Ask Me Again

by Clare Sestanovich

From the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize nominee whose short stories received instant acclaim, a debut novel about a young woman's coming of age, in parallel with a renegade male friend who challenges her beliefs and the course of her life

At sixteen, Eva meets Jamie by chance. She lives in middle-class South Brooklyn; he comes from the super-rich of upper Manhattan. She’s observant, cautious, and eager to seem normal; he’s curious, bold, and full of mysteries. She keeps a keen intelligence under wraps; his eccentric brilliance is all but impossible to repress. While Eva welcomes Jamie into her family’s embrace, he avoids going home; with little in common, these two questers are drawn together in a deep friendship. As Eva goes off to an elite college and falls in and out of love, Jamie drops out of school and joins the Occupy Wall Street movement. Eva, so often trapped by self-doubt, is both awed and repelled by the strength of Jamie's convictions. Carried forcefully along by Sestanovich’s highly observant, butterfly-pinning prose, these two characters, pulled into separate spheres, circle the same how to define their values and find their purpose, how to create a sense of self while discovering what they owe to society and the cause of justice. The geometry of their platonic love leads us on a surprising journey of intimacy across time—exposing the alchemy of connection, of the relationships that can define who we are and can even change us, and the possible futures we might not have imagined for ourselves.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Novels, Adult, Literary Fiction, New York

320 pages, Hardcover

Published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[Amy Kaufman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need to stop doing this -- forcing myself to finish books because I'm sure they'll get better, because some supposedly important voice has deemed it worthy. I connected to none of the characters. The decade-spanning connection between the two apparent best friends was barely forged in the beginning, so I never bought it. And just so painfully slow. Sigh.

[Stitching Ghost]

DNF at 64%. Theres a lot of beautiful lines but other than that it feels like a nothing burger of a story and I couldn't make myself read anymore of it.

No rating because I don't rate DNFs.

[ana (ananascanread) · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book started strong but then just... lost the plot, leaving me wondering if i was even reading the same story by the end. still, i couldn't help but love the pacing and those gorgeous quotes.

huge thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy—i really appreciate it! <3

[Caroline Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ask Me Again is a gorgeously written account of asking for more from life. More is not a cliched stand-in for typical aspirations like financial/career success, world travel, or even passionate romances. Here, ‘more’ represents a quieter desire to remain porous enough to receive life. It’s reckoning the rawness of adolescence – a time when you wanted to feel the rattle of life’s extremes in your bones – with the slow shedding of that openness as life transitions into a series of mundane tasks.

At 16, Eva exists on the sidelines of her life. She notices everything but does not always know what to make of it. When she meets Jamie (also 16), she is instantly enamored with his strong convictions and philosophical worldview. They are opposites in many ways – she is the child of artists in middle-class Brooklyn while he is the neglected son of extreme wealth on the Upper East Side. Their connection is not romantic or sexual. To call it friendship feels somehow both more and less than what it is, which is more like blood or (in the words of T. Swift) an invisible string tying them together.

Their lives go in different directions after high school, as Eva takes the sensible linear steps: going to college, moving to a new city, and getting an entry-level job at a prestigious company in the field she’s interested in. Jamie denounces his wealth, moves in with Eva’s parents, and follows his feelings to extremes, which rarely land him in positive situations. While I cared about Jamie, this book is very much about Eva, and every experience is another opportunity to explore her perspective.

Her voice is like a toothache as she marches through life in step with (as opposed to against) the subtle throbbing of pain. This book took me places I wasn’t expecting, like explorations of the shady underworlds of young politicians and new-age organized religious groups, but it was so gorgeously written I would have followed Eva anywhere!

[suzannah ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

thank you to the publishers for my review copy, i am very grateful!

unfortunately i didnt gel with this book at all. i found it really slow and uneventful, the characters flat and i struggled to actually understand what the storyline was and what the book was trying to achieve. there is potential, but the execution just wasn’t the best.

[Alessia | Talee Letterarie]

Buone le prime 80 pagine circa, poi parte una serie di cose nonsense intramezzate da dialoghi nonsense. Boh.

[Jacob Lietz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had really high hopes for this because of Sestanovich’s story collection, my main critic of it being that she didn’t dive as deeply into the characters as I thought she should have, assuming that a novel would give her the room she needed to develop her characters.

And yet…here we are.

The sentences were clear and picturesque in parts, but whatever joy can be found in the syntax is overshadowed by the shallowness of the characters. It makes me a little apathetic towards everything else, you know.

Some great questions are asked in these pages, yet I never get the sense that the main character ever really grapples with them, opting instead to shrug and never think about them again—the book never suggesting that this behavior contributes to anything.

But! I enjoyed the scope. I think Sestanovich shoots for the sky and, though she misses, demonstrates what she is capable of doing. I hope the next book, the daunting future book, can have both Sestanovich’s elegant prose and a cast of characters who breathe on the page.

[Val · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a let down? The book starts off really intense with Eva and Jamie, who have a typical teenage dynamic: Eva is an insecure young woman who sees something in Jamie that he isn't, as he just hides behind pretentious phrases. Then, suddenly, they grow apart, but process gets pictured is so incidental and unimportant that the story is no longer about them both, but only about her. It's about all her developments, decisions, and guilt. I think I can only agree with most people here, and I'm reassured that it wasn't just me: I really didn't get the point? There are many good ideas in this book, but none of them are fully explored – only philosophical questions are asked, but no answers are provided. Kinda disappointing.

[annatheworstbanana · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was kind of crazy to read and made me miss philosophy tutes so much

[Caitlin Holloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book that is all about searching for meaning and belonging, the narrative tone of this book is very shallow and unemotional. It hooked me in pretty well at first, but it didn’t really keep me in its grasp for the entire novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Olivia Mill]

I didn't get it

[Flynn Gilmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh

[Jonathan Newton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ask Me Again is a book that tries very hard to be smart. It should not try so hard to be smart. What it needs is a heartbeat. There's a lot of moments packaged as profound-- tons of 'let that sink in's-- but none of them have teeth. I didn't learn anything. The teeth Ask Me Again are in the parts that Claire neglected.

Eva (narrator) and the world she navigates are detached and gray. Passion, care, love, wonder, excitement, grief, sadness, and devastation are all alluded to. But they're rarely shown and they're never dwelled upon. There's a sensory, emotional *thump* missing. Eva doesn't have many passions, she doesn't have many friends. She allegedly falls in love, but it feels transactional. When she has sex it's to scratch an itch. These are sort of themes but they're minor ones. I can't quite fit myself in Eva's head.

I loved the scope and pace of the book. Seeing Evas life change was honest and refreshing. The time covered feels substantial. People & problems come and go. Jamie is the only constant but his relevance varies. It reflects life in a way traditional story structures can't. That made me happy.

If you like deep quotes then you will find plenty. If you tend to find the 'deep quote' aesthetic offsetting, then there might not be much for you here.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gonna need a few days to think on this one (or for a friend to read it so we can discuss) as I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The middle section, which becomes very much about progressive politics and churches, felt quite directionless when I was in it, which frustrated me. By the end, though, I think perhaps the whole book is exploring the ways in which we make meaning of the world (through our relationships, our upbringing, our academic experiences, politics, religion, advice columns) and how, even with all of those things, we often end up coming up short (but also is that just the theme of my own life at the moment? Do books have themes and meanings independent to those that we bring to the reading experience?). Sestanovich's sentence by sentence level writing continues to be beautiful though (really loved her debut short story collection Objects of Desire: Stories) and I'm eager to see what she does next.

[Vera Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I completely loved this. Sestanovich is such a strong and technical writer.

We meet Eva, at 16, when she meets Jamie. They’re both New York City kids, though Jamie wealthier, with less stable roots. We follow them through the end of high school, into college and their early twenties. They’re precocious, irritating, and always searching. They ask big questions, look for “truth,” purpose, and belonging.

I really believe the writing here ensures this story and these characters feel earnest and new. I found myself totally consumed by this from the first page. And was impressed by my interest in the side characters introduced throughout. The central friendship, while vexing and unstable, was, for me, full of heart.

There’s also a lot going on beneath the surface, a lot to glean on a reread or in discussion. The ending!?

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 (rounded)
everyone seems to be on the same consensus that nothing really happened in this, to which I agree, but I think that added to its charm. The characters were very eye-roll-worthy at times, but again that gave them some charm. The writing was beautiful, but it seemed to introduce ideas and characters with little to no reasoning (perhaps I didn’t pick up on it) and then just carried on like nothing happened. It’s certainly not a bad book and would appeal to those who like character stories but something was just missing !!!

[tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This book didn't actually follow through on the synopsis and somewhat just stopped talking about Jamie. It dragged and didn't have much of a plot, but rather than focusing on character development, it felt like it was just random little things from the main character (but she didn't really show development in my opinion).

[Sanjana Rajagopal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was such a disappointment. It started off good and was well-written, but then quickly lost its focus. For the back half, Jamie wasn't even really an important character anymore. I made myself skim to the end because I spent so much time reading this book, but I would not reccomend it. Absolutely no cohesive through line at all.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exception that proves the rule! (The rule: blurbs commending prose in contemporary fiction are full of shit)

What a relief to find a new book full of good sentences! It's also very thoughtful about friendship and human relationships generally. I read it in like 24 hours.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ask Me Again is a coming-of-age story with a difference. The whole way through it was following Eva and Jamie's lives, wondering when they would come back together and the answer to my questions astounded me.

The writing is very engaging and thought-provoking, and that is the true beauty of this novel. It captures your attention and makes you ask the same questions as Eva and Jamie are facing themselves. You can't help but feel connected to the characters and relate to how they handle the life they find themselves in.

It's a novel that sits with you long after you've finished reading, leaving you constantly wondering and questioning what happens next.

[Rebecca Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a coming of age novel about Eva and Jamie who meet by chance at a hospital and develop a strong friendship. We follow their development through teens and into adulthood.

If you are hoping for a One Day vibe then you'll be sadly disappointed. In fact nothing big really happens at all throughout but I felt myself compelled to keep reading.

I can't really say why I enjoyed it - perhaps the well rounded characters meant you really got to know Eva and never quite knowing Jamie - just how it's supposed to be.

[Sophie Stingelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow pace but I think she does a great job at capturing mundane experiences and depicting them as the sort of essence of life. Not a super uplifting read but lots of moments that I find myself still turning over in my head.
This is the kind of book that I should read again...!

[Sean Kinch]

Freshman year, Eva gets good advice from new friend Lorrie: “Flirt with grad students, fuck grad students, but don’t make the mistake of actually talking to them. They sound ridiculous when they talk.”

[Sonia Menken · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was like eating candy! So beautifully written

[Alice Palace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a coming of age story following a girl over the course of 10 years or so. The entire plot is inconsequential. The author uses no foreshadowing or references anything else that has happened throughout the book almost ever. Almost like an anthropological diary of the girl’s life.

The main character has terribly low self-esteem and remains quite juvenile despite her aging and having new experiences.

The book is incredibly descriptive and perceptive when describing every interaction between characters. The side characters are all interesting but it doesn’t quite make sense why they continue to engage with the main character. Her life-long best friend’s side story is captivating then devastating.

I read this book in three days. It was a strange nostalgic and introspective escape but left me feeling sad for everyone involved. Very teenage-girl philosophical and at times meta.

[Sarah Rubin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As soon as I learned that the author has previously published mainly short stories, it was a clear aha! moment. I will first admit that it took me forever to read this book (3 months!) I kept putting it down and reading other things, but eventually picking it back up because I did enjoy the writing. The way I finally got through it was to treat each chapter as a standalone short story. That was quite easy to do, as the author spent zero time cultivating the central "best friendship" of the two "main" characters. The entire novel is written from one character's point of view and the other "main" character ambles in and out of chapters but you learn literally nothing about his personality or desires. This story is supposed to follow two best friends as they grow up and move through life; I would say that this story depicts acquaintances, at best, who seem to kind of tolerate each other. Even the narrator is an enigma. She seems disenchanted with all aspects of life; it's hard to root for her when she doesn't seem to have any depth or substance. All of the other characters - her parents, her on and off boyfriend, her best friend, a random politician she befriends - are the broadest of sketches and seem to have no inner life.

So why did I keep reading this book until the end? The prose is good. The words flow in an almost lyrical way at times. I think this is the book equivalent of an art house film that you see at the local art museum, tell everyone you loved it to sound smart and artistic, but actually can't remember any of the plot the minute you leave the theater.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advanced copy of this story.

[kathryn (le livre en rose) · Rating 2 out of 5]

1/3 of the way into this book, Sestanovich titles a chapter “What’s the Point?” and yeah. Yeah yeah yeah.

Sestanovich is a talented writer at the sentence level, but the entire novel collapses into nothingness. this is the kind of novel I fear the most: people who are ordinary but never too ordinary (the outrage!), existing in worlds that are ugly but always in a beautiful way. The protagonist has no tactile involvement with the world around her, which enables her to exist in a register that is—unintentionally but functionally—privileged and uninteresting. This would not be such a crime if the book were content to be privileged and uninteresting (sallyrooneysallyrooneysallyrooney) but instead the book aspires to something like a impotent social and political critique. Also Sestanovich invests heavily in the rare specimen of the manic pixie dream boy and like, What’s the Point?

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ably written, ultimately uninteresting.

[Fran Hawthorne · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a novel, like this one, is light on plot or narrative tension, the protagonist’s voice and character must carry the story. That’s what makes Ask Me Again so frustrating.

In simple, largely unemotional sentences, it traces 10 years in the life of the third-person narrator, Eva, starting when she’s a middle-class 16-year-old in Brooklyn.

Sometimes the narrative voice’s simplicity opens the world in a wonderfully fresh way. When Eva meets her future college boyfriend, and then learns his name a little while later, she thinks, “The name settled over him, changing him, though she couldn’t be sure how. As if he’d taken off his glasses, or put on a new shirt.”

Often, however, that voice comes across as too juvenile and naïve for Eva’s age and urban upbringing, almost as if she’s giggling at her own cuteness. For instance, a couple of years out of college, when she’s invited to a party for Jess—an up-and-coming member of Congress obviously modeled on New York City Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—Eva prepares by reading some 20 or 30 news articles about Jess. “By the time she had finished reading, she felt well informed. She felt good. But now no one was talking about politics.” While this is the way Dick and Jane might talk, it’s not how a college-educated journalist thinks.

The book begins in the emergency room of a Manhattan hospital in December 2006, as Eva and her parents keep vigil over her grandmother, who had tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a second-floor window at her nursing home. One morning in the waiting room, while she’s people-watching and half-reading a book of poetry, Eva notices “a teenage boy, skinny limbs and stringy hair, whose eyes were also closed, but his posture was too good for sleeping.” His name is Jamie, and It turns out that he’s waiting for his older brother, who has once again come to the ER after a drunken binge.

Over the next decade, Eva and Jamie meander in and out of each other’s lives, their relationship constantly shifting from mentorship to friendship to almost-flirtation to confusion (if not repulsion), and many stages beyond.

Eva follows a fairly typical path for a middle-class Millennial: college, an entry-level job at a Washington DC newspaper, apartment-sharing in a couple of large Coastal cities, periodic visits with her parents. Jamie, meanwhile, zigzags far off the path. He drops out of college, cuts off his parents, works in tech, lives in a tent, joins the Occupy Wall Street movement, then joins an ad hoc church, then camps out in an abandoned warehouse.

But if the Eva-Jamie relationship is supposed to be the fulcrum of this coming-of-age story, the reader needs to see a lot more of Jamie. Yet he simply disappears for long stretches. His Occupy and Thoreau periods, for instance, are tossed off in a few pages.

Eva’s female friendships, luckily, are more richly portrayed, especially her unexpected connection with the older advice columnist Judy.
On balance, it’s worth reading Ask Me Again for the flashes of the perceptive Eva. (Adapted from my review in “The New York Journal of Books” https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book...)

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Ask Me Again’ follows Eva from when she meets her best friend Jamie at age sixteen in a New York hospital waiting room. Through high school to university and her first forays into the world of journalism, Eva navigates her relationships with others and grapples with who she wants to be.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. When Eva and Jamie meet as teenagers they have chemistry and their differences in class, personality and world view are intriguing. Unfortunately the novel really loses its momentum early on as Jamie is relegated to a side character, and it is never regained.

The pacing is aggressively slow, and although significant plot points occur (to Jamie and her parents for example), it feels as though the focus is on the more frustratingly mundane and uninteresting choices and musings of Eva. After a while I found Eva’s detached and shallow point of view dreary to read from. She consistently claims to care about and love other people that she takes for granted and fails to communicate effectively with. Her insights which have the tone of being deeply profound were actually forced and immature. At all times, it felt as though Sestanovich was trying so hard to be smart and make a point, that I never got lost in the story.

Although ‘Ask Me Again’ reads as a modern take on the Bildungsroman, Eva avoids conflict almost pathologically and so the character growth expected from this genre doesn’t occur (and it could be argued that Eva actually regresses). This may of been Sestanovich’s aim, a sort of anti-Bildungsroman, however it is poorly executed and just feels sloppy.

On a sentence level, there is some beautiful writing here and I see great potential in Sestanovich’s skill. The overall storytelling and themes would have worked far better in a shorter, tighter medium. After the focus shifted away from the relationship between Eva and Jamie, there just wasn’t enough here to sustain a full novel.

Thank you to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.