In a pre-apocalyptic world not unlike our own, a young Instagram poet starts an affair with a California billionaire whos promised a time machine that will make everything normal againwhatever that means.
A whip-smart, absurdly funny debut novel for fans of Patricia Lockwood and Marlowe Granados.
Everyone knows somethings off, but nobody can agree on just what it is. Maybe its the weather; maybe everyones just so damn sensitive these days. Or maybe its because the animals of the world have finally had enough, besieging towns and cities and terrorizing their human residents.
Jenlena and her best friend Daphne are two humanities grads in their early 20s, trying to find their way in a society that has just eradicated all animals for the safety of humanity. In the post-fauna world, Jenlena transforms from an aspiring poet to a gig worker, capitalizing on other peoples grief by selling house plants that have come to replace pets and cosplaying as dogs for pay. Meanwhile Daphne, a once-promising student, flounders in a deep depression, smoking weed and ditching work to hang out with her once famous, now canceled boyfriend. When Jenlena meets the California billionaire Roderick Maeve, and the two become romantically entangled, she is exposed to a new understanding of wealth, power, and the gender economyjust as the world hurtles toward its alleged salvation.
Marked with Frankie Barnets poignant intelligence and sly sense of humor, Mood Swings is a stand-out debut novel that imagines with pitch-perfect absurdity what comes after life as we know it.
