How Should A Person Be?

Reeling from a failed marriage, Sheila, a 20-something playwright, finds herself unsure of how to live & create. When Margaux, a talented painter & free spirit, & Israel, a sexy & depraved artist, enter her life, Sheila hopes that through close - sometimes too close - observation of her new friend, her new lover, & herself, she might regain her footing in art &  life.

Using transcribed conversations, real emails, plus heavy doses of fiction, the brilliant & always innovative Sheila Heti crafts a work that is part literary novel, part self-help manual, & part bawdy confessional. It's a totally shameless & dynamic exploration into the way we live now, which breathes fresh wisdom into the eternal questions: What is the sincerest way to love? What kind of person should you be?

“[Sheila Heti] has an appealing restlessness, a curiosity about new forms, & an attractive freedom from pretentiousness or cant…How Should a Person Be? offers a vital &  funny picture of the excitements & longueurs of trying to be a young creator in a free, late-capitalist Western City…This talented writer may well have identified a central dialectic of 21st-century postmodern being.” - James Wood, New Yorker

°°°

A brilliant portrayal of finding a beautiful life by 1 of Canada's most exciting literary talents, now available as an Anansi Book Club edition featuring discussion questions. How Should a Person Be? is an unabashedly honest & hilarious tour through the unknowable pieces of one woman’s heart & mind, an irresistible torn-from-life book about friendship, art, sex, & love. It is a fearless exploration into the way we live now.