Crying in the Bathroom - by Erika L Sánchez (Paperback)

About the Book

Penguin reading group discussion guide available online at penguinrandomhouse.com

Book Synopsis

"Equal parts pee-your-pants hilarity and break your heart poignancy- like the perfect brunch date you never want to end!"--America Ferrera, Emmy award-winning actress in Ugly Betty

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is as deeply moving as it is hilarious

Growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Chicago in the nineties, Erika Sánchez was a self-described pariah, misfit, and disappointment--a foul-mouthed, melancholic rabble-rouser who painted her nails black but also loved comedy, often laughing so hard with her friends that she had to leave her school classroom. Twenty-five years later, she's now an award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, but she's still got an irrepressible laugh, an acerbic wit, and singular powers of perception about the world around her.

In these essays, Sánchez writes about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression, revealing an interior life rich with ideas, self-awareness, and perception. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest, Crying in the Bathroom is Sánchez at her best--a book that will make you feel that post-confessional high that comes from talking for hours with your best friend.

Review Quotes

Best of BookRiot - Best of San Francisco Chronicle - Best of WGN - Best of NBC News - Best of HipLatina

CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS AWARD WINNER 2022

Nominated for a CATALYST Award for Best Memoir of 2023

"A wry memoir-in-essays spanning from her rebellious teenage years in Chicago to her adult struggles with mental health...'this book proves that delicacy and strength are no opposites.'"--New York Times Book Review's "Paperback Row"

"Sánchez is a raw, unapologetic, and acerbic writer, who leans into difficult topics [like] abortion... [her] writing evokes vivid images. It's also humorous, contemplative and so conversational that it feels like she's telling the story of her life over a cup of coffee." --The Washington Post

"Raunchy and original and authentic and hilarious and heartbreaking." --Harlan Coben, on NBC's Today Show

"Quippy, earnest... these plainly told personal truths are as absorbing as a deep and wide-ranging conversation with a trusted friend... [Crying in the Bathroom] proves that delicacy and strength are no opposites. It is easy to imagine a vulnerable reader gobbling up Sánchez' honesty and her reassurances that sorrow does not preclude pleasure." --The New York Times Book Review

"Blazingly honest and gloriously raucous." --Star-Tribune

"Each essay feels like a conversation with a good friend, thanks to Sánchez's warm and vulnerable writing." --TIME's Roundup of "27 Books You Need to Read this Summer"

"A deeply personal, compassionate, and moving glimpse into her life that left me in tears at the end." --Buzzfeed's "Best Books Releasing in July"

"Sánchez writes hilariously and movingly about dating, depression, and defying expectations...We'd cry with Erika Sánchez in the bathroom any day."--Glamour

"Her smart and spiky voice enlivening connected essays on growing up brown and depressed -- but also obsessed with comedy. You'll yearn for a sequel before you've even turned the last page." --LA Times

"The memoir that doesn't wind its way toward a harsh revelation or the summiting of a mountain, the memoir that merely considers a life, is rare...Crying in the Bathroom...[is] an account of childhood depression, and falling in love with comedy, a 'fraught' relationship with her grandmother, suffering through a bad marketing job in the Sears Tower, risking the uneasy life of a writer. It's also a lesson in nurturing a clear voice."--Chicago Tribune

"Sánchez is an honest, vulnerable writer who doesn't hold any of her truths back--from LGBT rights to women's issues, from sex to love."--HipLatina

"Bestselling author Erika L. Sánchez has written this unique yet relatable memoir in essays that will have you crying from laughter and heartbreak. Keep the tissues nearby!" --Ms. Magazine's "July 2022 Reads for the Rest of Us"

"With animated, often hilarious, vignettes from a multicultural youth spent yearning for the solitude necessary for writing, Crying in the Bathroom finds the author immensely grateful for...a splendid study of her own and the sacrifices her hardworking parents made so their daughter could pursue her literary dreams and lead a life of the mind."--Shelf Awarness

"To make your readers crack up while also discussing weighty topics like sexism, racism, and depression is no easy task, but it's one Erika L. Sánchez is well equipped for...she has written a memoir/essay collection that [is] poignant and bold." --LitHub

"Her ability to relate to readers on a personal, intellectual, and cultural levels is one of the book's greatest achievements...An engrossing, accessible, heart-opening recollection of a fascinating life." --Booklist

"Her writing shines with a deep humility wrought from the hard-won nature of her personal peace. The result is another satisfying addition to Sánchez's deeply moving body of works."--Publishers Weekly

"A famous Latino comic told me--quoting either Chaplin or Cantinflas or both--that if you tell a story that makes people laugh, that's great, but if you make them laugh and cry, that's genius. Erika Sánchez tells her tale with a 'deluge of unidentifiable feelings that came out through my eyes.' It's only after you've laughed that you understand the heartbreak beneath the laughter. I relished especially the stories she shares about being a wanderer savoring her solitude, a rare gift for a woman, but absolutely essential for any writer." --Sandra Cisneros, New York Times bestselling author of The House on Mango Street

"Erika's writing grabs a hold and won't let go. She's equal parts pee-your-pants hilarity and break your heart poignancy- like the perfect brunch date you never want to end!"--America Ferrera, Emmy award-winning actress in Ugly Betty

"CRYING IN THE BATHROOM is deeply personal, in the best sense -- honest, cutting, hilarious, revelatory. These essays strike deep chords for any of us who came of age in the nineties, or really for anyone who came of age at all." --Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer finalist for The Great Believers

"After reading, Crying in the Bathroom, Erika L. Sánchez has undoubtedly cemented herself as not just one of my favorite writers, but also as my best friend... in my mind. Because why wouldn't I want to be close to someone so intentional, so funny, so proven, and most importantly, so self-aware they could tell a story about their life in a way that makes me take inventory of my own? To put it simply, which I'm not sure is actually possible, this is a whoopie cushion, a gut punch, and an alarm clock of a book." --Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

About the Author

Erika L. Sánchez is a Mexican American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, was a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award. Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, was a number one New York Times bestseller and a National Book Awards finalist. It is now being made into a film directed by America Ferrera. Sanchez was a 2017-2019 Princeton Arts Fellow, a 2018 recipient of the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and a 2019 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.