A New York Times Best Book of 2025A New York Times Editors' Choice"To Smithereens is an extraordinarily good book, but then so is everything Rosalyn Drexler ever wrote." —The New York TimesA zany... Read More
Description
A New York Times Best Book of 2025
A New York Times Editors' Choice
"To Smithereens is an extraordinarily good book, but then so is everything Rosalyn Drexler ever wrote." —The New York Times
A zany romance set amid the Manhattan experimental art scene and the female wrestling world of the 1970s, from an overlooked star of the Pop Art movement
When Rosa, a depressed and drifting twenty-something, meets Paul, a middling art critic, an off-kilter romance commences. Paul longs to be dominated by physically powerful women and convinces Rosa to fulfill one of his fantasies: that she become a wrestler. Soon, Rosa joins a women’s wrestling team and embarks on a tour of the South, befriends her horny teammates and their jealous boyfriends, and learns to hold her own among a crew of seedy coaches and greedy promoters. Through wrestling, Rosa learns to articulate what kind of life she wants, and to wriggle free of Paul’s attempts to possess her.
To Smithereens is a lighthearted satire of art world personalities, a glimpse into Manhattan of the 1970s—with its seedy theatres and beloved freaks—and a riotous foray into the craze of mid-century women’s wrestling. Inspired both by Drexler's experiences as one of few women in the Pop Art movement and her own career in the ring (immortalized in Andy Warhol's "Album of a Mat Queen"), and first published in 1972, To Smithereens is an antic, biting portrait of its time from a voice that speaks directly to ours.
Details
- Price: $18.00
- Pages: 200
- Carton Quantity: 80
- Publisher: Hagfish
- Imprint: Hagfish
- Publication Date: 20th May 2025
- Trim Size: 4.5 x 7 in
- ISBN: 9781965028025
- Format: Paperback
- BISACs:
FICTION / Absurdist
FICTION / Contemporary Women
FICTION / Feminist
FICTION / Literary
Reviews
Praise for To Smithereens
A New York Times Editors' Choice
"Brilliantly offbeat . . . To Smithereens is a novel about a man daring a woman to do things, and the woman doing them—to test her power, to defy the straitjacket of femininity and to grow ever larger and stronger . . . In language as deft and muscular as Rosa’s team, Drexler captures the scent of the blood and the resin, every wisecrack and sob story, every flake of talc and gob of spit, every pimple and blackhead on the lady wrestlers’ thighs.” —Lauren Elkin, The New York Times Book Review
"Wild and unpredictable . . . To Smithereens is a ribald New York City meet-cute, a cutting look at 1970s counterculture, and an outlandish, off-kilter, underappreciated triumph." —Benjamin Samuel, BOMB
"Brilliant, haywire . . . This rollicking feminist classic, originally published in 1972, was Drexler’s third novel. A writer, artist and film-maker, we might think of her as the Miranda July of her day . . . Drexler’s prose is the real deal, and Rosa is a blast. To Smithereens oozes sleazy, sexy style.” —Lucy Scholes, The Times Literary Supplement
"Both epic in its energy and intimate in its attention; a much-needed reminder of the enduring, and transformative, power of the weird. Drexler rises from her corner, ready to fight again!" —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"To Smithereens is transcendently weird and fun, like a pervy secret—it's exactly the way art and books should feel.” —Halle Butler, author of Banal Nightmare
“Amid stiff competition, To Smithereens hoists the belt as Rosalyn Drexler’s finest novel, a rough and funny artworld and showbiz throwdown from that sardonic, surreal and carnal New Yorkese voice that is like no other.” —Jonathan Lethem, author of Brooklyn Crime NovelPrevious Praise
"To Smithereens is an extraordinarily good book, but then so is everything Rosalyn Drexler ever wrote." —The New York Times
"What impressed me immediately about Drexler's work was her voice . . . brilliantly comedic, observant . . . [It] presaged work by Renata Adler and Mary Gaitskill, post-modern writers who talked about the fragmentary nature of women's lives in fragments, sometimes, but Drexler had gotten there first." —Hilton Als, author of My Pinup
"Intelligence and wit bind all of Drexler’s work, as strong as crazy glue." —Christine Smallwood, Harper's
“[Drexler’s] gift is in probing the very American netherworld between sanity and incipient madness, the interiorization of the mind as modern life spins out of control and we are powerless to affect it.” —John Lahr, The New Yorker
"Rosalyn Drexler continues to write some of the most intelligent, powerful, and winsome fiction being written today." —Annie Dillard
"First rate writing and first rate humor." —Gloria Steinem
"Rosalyn Drexler is always brilliant, gay, depressed, and hopeful." —Donald Barthelme
Author Bio
A New York Times Best Book of 2025
A New York Times Editors' Choice
"To Smithereens is an extraordinarily good book, but then so is everything Rosalyn Drexler ever wrote." —The New York Times
A zany romance set amid the Manhattan experimental art scene and the female wrestling world of the 1970s, from an overlooked star of the Pop Art movement
When Rosa, a depressed and drifting twenty-something, meets Paul, a middling art critic, an off-kilter romance commences. Paul longs to be dominated by physically powerful women and convinces Rosa to fulfill one of his fantasies: that she become a wrestler. Soon, Rosa joins a women’s wrestling team and embarks on a tour of the South, befriends her horny teammates and their jealous boyfriends, and learns to hold her own among a crew of seedy coaches and greedy promoters. Through wrestling, Rosa learns to articulate what kind of life she wants, and to wriggle free of Paul’s attempts to possess her.
To Smithereens is a lighthearted satire of art world personalities, a glimpse into Manhattan of the 1970s—with its seedy theatres and beloved freaks—and a riotous foray into the craze of mid-century women’s wrestling. Inspired both by Drexler's experiences as one of few women in the Pop Art movement and her own career in the ring (immortalized in Andy Warhol's "Album of a Mat Queen"), and first published in 1972, To Smithereens is an antic, biting portrait of its time from a voice that speaks directly to ours.
- Price: $18.00
- Pages: 200
- Carton Quantity: 80
- Publisher: Hagfish
- Imprint: Hagfish
- Publication Date: 20th May 2025
- Trim Size: 4.5 x 7 in
- ISBN: 9781965028025
- Format: Paperback
- BISACs:
FICTION / Absurdist
FICTION / Contemporary Women
FICTION / Feminist
FICTION / Literary
Praise for To Smithereens
A New York Times Editors' Choice
"Brilliantly offbeat . . . To Smithereens is a novel about a man daring a woman to do things, and the woman doing them—to test her power, to defy the straitjacket of femininity and to grow ever larger and stronger . . . In language as deft and muscular as Rosa’s team, Drexler captures the scent of the blood and the resin, every wisecrack and sob story, every flake of talc and gob of spit, every pimple and blackhead on the lady wrestlers’ thighs.” —Lauren Elkin, The New York Times Book Review
"Wild and unpredictable . . . To Smithereens is a ribald New York City meet-cute, a cutting look at 1970s counterculture, and an outlandish, off-kilter, underappreciated triumph." —Benjamin Samuel, BOMB
"Brilliant, haywire . . . This rollicking feminist classic, originally published in 1972, was Drexler’s third novel. A writer, artist and film-maker, we might think of her as the Miranda July of her day . . . Drexler’s prose is the real deal, and Rosa is a blast. To Smithereens oozes sleazy, sexy style.” —Lucy Scholes, The Times Literary Supplement
"Both epic in its energy and intimate in its attention; a much-needed reminder of the enduring, and transformative, power of the weird. Drexler rises from her corner, ready to fight again!" —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"To Smithereens is transcendently weird and fun, like a pervy secret—it's exactly the way art and books should feel.” —Halle Butler, author of Banal Nightmare
“Amid stiff competition, To Smithereens hoists the belt as Rosalyn Drexler’s finest novel, a rough and funny artworld and showbiz throwdown from that sardonic, surreal and carnal New Yorkese voice that is like no other.” —Jonathan Lethem, author of Brooklyn Crime NovelPrevious Praise
"To Smithereens is an extraordinarily good book, but then so is everything Rosalyn Drexler ever wrote." —The New York Times
"What impressed me immediately about Drexler's work was her voice . . . brilliantly comedic, observant . . . [It] presaged work by Renata Adler and Mary Gaitskill, post-modern writers who talked about the fragmentary nature of women's lives in fragments, sometimes, but Drexler had gotten there first." —Hilton Als, author of My Pinup
"Intelligence and wit bind all of Drexler’s work, as strong as crazy glue." —Christine Smallwood, Harper's
“[Drexler’s] gift is in probing the very American netherworld between sanity and incipient madness, the interiorization of the mind as modern life spins out of control and we are powerless to affect it.” —John Lahr, The New Yorker
"Rosalyn Drexler continues to write some of the most intelligent, powerful, and winsome fiction being written today." —Annie Dillard
"First rate writing and first rate humor." —Gloria Steinem
"Rosalyn Drexler is always brilliant, gay, depressed, and hopeful." —Donald Barthelme