The Sane One

“Konkle is generous enough to bring her comic sensibilities to a story that could have well have been a tragedy. She speaks for all the ‘sane ones’ out there who never agreed to play that part. It’s insane how much I enjoyed it. Brava, Anna Konkle!”—Amy Sedaris

“Essential reading.”—TheSkimm

“Pen15 fans, rise up! . . . The Sane One continues the same candid and heartfelt tone that Pen15 fans might recognize from the show. This time, Konkle applies that approach to recollections from her childhood, including remembrances of her parents’ divorce, and her journey to becoming a working actress.”—Harper’s Bazaar

“Anna Konkle perfectly captures the awkwardness and drilled-down truth of emerging from the tumult of a stressful childhood to see and embrace your family just as they are. It’s frank and funny and questioning and generous and heartbreaking all at once, without ever compromising her own nuanced truth.”—Gabrielle Hamilton, author of Next of Kin

“I loved this hilarious and harrowing memoir by the brilliant Anna Konkle. Konkle’s writing superpower—familiar to all of us who loved Pen15—is her uncanny ability to vividly channel the inner lives of children with unflinching honesty and humor. Her book is an utterly transporting coming-of-age story that will remind you how each age actually, truly felt, in all its horror, messiness, and beauty.”—Simon Rich, author of Ant Farm

“Anna Konkle brings her extraordinary gift for conveying childhood’s agonies and ecstasies to this poignant family memoir—at once a powerful portrait of the brilliant millennial artist and a nuanced account of reckoning with, and eventually making peace with, flawed parents.”—Ada Calhoun, the New York Times-bestselling author of Also a Poet

“Anna Konkle has an uncanny ability to channel the past and those who inhabit it, maybe from her brilliant work in television, or maybe from growing up in a small town from which few escape unscathed. Funny and heartbreaking, her story is not a rewriting of the past but a hard-earned acceptance of it.”—Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

“Along with Maya Erskine, we have Konkle to thank for Pen15—the best television show in recent history/apex nostalgia object for elder millennials. If [Anna’s] rollicking and vulnerable screenwriting voice is anything to go by, this true tale of tricky wonder years should be a hilarious shot to the heart.”—Literary Hub

“Elegant prose, laugh-out-loud dialogue, and a tender heart make this a delight even for readers unfamiliar with Konkle’s TV work.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Konkle offers a rare picture of just-in-time forgiveness. A moving companion to a binge-watch of PEN15, as well as an inspiration for healing.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Konkle turns the unique aspects of her childhood, adolescence, and adulthood into the universal, using humor to convey existential questions about what ‘normal’ really means and how we can find—or create—it. . . . A powerful piece.”—Booklist

“The Sane One is as much about surviving the unbearable awkwardness of adolescence as it is about finally seeing your parents for who they are—and recognizing that loving them doesn’t mean being their savior.”—BookPage