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'Jena Chung plays the violin. She was once a child prodigy and is now addicted to sex. She's struggling a little. Her professional life comprises rehearsals, concerts, auditions and relentless practice; her personal life is spent managing family demands, those of her creative friends, and lots of sex. And then she meets Mark—much older and worldly-wise—who bewitches her. Could this be love? When Jena wins an internship with the New York Philharmonic, she thinks the life she has dreamed of is about to begin. But when Trump is elected, New York changes irrevocably and Jena along with it. She comes to learn that there are many different ways to live and love and that no one has the how-to guide for any of it—not even her indomitable mother.
'A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing unflinchingly explores the confusion of having expectations upturned, and the awkwardness and pain of being human in our increasingly dislocated world—and how, in spite of all this, we still try to become the person we want to be. It is a dazzling, original and astounding debut from a young writer with a fierce, intelligent and fearless new voice.
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
-
What I’m Reading
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2020; -
Performance
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , November 2020;'My mother was a piano prodigy. She started playing as a child in Vietnam, and by the time she was a teenager, she was giving concerts. That’s how she met my father – he was in the audience watching her perform, and by the end of it, he had to know this girl. It was the early 1970s, not long before he went to war.' (Introduction)
-
Sensitive Sabotage
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 19 September 2020; (p. 17)
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel ; Smart Ovens for Lonely People 2020 selected work short story'Grunge fiction in the 1980s and 90s featured young people living in grimy inner-city suburbs and colouring their discombobulation with drugs, booze and awkward or unfortunate sex. This kind of novel is no longer possible.' (Introduction)
-
Jessie Tu's A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , September no. 487 2020;
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel'In a cultural landscape where non-white voices are often expected to represent or speak for everyone who looks like them, Jessie Tu is simply telling one story.'
-
Australian Novelist Jessie Tu Explores the Scars of Racism, Sexism and Classical Music in Her Debut Novel
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2020;'Jena Lin was a child prodigy: at age eight she was playing classical violin at an adult level, and by the time she was 14 she was performing solo at New York's Carnegie Hall. And then she had a breakdown.' (Introduction)
-
Books Roundup
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , July 2020;
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel ; Living on Stolen Land 2020 selected work poetry prose ; Metal Fish, Falling Snow 2020 single work novel ; After Australia 2020 anthology short story -
Jessie Tu, A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 18-24 July 2020;
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel -
The Weight of Giftedness : An Explicit Debut
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 423 2020; (p. 35)
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel 'What a title, and what a debut novel. Jessie Tu brings us Jena Lin, a twenty-two-year-old Asian Australian sex addict who was once a violin prodigy feted around the world. She is a character to remember. The reader knows this from the beginning, and the compelling narrative tension is driven by the slow revelation of an event that occurred seven years before the novel begins.' (Introduction) -
Jessie Tu's A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , September no. 487 2020;
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel'In a cultural landscape where non-white voices are often expected to represent or speak for everyone who looks like them, Jessie Tu is simply telling one story.'
-
Sensitive Sabotage
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 19 September 2020; (p. 17)
— Review of A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing 2020 single work novel ; Smart Ovens for Lonely People 2020 selected work short story'Grunge fiction in the 1980s and 90s featured young people living in grimy inner-city suburbs and colouring their discombobulation with drugs, booze and awkward or unfortunate sex. This kind of novel is no longer possible.' (Introduction)
-
Australian Novelist Jessie Tu Explores the Scars of Racism, Sexism and Classical Music in Her Debut Novel
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2020;'Jena Lin was a child prodigy: at age eight she was playing classical violin at an adult level, and by the time she was 14 she was performing solo at New York's Carnegie Hall. And then she had a breakdown.' (Introduction)
-
Performance
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , November 2020;'My mother was a piano prodigy. She started playing as a child in Vietnam, and by the time she was a teenager, she was giving concerts. That’s how she met my father – he was in the audience watching her perform, and by the end of it, he had to know this girl. It was the early 1970s, not long before he went to war.' (Introduction)
-
What I’m Reading
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2020;
Awards
- 2021 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Multicultural NSW Award
- 2021 shortlisted Colin Roderick Award
- 2021 winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
- 2021 longlisted The Stella Prize
- 2021 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — The Matt Richell Award for New Writer