words: Hilarious, Risqué and Eccentric.
Overall rating: 4/5