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{{Short description|Novel by Lisa Birman}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{Infobox book
{{Infobox book
| name = How To Walk Away
| name =How to Walk Away
| image = HowToWalkAwayCover.jpg
| image =HowToWalkAwayCover.jpg
| caption = Cover of first edition, cover image: Untitled fresco by [[George Schneeman]]
| caption =Cover of first edition, cover image: Untitled fresco by [[George Schneeman]]
| author = [[Lisa Birman]]
| author =Lisa Birman
| publisher = [[Spuyten Duyvil Press]]
| publisher =Spuyten Duyvil Press
| country = United States
| country =United States
| genre = [[Literary Fiction]]
| genre =[[Literary Fiction]]


| pub_date = February 1st, 2015
| pub_date =February 1st, 2015
| media_type = Print ([[softcover]])
| media_type =Print ([[softcover]])
| pages = 288
| pages =288
| isbn = 9781941550021
| isbn =9781941550021
}}
}}


'''''How To Walk Away''''' is a 2015 novel and the [[debut novel]] of [[Australia]]n novelist Lisa Birman. The work was first published on 1 February 2015 in the United States by Spuyten Duyvil Press. The novel centers on veteran Otis and his wife Cat, a genealogist. '''''How To Walk Away''''' is an exploration of [[post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[obsessive compulsion]], [[Body integrity identity disorder|body integrity disorder]], and the grief of keeping secrets born in war.
'''''How to Walk Away''''' is a 2015 novel and the [[debut novel]] of [[Australia]]n novelist [[Lisa Birman]]. The work was first published on 1 February 2015 in the United States by Spuyten Duyvil Press. The novel centers on veteran Otis and his wife Cat, a genealogist. ''How to Walk Away'' is an exploration of [[post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[obsessive compulsion]], [[Body integrity identity disorder|body integrity disorder]], and the grief of keeping secrets born in war.


==Synopsis==
==Synopsis==
After three years in Afghanistan, Otis is adjusting to life back home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, he obsessively replays the traumas of war, cataloging the names of the dead. Cat, his wife, is a genealogist who makes maps of families in an attempt to understand her world. When a car accident takes Otis’s left arm, he is grateful to bear a physical loss that makes his damaged emotional self visible. As he recovers, he and Cat confront the silences upon which their marriage is built.<ref>http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/how-to-walk-away.html</ref>
After three years in Afghanistan, Otis is adjusting to life back home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, he obsessively replays the traumas of war, cataloging the names of the dead. Cat, his wife, is a genealogist who makes maps of families in an attempt to understand her world. When a car accident takes Otis's left arm, he is grateful to bear a physical loss that makes his damaged emotional self visible. As he recovers, he and Cat confront the silences upon which their marriage is built.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/how-to-walk-away.html | title=How to Walk Away }}</ref>


==Awards==
==Author Biography==
Lisa Birman is a poet and novelist. Her first novel, '''''How To Walk Away''''' was published by [[Spuyten Duyvil Press]] in 2015.


⚫
On March 17, 2016 Birman's novel was named a finalist, in the genre of [[literary fiction]], by ''Colorado Humanities'' for their annual [[Colorado Book Awards]].,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists |title=2016 Colorado Book Awards Finalists &#124; Colorado Humanities |access-date=2016-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815091115/http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists |archive-date=2016-08-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and on May 22, 2016 Birman's novel won the award for literary fiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners |title=2016 Colorado Book Award Winners {{!}} Colorado Humanities |website=www.coloradohumanities.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526143954/http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners |archive-date=2016-05-26}}</ref>
Birman is the author of the poetry collection For That Return Passage – a Valentine for the United States of America (Hollowdeck Press), and co-editor of the anthology Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action ([[Coffee House Press]]). Her work has appeared in a wide range of well-respected poetry journals and she has published several chapbooks of poetry, including deportation poems and a trilogy of chapbooks in collaboration with Berlin-based singer/songwriter Josepha Conrad.


⚫
==Reviews==
Birman has been teaching writing in the United States, Australia, and the [[Czech Republic]] for the past fifteen years. She served as the Director of the prestigious Summer Writing Program at [[Naropa University]]’s [[Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics]] for twelve years and continues to teach for the MFA in Creative Writing.
⚫
"''How to Walk Away'' starts at the return. Enveloped and interspersed with letter narration, the short and shorter sections of the book craft a psychological domestic journey in three acts from Otis’ isolation to a delayed reunion with his wife, Cat. Birman's careful structure offers road signs for the reader travelling the confusion of the narrator's consuming obsessions." - Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, ''The Conium Review''<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://coniumreview.com/blog/book-review-how-to-walk-away-a-kind-of-cartography/ | title=Book Review: "How to Walk Away," A Kind of Cartography | date=31 January 2015 }}</ref>


⚫
"Moment to moment we are with Otis as he tries to fit the pieces of himself back into the form called “normal.” We suffer his claustrophobia-along with his need to escape from his own thoughts." - Judith Podell,'' American Book Review''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Podell |first1=Judith |title=What Lies Beneath |journal=American Book Review |date=2015 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=21 |doi=10.1353/abr.2015.0018 |s2cid=144738830 |id={{Project MUSE|578868}} }}</ref>
Originally from [[Melbourne]], Australia, Birman moved to [[New York]] via [[Seattle]] in 1995. She moved to [[Boulder]], [[Colorado]] in 1997 to pursue her MFA in Writing and Poetics. Now a [[dual citizen]], she’s still Australian at heart and often trades the Colorado winter for a few months of Melbourne summer to spend time with her family.

Birman resides in Boulder, Colorado, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. She is the editor of a forthcoming collection of letters from [[Frances LeFevre]] to poet [[Anne Waldman]], Dearest Annie, You wanted a report on Berkson’s class (Hanging Loose Press), and is currently completing her second novel.<ref>http://lisabirman.org</ref>

==Achievements==

⚫
On March 17, 2016 Birman's novel was named a finalist, in the genre of [[literary fiction]], by '''''Colorado Humanities''''' for their annual [[Colorado Book Awards]].,<ref>http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-awards-finalists</ref> and on May 22, 2016 Birman's novel won the award for literary fiction.<ref>http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2016-colorado-book-award-winners</ref>

⚫
==Reviews==
⚫
"'''''How to Walk Away'''''" starts at the return. Enveloped and interspersed with letter narration, the short and shorter sections of the book craft a psychological domestic journey in three acts from Otis’ isolation to a delayed reunion with his wife, Cat. Birman’s careful structure offers road signs for the reader travelling the confusion of the narrator’s consuming obsessions." - Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, '''''The Conium Review'''''' <ref>http://coniumreview.com/blog/book-review-how-to-walk-away-a-kind-of-cartography/</ref>


==See also==
⚫
"Moment to moment we are with Otis as he tries to fit the pieces of himself back into the form called “normal.” We suffer his claustrophobia-along with his need to escape from his own thoughts." - Judith Podell,''''' American Book Review''''' <ref>http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/american_book_review/v036/36.2.podell.pdf</ref>
* The author was interviewed by Peggy Alaniz about the novel for the Woodland Pattern Book Center weblog.<ref>{{cite web|title="Peggy Alaniz interviews Lisa Birman" |publisher= Woodland Pattern Book Center|url=https://woodlandpattern.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/peggy-alaniz-interviews-lisa-birman/|access-date= 16 May 2024}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:How To Walk Away}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:How To Walk Away}}
[[Category:2015 novels]]
[[Category:2015 Australian novels]]
[[Category:Debut novels]]
[[Category:2015 debut novels]]

Latest revision as of 22:08, 15 May 2024

How to Walk Away
Cover of first edition, cover image: Untitled fresco by George Schneeman
AuthorLisa Birman
GenreLiterary Fiction
PublisherSpuyten Duyvil Press
Publication date
February 1st, 2015
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (softcover)
Pages288
ISBN9781941550021

How to Walk Away is a 2015 novel and the debut novel of Australian novelist Lisa Birman. The work was first published on 1 February 2015 in the United States by Spuyten Duyvil Press. The novel centers on veteran Otis and his wife Cat, a genealogist. How to Walk Away is an exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsion, body integrity disorder, and the grief of keeping secrets born in war.

Synopsis

[edit]

After three years in Afghanistan, Otis is adjusting to life back home. Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, he obsessively replays the traumas of war, cataloging the names of the dead. Cat, his wife, is a genealogist who makes maps of families in an attempt to understand her world. When a car accident takes Otis's left arm, he is grateful to bear a physical loss that makes his damaged emotional self visible. As he recovers, he and Cat confront the silences upon which their marriage is built.[1]

Awards

[edit]

On March 17, 2016 Birman's novel was named a finalist, in the genre of literary fiction, by Colorado Humanities for their annual Colorado Book Awards.,[2] and on May 22, 2016 Birman's novel won the award for literary fiction.[3]

Reviews

[edit]

"How to Walk Away starts at the return. Enveloped and interspersed with letter narration, the short and shorter sections of the book craft a psychological domestic journey in three acts from Otis’ isolation to a delayed reunion with his wife, Cat. Birman's careful structure offers road signs for the reader travelling the confusion of the narrator's consuming obsessions." - Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, The Conium Review[4]

"Moment to moment we are with Otis as he tries to fit the pieces of himself back into the form called “normal.” We suffer his claustrophobia-along with his need to escape from his own thoughts." - Judith Podell, American Book Review[5]

See also

[edit]
  • The author was interviewed by Peggy Alaniz about the novel for the Woodland Pattern Book Center weblog.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "How to Walk Away".
  2. ^ "2016 Colorado Book Awards Finalists | Colorado Humanities". Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  3. ^ "2016 Colorado Book Award Winners | Colorado Humanities". www.coloradohumanities.org. Archived from the original on 26 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Book Review: "How to Walk Away," A Kind of Cartography". 31 January 2015.
  5. ^ Podell, Judith (2015). "What Lies Beneath". American Book Review. 36 (2): 21. doi:10.1353/abr.2015.0018. S2CID 144738830. Project MUSE 578868.
  6. ^ ""Peggy Alaniz interviews Lisa Birman"". Woodland Pattern Book Center. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
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