Praise for People Like Us:
“The follow-up to Mott’s National Book Award-winning Hell of a Book weaves the stories of two Black authors — one on an international book tour, the other confronting a deadly school shooting — into a comedic, surreal exploration of love and loss.” —The New York Times
“Part memoir, part travelogue, part fever dream, Mott’s novel deploys wicked humor and pathos to explore issues around race, gun violence, fame and mental health.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution, “These Hot New Southern Reads Belong on Your Summer List”
“A meta-novel that stings and touches the reader.... The whole book seems the literary equivalent of a post-bop jazz performance, with oblique happenings that compel attention because of the book’s antic energy and lyrical passages.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Mott’s writing is funny, intelligent, and sharp as a knife....This book is full of action, suspense, and laughs. Its reflections about being a Black American in Europe are insightful. Jump in for a full-force, visceral ride.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Picking up in a universe near the one represented in Mott’s last book, the award-winning Hell of A Book, People Like Us involves the same tonal gymnastics. Mott’s writing is electric. Sentences zing with the energy of darts. But all that riz ultimately serves to convey a lacerating critique of American gun violence. File this one under ‘genre-bending tour-de-force.’” —Lit Hub
“Funny and affecting” —Los Angeles Times
“Mott follows up his 2021 National Book Award–winning novel Hell of a Book with a surreal and intimate story about two Black writers contending with loss, longing, and gun violence.” —The Millions
“The novel’s mischievous humor gradually gives way to a frightening fever dream. Mott’s satire is thoroughly uncompromising, which makes it all the more refreshing.” —Publishers Weekly
"A dynamic text moving faster than the pages turn, this is a novel true to our time’s search for a path forward—one that even dares to dream of togetherness." —Booklist
“A book that begs for an immediate reread, People Like Us hits the soul hard. It is haunting, vivid literary fiction at its finest.” —BookPage (starred review)
“Mott’s latest is even more dazzling: a sharp-witted satire on race and the literary life, a raging indictment of our addiction to guns, a novel both propulsive and deeply thoughtful.” —The Boston Globe
“In a novel that first began as a memoir, Mott (“Hell of a Book”) brilliantly explores the nature of grief, fear, hope and joy through the story of two Black writers trying to find peace and belonging in a violent world.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Mott pulls together these disparate elements with his deft prose, delivering a funny, sharp commentary on contemporary America.” —AV Club
