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At Certain Points We Touch
- Author
- Lauren John Joseph
- Narrator
- Lauren J. Joseph
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 3 March 2022
- Run Time
- 10 hours 59 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
SELECTED FOR STYLIST'S FICTION YOU CAN'T MISS IN 2022 – 'AN ESSENTIAL READ'
NAMED AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY ESQUIRE, STYLIST, SHEERLUXE AND FOYLES
'A stone-cold masterpiece by a shocking new talent' OLIVIA LAING
'Pure delight ... A queer romance novel like no other' TATLER
It’s four in the morning, and our narrator is walking home from the club when they realise that it’s February 29th – the birthday of the man who was something like their first love. Piecing together art, letters and memory, they set about trying to write the story of a doomed affair that first sparked and burned a decade ago.
Ten years earlier, and our young narrator and a boy named Thomas James fall into bed with one another over the summer of their graduation. Their ensuing affair, with its violent, animal intensity and its intoxicating and toxic power play will initiate a dance of repulsion and attraction that will cross years, span continents, drag in countless victims – and culminate in terrible betrayal.
At Certain Points We Touch is a story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of London, San Francisco and New York – a riotous, razor-sharp coming-of-age story that marks the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.
'Lauren John Joseph writes with such wit, glamour, and style! I haven’t read a book that so powerfully evokes what it’s like to be a wild young artist among other wild young artists since the Bright Young Things' TORREY PETERS, author of Detransition, Baby
'Screamingly funny, scandalously hot, opulent, deep – a devastating torch song of obsession and excess' JEREMY ATHERTON LIN, author of Gay Bar
'Lauren's debut novel is so exciting. The writing is so fresh, funny and gripping – and carries the trademark wit that I have always loved from Lauren' TRAVIS ALABANZA
'The struggle to find ones place in the world as an artist and lover, creating self and culture as you go along – At Certain Points We Touch captures this fleeting, dazzling moment with glamour and heart' MICHELLE TEA
Critics Review
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A stone-cold masterpiece, which in its scope, frankness and ambition reminds me of The Line of Beauty, retooled for the 21st century. By turns libidinous, hilarious, melancholy and full of feeling, it reveals Lauren John Joseph as a shocking new talent
OLIVIA LAING
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Beautifully written, smart, snappy story of queer love. Incredibly funny and moving
JUNO ROCHE
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This is fabulous: screamingly funny, scandalously hot, opulent, deep - a devastating torch song of obsession and excess
JEREMY ATHERTON LIN, author of Gay Bar
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Heartfelt and scintillating
OBSERVER
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Examines queer loss and survival elegantly, devastatingly, and critically incisive. Lauren John Joseph is a writer to reckon with. I'll read whatever they'll write next
ISABEL WAIDNER
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A smart, sparkling, twisting, millennial queer odyssey ... Lithe, perspicacious, melancholic and funny as hell
ATTITUDE
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A pure delight to read. Joseph presents a kaleidoscope of beautiful characters with infectious energy and harsh realities
TATLER
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A moving portrait of youth, friendship and first love
OBSERVER, Debut Novelists of 2022
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Described as “a stone-cold masterpiece – The Line Of Beauty retooled for the 21st century” by writer Olivia Laing, this is the story of a destructive love affair played out over years and cities that’s going to be an essential read
STYLIST, Books you can't miss in 2022
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Lauren John Joseph writes with such wit, glamour, and Style! I haven’t read a book that so powerfully evokes what it’s like to be a wild young artist among other wild young artists since the Bright Young Things were publishing
TORREY PETERS, author of Detransition, Baby
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Lauren's debut novel is so exciting. The writing is so fresh, funny and gripping - and carries the trademark wit that I have always loved from Lauren
TRAVIS ALABANZA
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Lauren John Joseph lyrically captures the hope, the tumult, and the trauma of relationships. Love's letters have rarely been more savage, poignant, or more true
JAMES BRIDLE
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This vivid debut novel has a live current running through its pages ... An impressive debut with lines that linger with on the page
ESQUIRE, Books of the Year 2022
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The struggle to find ones place in the world as an artist and lover, creating self and culture as you go along - At Certain Points We Touch captures this fleeting, dazzling moment with glamour and heart
MICHELLE TEA
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At Certain Points We Touch is as much a love letter to the glamour and glory of countercultural nightlife as a self-aware sendup of its absurdities and deprivations. This novel is a rollicking study of the stubbornness, irrationality, and dysfunction of the human heart, with prose as extravagant and daring as a Rococo gown. I would spend as many pages with this narrator as Lauren John Joseph cares to write
KIM FU, author of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
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A riotous coming-of-age story that marks the arrival of a bold new writer
SHEERLUXE
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A searing debut
HARPER'S BAZAAR
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A rich and sensuous read, a coming of age story that is full of life and love that reminded me of The Line of Beauty. Tender and dark in turn, it brings the art world at its heart and its cast list of bright young things brilliantly to life
LIVING MAGAZINE
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With unique style and flair, Lauren John Joseph weaves a dreamlike coming-of-age tale about toxic relationships, wild young artists and an unspeakable betrayal
WOMAN'S OWN
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A tragic, haunting and expertly crafted debut
BUZZ MAGAZINE
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Elegant, sharp, and hysterical, At Certain Points We Touch asks us how do we grieve a lover who may not have been a good person. Lauren John Joseph’s writing will pull you in like an alluring perfume, only to seize your heart and tear it to pieces in this spectacular début!
MORGAN M PAGE
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Lauren John Joseph
- Narrator
- Lauren J. Joseph
- Duration
- 10 hours 59 minutes
- Release Date
- 3 March 2022
- ISBN
- 9781526631282
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Fiction: literary and general non-genre, Narrative theme: coming of age, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Narrative theme: love / relationships
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents At Certain Points We Touch written and read by Lauren John Joseph.SELECTED FOR STYLIST'S FICTION YOU CAN'T MISS IN 2022 – 'AN ESSENTIAL READ'NAMED AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY ESQUIRE, STYLIST, SHEERLUXE AND FOYLES'A stone-cold masterpiece by a shocking new talent' OLIVIA LAING'Pure delight ... A queer romance novel like no other' TATLERIt’s four in the morning, and our narrator is walking home from the club when they realise that it’s February 29th – the birthday of the man who was something like their first love. Piecing together art, letters and memory, they set about trying to write the story of a doomed affair that first sparked and burned a decade ago.Ten years earlier, and our young narrator and a boy named Thomas James fall into bed with one another over the summer of their graduation. Their ensuing affair, with its violent, animal intensity and its intoxicating and toxic power play will initiate a dance of repulsion and attraction that will cross years, span continents, drag in countless victims – and culminate in terrible betrayal.At Certain Points We Touch is a story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of London, San Francisco and New York – a riotous, razor-sharp coming-of-age story that marks the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.'Lauren John Joseph writes with such wit, glamour, and style! I haven’t read a book that so powerfully evokes what it’s like to be a wild young artist among other wild young artists since the Bright Young Things' TORREY PETERS, author of Detransition, Baby'Screamingly funny, scandalously hot, opulent, deep – a devastating torch song of obsession and excess' JEREMY ATHERTON LIN, author of Gay Bar'Lauren's debut novel is so exciting. The writing is so fresh, funny and gripping – and carries the trademark wit that I have always loved from Lauren' TRAVIS ALABANZA'The struggle to find ones place in the world as an artist and lover, creating self and culture as you go along – At Certain Points We Touch captures this fleeting, dazzling moment with glamour and heart' MICHELLE TEA
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