About the book
Josie Tyrell, art model, runaway, and denizen of LA's rock scene finds a chance at real love with Michael Faraday, a Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist. But when she receives a call from the coroner, asking her to identify her lover's body, her bright dreams all turn to black.
As Josie struggles to understand Michael's death and to hold onto the world they shared, she is both attracted to and repelled by his pianist mother, Meredith, who blames Josie for her son's torment. Soon the two women are drawn into a twisted relationship that reflects equal parts distrust and blind need. With the luxurious prose and fever pitch intensity that are her hallmarks, Janet Fitch weaves a spellbinding tale of love, betrayal, and the possibility of transcendence.
\"A dark, crooked beauty that fulfills all the promise of White Oleander and confirms that Janet Fitch is an artist of the very highest order.\"-Los Angeles Times Book Review
\"Lushly written, dramatically plotted. . . Fitch's Los Angeles is so real it breathes.\"-Atlantic Monthly
\"There is nothing less than a stellar sentence in this novel. Fitch's emotional honesty recalls the work of Joyce Carol Oates, her strychnine sentences the prose of Paula Fox.\"-Cleveland Plain Dealer
\"A page-turning psychodrama. . . . Fitch's prose penetrates the inner lives of [her characters] with immediacy and bite.\"-Publishers Weekly
\"Fitch wonderfully captures the abrasive appeal of punk music, the bohemian, sometimes squalid lifestyle, the performers, the drugs, the alienation. This is crackling fresh stuff you don't read every day.\"-USA Today
\"In dysfunctional family narratives, Fitch is to fiction what Eugene O'Neill is to drama.\"-Chicago Sun-Times
\"Riveting. . . . An uncommonly accomplished page-turner.\"-Elle
Editions of Paint It Black
- Hardcover
- ISBN 9780316182744
- EBook
- ISBN 9780759568129
Read an Excerpt
Josie Tyrell, art model, runaway, and denizen of LA's rock scene finds a chance at real love with Michael Faraday, a Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist. But when she receives a call from the coroner, asking her to identify her lover's body, her bright dreams all turn to black.
As Josie struggles to understand Michael's death and to hold onto the world they shared, she is both attracted to and repelled by his pianist mother, Meredith, who blames Josie for her son's torment. Soon the two women are drawn into a twisted relationship that reflects equal parts distrust and blind need. With the luxurious prose and fever pitch intensity that are her hallmarks, Janet Fitch weaves a spellbinding tale of love, betrayal, and the possibility of transcendence.
\"A dark, crooked beauty that fulfills all the promise of White Oleander and confirms that Janet Fitch is an artist of the very highest order.\"-Los Angeles Times Book Review
\"Lushly written, dramatically plotted. . . Fitch's Los Angeles is so real it breathes.\"-Atlantic Monthly
\"There is nothing less than a stellar sentence in this novel. Fitch's emotional honesty recalls the work of Joyce Carol Oates, her strychnine sentences the prose of Paula Fox.\"-Cleveland Plain Dealer
\"A page-turning psychodrama. . . . Fitch's prose penetrates the inner lives of [her characters] with immediacy and bite.\"-Publishers Weekly
\"Fitch wonderfully captures the abrasive appeal of punk music, the bohemian, sometimes squalid lifestyle, the performers, the drugs, the alienation. This is crackling fresh stuff you don't read every day.\"-USA Today
\"In dysfunctional family narratives, Fitch is to fiction what Eugene O'Neill is to drama.\"-Chicago Sun-Times
\"Riveting. . . . An uncommonly accomplished page-turner.\"-Elle
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Paint It Black about?
Josie Tyrell, art model, runaway, and denizen of LA's rock scene finds a chance at real love with Michael Faraday, a Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist. But when she receives a call from the coroner, asking her to identify her lover's body, her bright dreams all turn to black.
As Josie struggles to understand Michael's death and to hold onto the world they shared, she is both attracted to and repelled by his pianist mother, Meredith, who blames Josie for her son's torment. Soon the two women are drawn into a twisted relationship that reflects equal parts distrust and blind need. With the luxurious prose and fever pitch intensity that are her hallmarks, Janet Fitch weaves a spellbinding tale of love, betrayal, and the possibility of transcendence.
\"A dark, crooked beauty that fulfills all the promise of White Oleander and confirms that Janet Fitch is an artist of the very highest order.\"-Los Angeles Times Book Review
\"Lushly written, dramatically plotted. . . Fitch's Los Angeles is so real it breathes.\"-Atlantic Monthly
\"There is nothing less than a stellar sentence in this novel. Fitch's emotional honesty recalls the work of Joyce Carol Oates, her strychnine sentences the prose of Paula Fox.\"-Cleveland Plain Dealer
\"A page-turning psychodrama. . . . Fitch's prose penetrates the inner lives of [her characters] with immediacy and bite.\"-Publishers Weekly
\"Fitch wonderfully captures the abrasive appeal of punk music, the bohemian, sometimes squalid lifestyle, the performers, the drugs, the alienation. This is crackling fresh stuff you don't read every day.\"-USA Today
\"In dysfunctional family narratives, Fitch is to fiction what Eugene O'Neill is to drama.\"-Chicago Sun-Times
\"Riveting. . . . An uncommonly accomplished page-turner.\"-Elle
What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Paint It Black?
Fiction > Fiction: literary and general non-genre
Where can I read a sample of Paint It Black?
You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9780316182744
Who is/are the Author/s of the book Paint It Black?
Janet Fitch
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Paint It Black is available as hardcover(ISBN 9780316182744) and ebook(ISBN 9780759568129)
Where can I buy Paint It Black online or support local independent bookshops?
You can buy Paint It Black from below
Where can I buy Paint It Black?