The Spectators

Praise

“In addition to being a well-spun epic, The Spectators is an examination of the spectacle-driven culture we’re all part of.”—Refinery29

“The Spectators is yet another triumph in an impressive oeuvre: a brave and painfully vivid excavation of the AIDS crisis in New York that, with its fine prose, breathes life back into an era of death.”—Karan Mahajan, author of the National Book Award finalist The Association of Small Bombs

“The Spectators, the third novel by the well-regarded author Jennifer duBois, often thrums with vibrancy and echoes divisive current events as it covers a timeline from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. It also gains momentum when the plot takes a sudden, sinister twist—a threat of blackmail, a shooter’s potentially explosive letter, a secret taping. . . . A searingly felt remembrance.”—Associated Press

“Covering three decades of American culture, including the nineties pop culture wars and the AIDS crisis of the eighties to the liberated seventies, this may be duBois’s most ambitious work yet.”—Lit Hub, “Most Anticipated Books of 2019”

“Elegant, enigmatic, and haunting.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“The Spectators is a beautifully written, even aphoristic novel, but its greatest strength is its characterization. . . . Brilliantly conceived and . . . utterly unforgettable.”—Booklist (starred review)

“A Whiting Award winner and PEN/Hemingway nominee, duBois writes an especially timely novel exploring the power of the media to foment chaos and the culpability of the public that validates the discord by watching.”—Library Journal

“A powerful novel . . . DuBois spans some thirty years of New York City history, moving between the queer gestalt of the 1970s and the television-junkie culture of the 1990s.”—Publishers Weekly

“A Whiting Award winner and PEN/Hemingway nominee, duBois writes an especially timely novel exploring the power of the media to foment chaos and the culpability of the public that validates the discord by watching.”—Library Journal

“The Spectators is magnificent, a richly textured epic suffused in heartbreak yet spring-loaded with vitality. Jennifer duBois is among the finest writers of our generation and this is her most accomplished novel.”—Anthony Marra, author of The Tsar of Love and Techno

“Another breathtaking novel from one of our most brilliant writers . . . No one writes about the contradictions of American society and the foibles of the human heart with such incisive wit and sensitivity. The Spectators is a tense and propulsive exploration of how easily we can let our best intentions slip away. As secrets are uncovered, Jennifer duBois reminds us that to truly see, without apology or artifice, is itself an act of compassion. This novel pulses with intelligence and heart.”—Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of Night at the Fiestas