Iris - by Weike Wang (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the award-winning author of Chemistry and Rental House, a sharp and perceptive novel about two artists who wonder if their instant and electric connection is romantic, platonic, creative, destructive, or even remotely sustainable

"Imagine an intellectual offspring of Albert Camus and Muriel Spark in the 21st century... Iris approaches life's eternal mysteries--love, desire, creativity--with astute observation, philosophical dissection, and, most important of all, razor sharp humor." --Yiyun Li

"Move over Anna Karenina, and say hello to Iris. She's the brilliant, hilarious, and beautifully rendered adultery-adjacent heroine of Weike Wang's new novel. You're going to love this book."--Gary Shteyngart

Widely celebrated as a pitch-perfect chronicler of life's most intricate relationships, Weike Wang brings her uniquely wry wit and tender observations to the "will they or won't they" dynamic between two new friends, a semi-romance that will have a surprising impact on one woman's creative life.

When Iris and Bowen meet at an artists' residency, the connection is immediate. Both are married to other people, but their long, riveting debates and stolen moments make Iris, an author struggling with writer's block, feel newly alive. After they return to their lives in New York City, their spiky repartee continues with impassioned debates about books, reflections on a shared Chinese-American heritage, and confessions of mutual attraction. When the ticking time bomb of a possible affair becomes impossible to ignore, they meet up for an epic, day-long date that will decide their future.

A novel that is, like its heroine, alert to the powers of language and literature, Iris is the whip-smart, emotionally incisive story of a woman buffeted by family judgment, personal desire, and romantic ideals as she navigates her choices, untangling her ideas about love, art, and partnership. The guidance that she finds in the lives and works of her artistic heroes may be what finally allows her to confront her rockiest relationship of all: the one she has with herself.

Review Quotes

Praise for Iris

Imagine an intellectual offspring of Albert Camus and Muriel Spark in the 21st century, and we get Weike Wang. Iris approaches life's eternal mysteries--love, desire, creativity--with astute observation, philosophical dissection, and, most important of all, razor sharp humor." --Yiyun Li, Pulitzer Prize winner

"Move over Anna Karenina, and say hello to Iris. She's the brilliant, hilarious, and beautifully rendered adultery-adjacent heroine of Weike Wang's new novel. You're going to love this book." --Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends

"Weike Wang transforms the details of ordinary life into a luminescent, page-turning life force. I was mesmerized by Iris until the final line." --Laura van den Berg, author of State of Paradise 

"Weike Wang forces the romantic novel to finally grow up in this tender and erudite investigation into the purpose of desire and the deeper meaning of an artist's true life. Rarely has the story of a woman's search for wisdom been this sexy and satisfying." --Honor Jones, author of Sleep

"Read this book for the simple pleasure of watching Weike Wang put one surprising word beside another, or juxtapose two things that would normally never sit together... a beautiful, raw story of discovery, a piercing novel for the yearners, for artists and writers, for anyone who's ever wondered what if. I read it in one sitting." --Katie Yee, author of Maggie; or, A Man and A Woman Walk Into a Bar

"Smart and emotional... will appeal to readers who enjoy ethereal, literary books such as Katie Kitamura's The Audition." --Library Journal

About the Author

Weike Wang is the author of Chemistry, Joan Is Okay, and Rental House. She is the recipient of a Pen Hemingway and a Whiting award, and is a National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, Best American Short Stories and has won two O. Henry Prizes. She earned her MFA from Boston University and her other degrees from Harvard. She currently lives in New York City and has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Barnard College and Boston University.