Kitten

A playful, heartfelt debut novel -- a coming-of-age story for modern times, for fans of Mona Awad, Ling Ma, and Elif Batuman.

Kitten captures the vulnerability of early adulthood with startling precision. Abound in wit and restraint, the novel explores the funny yet unsettling complexities of modern love . What does it mean to be looked after versus seen? Are love and safety one and the same? A fearless debut!

Stacey Yu's Kitten is as tender and brutal as a kiss to the most wounded part of yourself. Yu perfectly captures how it feels to be young and terrified of yourself . To call a novel this fierce Kitten . . . Yu's eye for friction and chaos should be studied

Within the first few lines of Stacey Yu's Kitten so much is revealed with such tact and precision, and it's a telling sign for the rest of the novel. A novel so astute and honest while its main character struggles to be, a novel that examines the truths and complexities of love and living in a way that forces its reader to reevaluate their approaches to life, and perhaps every experience with another person they've ever had. Kitten is a spellbinding story written by a wildly intelligent author whose observations and understanding of our relationships both with others and ourselves is a marvel to read . The moment you've finished this book, it will play on your mind for days

Even the most loyal dog person will read Stacey Yu's weird, wry, and surprisingly tender debut Kitten and be charmed. A hilarious and moving novel about your twenties, about stumbling into adulthood, and the pleasure and pain of realizing you can be and do whatever you want

Kitten is a playful, subtle and brilliant study of need, want, loneliness, and power . It bats around scalding insights about mothers and daughters, wealth, the gig economy, and how relationships are always transactional, one way or another. But it does this without cynicism or undercutting the tenderness at its heart. It's soft and sharp, totally in control, utterly deranged. I lapped it up

Stacey Yu's prose is as precise and honed as a cat's claw, splitting open the skin of the early adolescent experience. An endearing meditation that will resonate with anyone who has been young, lost, and stagnant, Kitten will leave you aching with its insights on the weight of childhood and the possibility of adulthood

I was completely unable to resist reading it in one sitting . Exquisitely constructed and unexpected . . . Stacey Yu is unique

Stacey Yu grew up in California and lives in London. She studied English literature at Columbia University. Kitten is her debut novel.