Soft Spots - by Leila Renee (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Raven Leilani's Luster meets Halle Butler's The New Me in Soft Spots, a darkly funny and off-kilter coming-of-age novel following recent college graduate Robin Clarke after she runs away from her family, only to be forced to confront whether she should reconcile with her father when his health takes a sudden turn for the worst.

After miraculously securing a teaching job at a dysfunctional high school, loner Robin moves to South Bend, Indiana, where she's paired with an eerily perfect roommate: Naomi. Freshly estranged from her abusive parents, Robin obsesses over two absurd goals: to be the best teacher at the school, despite never having taught, and to become best friends with Naomi, who could not be more her opposite. Meanwhile back home, Robin's brother must decide between being loyal to his sister or their parents.

Just as Robin grows closer to her students and Naomi, she receives earth-shattering news from her brother. Desperate to cope, Robin redoubles her efforts to befriend Naomi, spiraling even deeper into obsession and self-sabotage. Everything comes to a head when one of Robin's many bad choices come back to bite her, and she must confront the limits of forgiveness, the weight of memory, and the true cost of estrangement.

Review Quotes

Soft Spots will make wonder if you've ever really read a book. It's the best of John Hughes meets Morrison on the way to Nafissa Thompson-Spires apartment. Absolutely stunning and absolutely engrossing work by a fictive wunderkind. Leila Renee is here. Readers of earth, one writer has been listening to what we want. - Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir

"A beautiful debut from an incredible new voice." - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, New York Times Bestselling Author of Chain-Gang All-Stars.

A taut, funny, immensely charming debut by one of those rare writers who can be acerbic and loving-hearted in the same paragraph. Leila Renee is a richly talented observer of human nature, a casual, riveting stylist, and a cause for hope in these strange times. - George Saunders, Booker Prize Winner and author of Vigil and Lincoln in the Bardo

With far too few Awkward Black Girls in literature, Leila Renee has given us the gift of Robin, one of the most original, resonant characters I've read in a long time. As Robin missteps her way through the world, I cringed, held my breath, laughed, and said, "Babygirl, noooo" an inordinate amount of times. From the first page to the last, you can't help but root for this beautiful, wounded soul to survive. And to win. Soft Spots is an irresistible, astonishing, unforgettable debut! - Deesha Philyaw, author of the National Book Award Finalist, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

An astonishing debut--at once riveting, wise, and transformative. I was so taken with Robin I carried her struggles like they were my own. This was one of those books I couldn't bear to finish, and yet I also couldn't put it down until I reached the end, which resolved with awe-inspiring grace. I would read anything Leila Renee wrote. - Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of On the Rooftop, a Reese's Book Club pick

"Leila Renee's immersive, inventive debut novel Soft Spots is dark but also very funny, sad but also life-affirming, scathing but also compassionate. Her characters are unfailingly complex and convincing. Soft Spots is a moving book, and Leila Renee is a fiercely intelligent, urgent, and promising new voice." - Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward and Eat the Document.

Recent college graduate Robin Clark endures authentic family trauma--and engages in definitive shenanigans. She is also is a wonder who manages to hold firmly to herself through all of the violence that life offers. This debut novel is poignant, upsettingly real and often funny, going places in novels where I've never been before. - Asali Solomon, Author of The Days of Afrekete, Disgruntled, and Get Down

Soft Spots is ultimately about loss, independence, the need for safety, and what family truly means for those who never had one. - Booklist

[A] character-driven story ... This will stay with readers. - Publisher's Weekly

Soft Spots, a coming of age novel, confronts its trauma and faces death and nonbelievers to reach a shared understanding, but it does so after heeding the call to leave the place that was hurting you, so that you can give your hardened heart the distance and time to grow tender again.

- Chicago Review of Books

Both moving and amusing in turn, an emotionally resonant new novel that you won't soon forget. - Nerd Daily

Soft Spots asks what, if anything, we owe the people who have harmed us and whether familial wounds ever heal. In her gorgeous debut, Leila Renee explores generational trauma through a story of grief and survival, told with a breathtaking blend of humor and catharsis. An unforgettable read! - Wayétu Moore, author of She Would Be King