Thrown

Publisher's description. A genre-bending work of literary reportage. The profound and the absurd come face to face in this extraordinary auto-fiction exposé, as a bookish young woman stumbles across the bizarre underworld of professional cage fighting. Unexpectedly hooked on the spectacle, she befriends fighters and chases fights, becoming ever more entangled in the macabre, blackly comic and ultimately heart-breaking drama of the octagon. * Penguin *
Compulsively readable * The New York Times *
Truly gripping, stunning * Salon *
Mesmerising * Houston Chronicle *
An exciting brand of nonfiction depicting the darker side of the American dream. An intimate, front-row look at two stories of hope, glory, and violence * Vogue *
Best book I read this year -- Alex Massie (on twitter)
Nothing else felt as strong and smart and fresh and honest this year - nothing else whipped my head around the way something great and truly new does -- Lev Grossman * Salon *
An intelligent, funny, and utterly captivating look at a surprising subculture * Buzzfeed *
Thrown does what all literature aspires to do - to bring us into a community, a universe, we did not know we cared about and in the end leave us shattered and revealed * Los Angeles Times *
The most fascinating book I've read this year. The precision of Howley's prose reminds me of Joan Didion or David Foster Wallace * Time *