Rachel Shukert is coming out with a new book this week, Everything is Going to Be Great, a memoir of her years in Europe, and SMITHMAG has published a thought-provoking and funny interview with her. In 2003 Shukert went to Vienna to be in an experimental play and after that was over, ended up settling in Amsterdam. The memoir, in the interviewer’s words, is naturally very funny, but it also “captures perfectly how contemporary Europeans’ posthistorical cosmopolitanism, so sincere and sacred, is often no match for old tribalisms. Finally, it hits a more poignant note of how her adventures in Europe add new meaning to Shukert’s Jewish heritage, a theme that culminates nicely in the book’s happy ending, when she meets and marries her husband, Ben. Funny, insightful, moving — the memoirist’s Molotov cocktail.” In the interview Shukert offers her reflections on how memoirists need to reinvent the form, so that it’s not just something novelists turn to on their off days. It’s a good read.
Input your search keywords and press Enter.
The Rumpus needs your help. We need to raise $25,000 $3,100 to fill our funding gap for 2024.
Our home base is Asheville, NC and Hurricane Helene severely impacted our ability to host events, launch new initiatives, and caused other significant financial setbacks this fall.
Can you support us at any level by Dec. 31? Every dollar counts and is a sign that our readers collectively value creative labor and independent publishing.
Sign up for the weekly Rumpus
Once a week, we'll send you a roundup of what's new on the magazine, invites to upcoming events, open calls for submissions, and more!