Banal Nightmare - Paperback

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by Halle Butler (Author)

A "vividly, chillingly current" (The Washington Post) novel by the author of The New Me, one of the boldest voices in American fiction

"[Halle Butler's] talent lies in depicting how these sore winners think, and the quiet madness that comes from measuring every interaction in your life by what might be gained in power and status. . . . [Banal Nightmare is] her most accomplished novel." --The New York Review of Books

"So funny, so smart, utterly vicious--just brilliant."--Zadie Smith

"Butler has crafted a novel in which every character proves to be completely, uniquely crazy. Her perverse sense of humor should be studied and celebrated."--David Sedaris

A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In a Midwestern college town at the height of the Me Too era, a group of simultaneously self-flagellating and self-aggrandizing pseudo-academics sit around, think, and send one another insulting emails. As the impulses and memories they have barely managed to repress begin to surface, their relationships become increasingly deranged. Banal Nightmare captures the volatile, surreal, and entirely disorienting atmosphere of the modern era.

Author Biography

Halle Butler's first novel, Jillian, was called the "feel-bad book of the year" by the Chicago Tribune. Her second novel, The New Me, was named a Best Book of the Decade by Vox and a Best Book of the Year by Vanity Fair, Vulture, the Chicago Tribune, Mashable, Bustle, and NPR, and the New Yorker called it a "definitive work of millennial literature." She was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree.

Number of Pages: 336

Dimensions: 0.8 x 7.9 x 5.2 IN

Publication Date: August 26, 2025