During a still hot autumn in New York City, a rabies-like illness spreads among blonde women, causing them to “rage out” and attack passersby. The epidemic shuts down New York where Hazel, a grad student who is pregnant and alone, tries to escape only to find the disease infecting women throughout North America. With echoes of White Noise and a biting satiric wit, Emily Schultz’s novel is an examination of what happens in a world where beauty is deadly.
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Picador, 2015, 400 pages
PRAISE FOR THE BLONDES
“The Blondes is scary and deeply, bitingly funny — a satire about gender that kept me reading until 4 in the morning — and a fine addition to the all-too-small genre of feminist horror.” NPR (Also a Great Reads 2015 selection)
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“Emily Schultz is my new hero.” Stephen King
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“A nail-biter that is equal parts suspense, science fiction, and a funny, dark sendup of the stranglehold of gender.” Kirkus Reviews , Best Books of 2015
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“Funny, horrific, and frighteningly realistic, Schultz’s second novel is a must read.” The Library Journal (starred)
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“[A] ferociously clever, exceedingly well written variation on the pandemic novel…This canny, suspenseful, acidly observant satire cradles an intimate, poignant, and hilarious story of one lonely, stoic, young mother-to-be caught up in surreal and terrifying situations.” Booklist (starred)
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“This frighteningly realistic nail-biter is as acidly funny as it is twisted.” People Magazine
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“Schultz spins an eerie tale with perspective into our cultural attitudes about beauty.” Entertainment Weekly
“What sounds like George Romero with a bottle of peroxide is surprisingly sensitive and contemplative… As classic blonde jokes acquire deadly hues, the novel’s satiric color remains subtle.” Ron Charles, The Washington Post
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"A road story, and a feminist bildungsroman, and a parable about prejudice and reproductive freedom and immigration.” Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
“Those who enjoy Margaret Atwood should sign up for it. I did, and gladly.”
Alan Cheuse, Dallas Morning News
“The Blondes is the book you can’t put down; it’s also the book you can’t stop thinking about after you do.” Bookpage (Top Fiction pick and Best Books of 2015)
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“The Blondes is intelligent, mesmerizing, and fearless. An entirely original and beautifully twisted satire with a heart of darkness.” Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
“Skin-crawling, Cronenbergian satire.” Rue Morgue
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"Corrosively humorous commentary on social, sexual and cross-border politics." —Toronto Star
​“Emily Schultz balances biting humor and thrilling suspense in a complex story.” Us Weekly
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"The Blondes [aims] to be both a realist narrative about loneliness, insecurities and maternal anxieties and a fantastical, not quite allegorical tale of a semi-apocalypse. It’s a testament to author Emily Schultz’s immense gifts with tone, detail and the crafting of a compelling first-person voice that this novel is never less than engaging even when this balance begins to feel absurd." National Post
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“A wild and smart look at cultural theory, gender roles, and societal expectations.” LongReads
“A campy, King-inspired nightmare sure to satisfy the scream queens in the audience…” Bustle
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“The Blondes by Emily Schultz gives a twisted meaning to the phrase ‘blondes have more fun.’ I giggled and shivered.” Minnesota Journal Sentinel
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“With a lively sense of danger … and an absurdist but compelling feminist premise, the book has the enviable qualities of a smart page-turner.“ Flavorwire
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"A hybrid novel, at the crossroads of the history of zombies, a nightmare scenario and the story of an adulterous liaison gone wrong, Blondes is bathed in light humor and self mockery." Christian Desmeules, Le Devoir