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How Should a Person Be?

by Sheila Heti
How Should a Person Be?
How Should a Person Be?

Self-discovery through unconventional life explorations.

If you're at a crossroads, creatively or personally, "How Should a Person Be?" might resonate deeply with you. Sheila Heti crafts a narrative that's part memoir, part novel, blurring reality and fiction. As you follow Sheila's journey through friendship, art, and sexual adventures, you might find yourself questioning and embracing the chaos of your own life. It's a bold, refreshing read for anyone intrigued by the messiness of self-discovery.

  • Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2013)
  • RSL Encore Award Nominee (2013)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

How Should a Person Be?

by Sheila Heti
Condition guide

Book Condition Guide

Books in Like New Condition

This book may contain very minor cosmetic defects, but it is in pristine condition. There should be no yellowing, no foxing, no water damage, and no annotations of any kind on the cover and the pages. For paperbacks, there should not be any crease marks on the spine. This book is good as new — lucky you!

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Very Good Condition

This book has been used, but it is still in a clean condition. There should be no foxing or annotations of any kind on the inner pages, but a sparse amount may be present on the cover, title pages, or outside edges of the book. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be light crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Good Condition

We do our best to ensure the quality of our books, but there is no escaping the wear and tear that comes with time. Slight foxing and some annotations may be present on the pages and the cover. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be several crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Well Read Condition

This is a well-read book, which means that the previous owner probably really enjoyed it! The cover and pages may include moderate foxing and annotations, but the text is not obscured and still readable. Moderate cosmetic defects and minor water damage may be present on the edges of the book. For paperbacks, there may be multiple crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

 

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ISBN: 9780805094725
Authors: Sheila Heti
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Date of Publication: 2012-06-19
Format: Hardcover
Related Collections: Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Related Topics: Philosophy, Feminism
Goodreads rating: 3.33
(rated by 16680 readers)

Description

From the internationally acclaimed author of The Middle Stories and Ticknor comes a bold interrogation into the possibility of a beautiful life. How Should a Person Be? is a novel of many identities: an autobiography of the mind, a postmodern self-help book, and a fictionalized portrait of the artist as a young woman — of two such artists, in fact. For reasons multiple and mysterious, Sheila finds herself in a quandary of self-doubt, questioning how a person should be in the world. Inspired by her friend Margaux, a painter, and her seemingly untortured ability to live and create, Sheila casts Margaux as material, embarking on a series of recordings in which nothing is too personal, too ugly, or too banal to be turned into art. Along the way, Sheila confronts a cast of painters who are equally blocked in an age in which the blow job is the ultimate art form. She begins questioning her desire to be Important, her quest to be both a leader and a pupil, and her unwillingness to sacrifice herself. Searching, uncompromising and yet mordantly funny, How Should a Person Be? is a brilliant portrait of art-making and friendship from the psychic underground of Canada's most fiercely original writer.
 

Self-discovery through unconventional life explorations.

If you're at a crossroads, creatively or personally, "How Should a Person Be?" might resonate deeply with you. Sheila Heti crafts a narrative that's part memoir, part novel, blurring reality and fiction. As you follow Sheila's journey through friendship, art, and sexual adventures, you might find yourself questioning and embracing the chaos of your own life. It's a bold, refreshing read for anyone intrigued by the messiness of self-discovery.

  • Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2013)
  • RSL Encore Award Nominee (2013)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.