Leave the Building Quickly: True Stories - Hardcover

Kaplan, Cynthia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060548517 ISBN 13: 9780060548513

Publisher: William Morrow, 2007

Synopsis

Do you know why a race-car driver wears epaulets despite the fact that epaulets would seem in every way contrary to the aesthetic of a race-car driver? It's so that in the event of a crash he may be pulled from the flaming wreckage of his car.

Yes, she's back. Cynthia Kaplan, acclaimed author of Why I'm Like This, once again invites us into her no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners world, casting her gimlet eye upon the current state of her affairs. Also of your affairs, and some other people's affairs, too. With her unique talent for wringing hilarity out of the most devastating situations (as well as, it must be admitted, the most trivial), Kaplan fearlessly takes on her family, intelligent design, Narnia, New England's deer population—all the important issues of the day.

Journey with her as she humiliates herself in a variety of locales—a dude ranch, a hospital, Mystic Seaport, the offices of Comedy Central. Cower beside her as she confronts her inner (and outer) most fears. No threat is too small—pajamas, schnauzers, Disney cruises. No subject is sacrosanct—God, sex, The Nutcracker Suite. Kaplan has a worst-case scenario planned for, well, every scenario, including high school reunions and vacationing with your mother-in-law, a subject not covered in any of today's popular guidebooks. You might want to take notes, because Kaplan has that rare ability to write about her own life in a way that makes you feel as though she is writing about yours.

Leave the Building Quickly is a raucously funny, moving, and honest look at the circumstances of our daily lives, the kind that inspire us to crouch in the linen closet at three in the morning. That's okay. Kaplan is there, too. And she's brought snacks.

About this title

About the Author

Writer and actress Cynthia Kaplan's essays have been published in many newspapers, magazines, and anthologies, and she is the author of the collection Why I'm Like This. She has appeared in clubs, theaters, and on film, but never on Law & Order. She lives in New York City with her husband and children.

From Booklist

What is more life-affirming than the ability to laugh at oneself? In her second collection of true stories (after Why I'm Like This, 2002), writer and actress Kaplan once again taps into the self-deprecation vein—to wise, poignant, and often hilarious effect. Although her family may not be as nutty as David Sedaris', and she doesn't embrace Jesus with the zeal of Anne Lamott (Kaplan is Jewish, though increasingly skeptical about her faith), she knows how to turn random happenings into moments of revelation. Kaplan tackles topics both large and small, from a good friend succumbing to cancer to the uncoolest of family vacations aboard a Disney cruise. Copping an attitude, coping with an unpronounceable lung ailment, negotiating with her horny husband about post pregnancy sex—it's all fodder for Kaplan, whose deadpan humor speaks to the neurotic in us all. Some entries are better than others, but at her best, as in "Losing My Religion," Kaplan serves perfectly mixed narratives that are one part melancholy, two parts wry. Block, Allison

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060548517
• ISBN 13: 9780060548513
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224