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• THE END OF THE WORLD NOTWITHSTANDING | Janna L. Goodwin | BUY BOOK
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Rife with misadventures, brushes with death, and moments of existential insight, The End of the World Notwithstanding is a hilarious yet reflective look at the emotional experiences that make everyday life exciting―and the physical ones that remind us we’re lucky to be alive.

I’m traveling alone, renting a cabin at a normally tranquil spot―that’s called foreshadowing―on the banks of the Big Laramie River at the edge of the Medicine Bow National Forest.

So begins Janna L. Goodwin’s lighthearted collection of nail-biting stories, all true, and all of which fill the listener with wonder … as in, “I wonder how any of us survives?”

Encounters with wildfire, insects, house pets, weather, gravity, predators, bullies, and the most potent force of all―fear itself―unfold in remote landscapes of the American West (and Midwest); on the neon-splashed sidewalks of Hollywood; at a Catskills summer camp for actors; in the lavish apartment of a famous senator; in a Hawaiian beach condo; on the side of a mountain above the Mediterranean Sea; in a dilapidated New Orleans shack; at Nissedal’s rocky jettegryter in Telemark, Norway; and far beneath the streets of Paris. Goodwin looks for and ultimately finds meaning (if not security) in a clear-eyed acknowledgment of our shared, human condition―and in laughter.

“Goodwin has David Sedaris’ talent of turning on a dime from the truly hilarious to the thoughtful and poignant, helping us to learn new truths. Wonderfully detailed, every word the right word, this book is a genuine keeper.” —Kirkus Starred Review

“Each story holds readers on edge—not about the journey, but its ultimate impact and promise of change. Goodwin writes with a wry humor and insight that sets it apart from the usual travelogue.” ―Midwest Book Review

“Goodwin’s writing voice is so clear, so candid, and so self-deprecating, it’s hard to believe she’s not sitting in front of you as you read her stories. They’re not always easy, they’re full of doubt and some genuinely bad decisions, but they are so very human…you want to go along for the entire ride.” —Pam Mandel, author of The Same River Twice

“Goodwin spins a comedic memoir that mines the absurdity of human experience, offering readers profound moments of insight. Because of her sensibility—self-deprecating and quirky, self-aware and intelligent—I would follow her anywhere.” —Suzanne Roberts, author of Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janna L. Goodwin was born and grew up in Wyoming and returns there often. She is a writer/playwright, director, performer and producer of solo, devised, and community-based theatrical projects. Her work has been produced throughout New England, in New York, Denver, and San Francisco. A Boston College dropout, a long-ago student of Off The Wall improv comedy in L.A., and a graduate of Hampshire College, the National Shakespeare Conservatory and the University of Massaschusetts, Janna was a co-founding member of Ko Theatre Works and the Ko Festival of Performance at Amherst. She is a professor in the Department of Communication and a faculty member in the Mile High MFA writing program, both at Regis University in Denver, Colorado.

Her plays—The House Not Touched By Death, Serving Time, If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now, Just Pretend Everything is Perfectly Normal, and Pointers—have been produced in New York and New England, Colorado and California. Her website is: JannaLGoodwin.com