“Taken together, these kaleidoscopic dispatches offer a hopeful vision for a more connected and socially supportive society.” —Publishers Weekly
“In a single word, Living, Together by Samantha Paige Rosen is hopeful. Each writer’s contribution— though sometimes harrowing, other times beckoning, and often joyous—asks readers to lead with empathy, yes, but also idealism. We can exist and love in any way we can dream up—we just have to expand the walls that confine us.” —Chicago Review of Books
“Rosen’s anthology successfully demonstrates that communal life is not a fringe experiment but an essential social and emotional infrastructure that many people are already building in response to the shortcomings of contemporary housing, labor, and care systems.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
“[An] intimate and gentle essay collection about where, how, and with whom people choose to live. As much as it explores some of the practicalities of housing, it is, above all, a book about identity and aging. Who are we, who do we want to become, and how are our aspirations connected to the people who and places that ground us?”—Jewish Book Council
“Throughout the pages, acts of tenderness and generosity spring up like wildflowers—people caring for aging parents, others helping to raise children that aren’t their own. The resulting book is a rare read: one that’s unflinchingly honest about our current world (including the financial inequities and hardships that often drive people to live communally), but that will also leave you feeling hopeful for the future.” —Electric Literature
“Rigorous, funny, authentic, and informative. I came away feeling 10 percent more hopeful about how we will possibly live now and 10 percent less dead inside.”
—Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of Housemates
“A powerful, generous reframing of what it means to build a life—a reminder that connection, interdependence, and shared responsibility are not fringe experiments but ancient inherently human qualities that have the power to heal the world.”
—Sophie Lucido Johnson, author of Kin: The Future of Family
“No need for a total commune vision; this book lifts up the joys of cohabiting with friends, family, and chosen family even if only for a short while. And, crucially, the stories teach us how to envision living together, navigate the reality, and depart with gratitude and grace.”
—Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of Ritual
“If you desire a life that breaks from the well-worn path of marriage and kids and a big house in the burbs, if you wish for a life that is less a reflection of society’s defaults and more of a work of art—one that reflects your creativity, desires, and grandest vision of what makes a good life—then you must read this book.”
—Dr. Marisa G. Franco, author of Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends
“How perfect that this celebration of collaborative, collective life should be such a joint effort—a chorus of voices coming together to offer a generous, expansive vision of what modern life can look like for those willing to think outside the box.”
—Lilly Dancyger, author of First Love: Essays on Friendship
