We’re excited to share that our September Book Club selection is Jenny Hval’s new novel Girls Against God, forthcoming from Verso Books on October 6, but available to Rumpus Book Club members in just a few weeks!
Welcome to 1990s Norway. White picket fences run in neat rows and Christian conservatism runs deep. But as the Artist considers her work, things start stirring themselves up. In a corner of Oslo a coven of witches begin cooking up some curses. A time-traveling Edvard Munch arrives in town to join a death metal band, closely pursued by the teenaged subject of his painting Puberty, who has murder on her mind. Meanwhile, out deep in the forest, a group of school girls get very lost and things get very strange. And awful things happen in aspic.
Jenny Hval’s latest novel is a radical fusion of queer feminist theory and experimental horror, and a unique treatise on magic, writing and art.
“Strange and lyrical. Hval’s writing is surreal and rich with the grotesque banalities of human existence.” – Publishers Weekly
“The themes of alienation, queerness, and the unsettling nature of desire align Hval with modern mainstays like Chris Kraus, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Maggie Nelson.” – Pitchfork
Subscribe to the Rumpus Book Club by August 15 to join us in reading Girls Against God, culminating in an exclusive online discussion with author Jenny Hval about the book!
