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Never Can Say Goodbye

Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York

Edited by Sari Botton

About The Book

From the editor of the celebrated anthology Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York, comes a new collection of original essays on what keeps writers tethered to New York City.

The “charming” (The New York Times) first anthology Goodbye to All That—inspired by Joan Didion’s classic essay about loving and leaving Manhattan—chronicled the difficulties and disappointments inherent in loving New York, while Never Can Say Goodbye is a celebration of the city that never sleeps, in the tradition of E.B. White’s classic essay, “Here Is New York.”

Featuring contributions from such luminaries as Elizabeth Gilbert, Susan Orlean, Nick Flynn, Adelle Waldman, Phillip Lopate, Owen King, Amy Sohn, and many others, this collection of essays is a must-have for every lover of New York—regardless of whether or not you call the Big Apple home.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Gallery Books (October 14, 2014)
  • Length: 256 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781476784434

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Raves and Reviews

A collective valentine to the city.

– New York Times

A collection of personal musings that evince a devotion to New York even as the writers reflect on the reality of being a New Yorker.”

– New York Daily News

"Extremely addictive, this anthology is the perfect subway read—or the perfect book to read while imagining reading on the subway."—Library Journal

“Captures stalwart New Yorkers’ love/hate relationship with the world's most seductively dysfunctional town. There may be no better read to pass your wait for that next damned G train.” —Will Hermes, author of Love Goes To Buildings On Fire

"[These essays] celebrate life in New York City in that quintessentially New York way. They kvetch as much as they kvell. They lament the indignities even as they lionize the perks. With humor, candor, and often deep soulfulness, these writers capture the maddening, intoxicating promise that New Yorkers make to themselves every day: the promise that, despite the exasperation and exhaustion, it’s worth it." —Meghan Daum, author of My Misspent Youth and The Unspeakable

"These essays are a happy reminder of the eternal truths about New York: it smells like chicken innards; it's ripe for apocalypse; it's overpriced; it has more free stuff than anywhere else; it's dirty; it's too clean; it is the guy behind you on the subway pressing his erection into your leg; it blows doors on L.A. New York is over. Long live New York!" —Nathaniel Rich, author of Odds Against Tomorrow

"This fab book made me want to leave New York and then move the eff right back."

– Gary Shteyngart

"Never Can Say Goodbye is sharp, moving, often funny, and sometimes heartbreaking. A wonderful collection of love letters to a sublime and maddening city."—Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

Gets right to the heart of what it feels like to be a New Yorker--slightly insane, broke, and madly in love. These essays made me laugh out loud with recognition. New York City isn't an easy place to live, but is anything easy really worth doing?” —Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers

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