A “vividly, chillingly current” ( The Washington Post ) novel by the author of The New Me , one of the boldest voices in American fiction “[Halle Butler's] talent lies in depicting how these sore winners think, and the quiet madness that comes from measuring every interaction in your life by what might be gained in power and status. . . . [ Banal Nightmare is] her most accomplished novel." — The New York Review of Books “So funny, so smart, utterly vicious—just brilliant.”—Zadie Smith “Butler has crafted a novel in which every character proves to be completely, uniquely crazy. Her perverse sense of humor should be studied and celebrated.”—David Sedaris A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR In a Midwestern college town at the height of the Me Too era, a group of simultaneously self-flagellating and self-aggrandizing pseudo-academics sit around, think, and send one another insulting emails. As the impulses and memories they have barely managed to repress begin to surface, their relationships become increasingly deranged. Banal Nightmare captures the volatile, surreal, and entirely disorienting atmosphere of the modern era.