Donna Has Left the Building

An Oprah Magazine Summer Reading Pick

"Hilarious, heartfelt and breathless."

"With her riotous and tender second novel, Gilman delivers her own windmill-tilting sojourn---with a woman at the helm."

"Following a tragicomic domestic revelation, suburban mom and recovering alcoholic Donna throws off the mantle of predictability to pursue a midlife crisis for the ages....An unforeseen turn in the road elevates her journey far above the navel-gazing lost weekend it might have been. Gilman channels the best of Jennifer Weiner, especially Best Friends Forever, but the spiritual sibling of this novel is ironically the masterpiece of Weiner's nemesis: Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex. The symmetry of Donna's setting with that of Middlesex will link them for years to come. VERDICT Literary fiction readers, chick lit fans, suburbanites, mothers, daughters, addicts (recovering and otherwise), immigrants, people with dreams achieved and abandoned-all kinds of readers will love this book. A must-have."

"In her new equally generous, hilarious work of fiction, a 45-year-old "bad Jewish girl," recovering alcoholic, and flamed-out punk rocker leaves her dentist husband and his dominatrix and narrates her road trip, and a final sharp twist in the novel provides it with a special meaning."

"Epic "

"[A] witty romp....Donna is reliably irreverent and her travels follow a moving evolution to renewed confidence as she comes to terms with mistakes and regrets. Fans of Jonathan Tropper will love this."

"Thanks to Gilman's characteristic wit and charm, her latest novel is a hilariously over-the-top, devastating yet relatable tale of one woman's descent into and back from a personal hell [...] Gilman's writing is razor-sharp and propulsive as her protagonist maintains her wry humor about her situation while probing underlying questions about self-identity, friendship, love, and memory with sensitivity and grace."

"Refreshing [and] surprising...A larger-than-life story about a woman who makes drastic decisions in an attempt to get back on track."

"In a novel with quirky characters, hilarious misadventures and kinky sex, the unexpected denouement of Donna Has Left the Building is a gritty, realistic depiction of a true crisis, and a tender story of family love."

"What I cherish about Susan Jane Gilman's writing is how light the touch is, and how deeply it cuts. Like the flawed heroine of this engrossing and incisive -- politically, domestically, psychologically -- story of an ordinary American life confronted by extraordinary need in the world beyond our borders, Gilman rises to a new level of urgency, empathy, pathos, and, simply, beauty, in her storytelling."

"This big hearted novel is intimate and riveting and keeps the reader engrossed from beginning to end! It takes those classic stories usually told about men-the midlife crisis, the epic quest and turns them inside-out with a smart, edgy, woman at the helm who discovers a greater sense of purpose in the world. A love story in the greatest sense. Brilliant, scathing, powerful, insanely funny. Read it!"

"You'll laugh out loud and also be moved by this tale of motherhood, love, art, and an epic cross-country road trip."

"Donna is frank and funny in the way we want our girlfriends to be. . . While she is self-absorbed for much of the novel, she eventually comes around, realizing that real happiness is found outside yourself."