{"product_id":"the-vivisectors","title":"The Vivisectors","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMissouri Williams\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Doloriad\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize, was short-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and was named a best book of 2022 by \n\u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e. Her work has also appeared in \n\u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Baffler\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Believer\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eThe Drift\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Williams's second novel is as brilliant as it is dark, full of unsettling, revelatory allegory, and frankly unlike anything I've read before.\" \u003cb\u003e--Jasmine Vojdani, \u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Missouri Williams is \n\u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e. She is exceptionally good. Astonishingly good . . . a propulsive, insightful, and ultimately moving novel . . . If you take a chance on the things that Missouri Williams has to say--if you believe in something beyond subjectivity--you might just reaffirm why we like fiction in the first place.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--James Webster, \u003ci\u003eDefector\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\"The Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e is incisive, tirelessly inspecting the structural imperfections of the grand but crumbling ivory towers atop its foundation . . . The adjective \n\u003ci\u003ekaleidoscopic\u003c\/i\u003e is rarely warranted in a book review, but it certainly comes to mind. Williams is rotating the glass prism in her hand so we can watch the patterns in the chamber collide.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eStephen Piccarella, \u003ci\u003eThe Baffler\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Williams writes with a singular brand of Ballardian ferocity - she revels in the wretched and the craven . . . If \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors \u003c\/i\u003eis a love story, it is also about love stories - what counts as one, the form it should take, how it might come to be believed by its participants.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Ian Maleney, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Missouri Williams' debut novel, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Doloriad\u003c\/i\u003e, announced the writer as a provocative storyteller unafraid of the grotesque. While a campus novel may not seem like the most logical follow-up, Williams' latest . . . is another pitch-black allegory told in gothic, obliterative prose.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Laura Adamczyk, \u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"A compelling exploration of love, whether with another person or with God.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Hannah Williams, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Williams' sentences feel like the thrill of tossing a blow dryer into a hot, sudsy bathtub . . . A sense of dread and porous despair coils itself around the novel's characters like hot glue, binding them not through affection but through psychological malice . . . Williams' sentences are smooth yet calibrated to crack open the psychological tantrums of outsiders. Her prose folds itself into the literary legacy of writers such as Clarice Lispector, Anna Kavan, Rachel Kushner and Ottessa Moshfegh.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Filip Jakab, \u003ci\u003eOur Culture\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e tells two stories at once about one person. The suspenseful tension between them pulses at the heart of the novel's poignance, humor, and winning personality . . . The form of the book is an apt mould for its crucial contradictions.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Max Winter, \u003ci\u003eOn the Sea Wall \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This sly, unconventional romance strips modern society down to its bare essentials, revealing them to be grotesque and full of contradiction. The fine brush of Williams's prose paints every aspect of this novel, from its characters to its setting to its conflict, with illuminating detail. . . Fans of Ottessa Moshfegh and Agustina Bazterrica will relish Williams's fascinating, disturbing, and shockingly tender writing.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"In the hypnotic sophomore outing from Williams, a professor's personal assistant gets drawn into a strange triangle with her boss and a male student . . . Williams is an accomplished stylist, and her writing accrues a magnetic rhythm, calling to mind Clarice Lispector or Marie Redonnet... It's a singular and arresting work.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Williams is an heir to writers like Ottessa Moshfegh, whose female protagonists often possess a passivity and an icy detestation of society that teeters on the brink of nihilism... A flinty, withholding novel . . . full of dark intelligence.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This is the modern rupture -- our crisis of meaning and spiritual malaise shaped into a novel unlike any other. It's part philosophical allegory, part depth psychology, within a cosmos marked by a profound alienation. Missouri Williams writes with a gothic angularity that puts her in a category of one. She swims in deep waters and surfaces now as a major writer for our age.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Paul Lynch, author of\u003ci\u003e Prophet Song\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the Booker Prize \u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel to marvel at - intricate, utterly precise, unfurling with the same lushness and strange menace of the greenery that creeps over the decaying city of its setting. An original and ingenious work.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--\u003c\/i\u003eSophie Mackintosh, author of\u003ci\u003e Cursed Bread \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Water Cure\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"As I read \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e, I thought of the dark strangeness of Bruno Schulz and Shirley Jackson, all while experiencing the singular, unbroken, and extraordinary imagination of Missouri Williams.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Amina Cain, author of \u003ci\u003eIndelicacy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Missouri Williams has paired the remote and mysterious style of the gothic novel with a narrator who you want to know everything about. When she does show her hand it's like a gift--fun, biting, and wise.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Zoe Dubno, author of \u003ci\u003eHappiness and Love\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Missouri Williams's stark, suis generis voice returns with another delightfully grotesque, muddy landscape populated by utterly deranged characters who are perfect in the eyes of a freak like me. The anti-feel good hit of the year.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Fernando A. Flores, author of \u003ci\u003eBrother \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eBrontë \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eTears of the Trufflepig\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors \u003c\/i\u003eis an astonishing novel by an astonishing writer. Playful, digressive, and pulsating with existential energy, Missouri Williams' newest contribution harkens back to the roots of the novel, the realms of boundless freedom that characterise the greatest works of eighteenth century literature, and drags them forth to the contemporary moment. It's exhilarating, transcendent even, and speaks to the deep and profound malaise characterising the modern human experience. I am in awe.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Michael Magee, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eClose to Home \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A wicked and beguiling novel, written with the kind of precision other writers can only dream of.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Amy Twigg, author of \u003ci\u003eSpoilt Creatures\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"I read \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e in a state of rapture, drawn so deeply into a dark, fecund world that holds up a sharp-edged mirror to our own. Exquisitely crafted and phenomenally clever, this novel left me awestruck by its terrifying beauty. I can't stop thinking about it.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Hannah Murray, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Make-Believe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e's Most Anticipated Books of 2026\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Missouri Williams writes with a gothic angularity that puts her in a category of one. She swims in deep waters and surfaces now as a major writer for our age.\" --Paul Lynch, author of\u003ci\u003e Prophet Song\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the Booker Prize \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA reclusive graduate student is forced into a friendship that destabilizes her life in this surreal, allegorical romance. \u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a famed but crumbling university city overrun by nature, where power is held in a fragile balance between academics and a contingent of rogue gardeners, the reclusive narrator of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e spends her days propping up the career of her needy and fraudulent professor boss. Then a controversy ruptures her careful routine: Adam, a contrarian student and an obsession of the boss, comes into heated conflict with a young professor, with both men claiming discrimination. The crisis subsumes the university, though the narrator is unmoved--not even the attempted suicide of her estranged mother has been enough to dispel her lack of engagement with the world. But when her boss commands her to befriend Adam, the narrator finds herself both caught up in the events threatening to tear the city apart and increasingly drawn to the alluring student at the heart of it all. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCoursing with icy suspense and told with violent precision, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vivisectors\u003c\/i\u003e is a new kind of love story for an age of deteriorated communication. With the unsparing style and intellectual ambition that made her award-winning debut \n\u003ci\u003eThe Doloriad\u003c\/i\u003e a celebrated provocation, Missouri Williams holds a mirror up to humanity's most intimate contradictions and reflects them back through a novel of profound, spiky spiritual reckoning. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/27\/2026 pg. 1 (EAN 9780374619299, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/09\/2026 (EAN 9780374619299, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/15\/2026 (EAN 9780374619299, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780374619299, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eWilliams, Missouri\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMissouri Williams\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Doloriad\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize, was short-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and was named a best book of 2022 by \n\u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e. Her work has also appeared in \n\u003ci\u003eThe Nation, The Baffler, The Believer, Granta, \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Drift\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"MCD","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496124055830,"sku":"9780374619299","price":33.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780374619299.jpg?v=1783053551","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-vivisectors","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}