Green is now available in paperback.
Winner of the American Library Association’s Alex Award
A New York Times Editors’ Pick
One of The New Yorker’s “Books We Loved in 2018”
“Green is a fierce and brilliant book, comic, poignant, perfectly observed, and blazing with all of the urgent fears and longings of adolescence. It’s a glorious story about the subtle complexities of loyalty and friendship that courses with deeper themes of societal expectations, social injustice, and the nature of belonging. By the time I reached the closing chapter, I was so invested in the fate of the characters that I could hardly bear for it to end. It absolutely knocked me out.”
— Helen MacDonald, author of H is for Hawk
“Astounding... I’ve rarely seen an author nail a time and place with such gorgeous accuracy and heartbreaking hilarity. The strength of Sam Graham-Felsen’s voice can lift up entire worlds.”
— Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story
“Though it raises serious questions about race and inequality with a poignancy that took me aback, Green is also funny and beautifully written, with not a word out of place, and somehow managing to be both true to its young narrator’s voice and bracingly intelligent in its depiction of a brutal societal impasse. I enjoyed this more than anything else I’ve read in ages.”
— Adelle Waldman, author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
“Sam Graham-Felsen has pioneered a new genre: free-stylin’ social realism. If Balzac were a hip-hop artist, he might have produced a novel like Green. It’s a coming-of-age story—not only of a boy but of our country—showing us the messy adolescence of a person and a culture grappling with difference, injustice, and the potential human beauty of ever-blurring boundaries.”
— Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock
“Graham-Felsen weaves a supple portrait of race and class in America... The book is sweet, funny, and filled with delirious language… ‘Green’ is the real thing: it brings a lost world close again.”
— The New Yorker
“A comically geeky coming-of-age story that brims with anxiety, resentment, and a surplus of compassion . . . a riot of language that’s part hip-hop, part nerd boy, and part pure imagination . . . Green earns . . . a spot on the continuum of vernacular in the American literary tradition, from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to The Catcher in the Rye.“
— The Boston Globe
“[A] subtly humorous, surprisingly touching coming-of-age narrative . . . a memorable and moving portrayal of a complicated but deep friendship that just might survive the weight placed on it.”
— Publishers Weekly (Starred and Boxed Review)
“Superb . . . a memorable first novel . . . [Green is replete with] wonderful characters, fully realized and multidimensional.”
— Booklist (starred review)
“[Green] poignantly captures the tumultuous feelings of adolescence against the historical backdrop of a racially segregated city and country.”
— Library Journal (Editor’s Pick)
“[Green] has lovely rollicking language and passages [and] a kind of honesty… that’s really appealing.”
— Emily Bazelon, on Slate’s Political Gabfest
“Sam Graham-Felsen achieves an extraordinary balancing act, creating a poignant and convincing coming-of-age story while at the same time reflecting much larger themes about race and the country’s changing social landscape.”
— Jewish Book Council
“Please read Green. You will fall in love with Graham-Felsen's David from his first utterances on page one of this original, thought-provoking twist on an important subject - race relations... A truly memorable moment-in-time novel and a great read.”
— Indie Next Citation
“One of the most original voices you’ll read this year.”
— Southern Living
“Masterfully crafted… Graham-Felsen’s novel is both an ambitious and timely effort… The literary DNA of [Henry] James and [Philip] Roth [is] on display.”
— Literary Matters
[Green] excels as both an eminently relatable and emotional coming-of-age story and as a love letter to a time and a place… a deft exploration of race, class, and privilege that crackles with all the excitement and heartbreak one feels at that age.
— Politics and Prose, Staff Pick