Description
Meet Corbin Moore, a twenty-something lapsed writer whose job at a struggling, off-brand spiritualist bookshop in Seattle meshes well with his regimen of smoking cannabis, binge eating, and doom-watching the news. That rut is interrupted by the return of his overbearing mother, Geraldine, a famous self-help guru whos looking for a guinea pig. Add in the daily deluge of Corbins deep-seated insecurities and body dysmorphia, the prospect of reunion with still beloved ex-girlfriend Beth, and nonstop harassment by a murder of near-murderous crows, and you get a person most in need of helpbut from whom, and how?
Sharply funny and surprisingly tender, Daniel Popes debut asks the question: What if were not broken in all the ways the prophets of American self-help say we are? This book is for all the people self-improvement leaves behind.
Reviews
Corbin Taylor Moore, the Seattle-based anti-hero narrator of Daniel Popes rollicking debut, is a weed-smoking, pill-popping, self-critiquing twenty-something experiencing something of a mid-life crisis. It doesnt help that his mother, a famous self-help author, barely understands him, that he struggles to connect with his coworkers or soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, or that a crow hauntingly appears the day of his crash-out, followed by a murder of crows as events progress. A brilliant send-up of our contemporary late neoliberal moment, Go Help Yourself captures the vicissitudes of Millennial life today and brings a vibrant new literary voice to readers.
John Keene, National Book Award winner and author of Counternarratives: Stories & Novellas
A deadpan, mordant, thoroughly entertaining coming-of-age novel about what it takes to truly see oneself clearly. Go Help Yourself is a singular debut, and Daniel Pope is one to watch.
Kirstin Chen, New York Times-bestselling author of Counterfeit
Part nightmarish motherson chronicle and part satisfying slacker novel, Go Help Yourself is also a memorable story about the limits of control. Pope is unafraid to roam into complicated psychological territory, but his story somehow comes out the other side, resulting in a moving, funny, and ultimately hopeful novel.
Gabe Habash, author of Stephen Florida
Original, hilarious . . . Daniel Popes debut novel takes the pulse of contemporary youth malaise and finds it galloping with hopes and schemes despite a lot of evidence that life is rough. I loved every word of it.
Alice Elliott Dark, author of Fellowship Point and In the Gloaming
Go Help Yourself is the kind of debut novel that I loveexuberant, inventive, and unafraid of risk or excess. Its a testament to Daniel Popes voice and vision that even at Corbin Moores lowest, loneliest points, his story hums with hope and brims with life.
Chris Bachelder, author of The Throwback Special
Wildly entertaining, Go Help Yourself pierces through all the sanctimony of the self-help industry with humor and grace. Daniel Pope holds a mirror to how we see ourselves and others, forcing us to reckon with uncomfortable truths. A necessary voice in this digital age of optimization.
Akil Kumarasamy, author of Meet Us by the Roaring Sea
Go Help Yourself is a greathearted debutfull of livin, laughin, lovin, and other poignant anti-life lessons.
Bud Smith, author of Mighty
Author Bio
Daniel Pope is a writer and musician from Seattle. His work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Bellevue Literary Review, Gulf Coast Journal, and elsewhere. He currently lives in the UK, where he is a doctoral candidate at the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing.
