{"product_id":"place-envy-essays-in-search-of-orientation-michael-lowenthal-paperback","title":"Place Envy: Essays in Search of Orientation -- Michael Lowenthal, Paperback","description":"\u003cb\u003eA queer, Jewish writer searches for belonging across countries, identities, and histories in a moving collection of essays about orientation and home.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGrowing up in places where his family had no past, and met mostly by silence from his Holocaust-refugee grandparents, Michael Lowenthal longed to be from somewhere. Then he realized he was gay and felt displaced from his own displaced family. \u003ci\u003ePlace Envy\u003c\/i\u003e--his first book of essays after five acclaimed books of fiction--chronicles his quest for orientation in the world: as an agnostic Jew, as a queer traveler and lover, and as a writer who can tell or twist the truth. Yearning for a queer lineage, he obsesses about an uncle who perished at Bergen-Belsen but then finds, in his grandmother's German hometown, a more surprising legacy. He lives with a Pennsylvania Amish family; accompanies blind gay men on a Mexican cruise; plays jazz with Sun Ra, the Afrofuturist who claimed to hail from Saturn; and pursues a clarifying love affair in Brazil. Collectively, these essays recount Lowenthal's many journeys of dislocation and relocation: to foreign countries and subcultures and to the riskiest shores of family and self.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Lowenthal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mad Creek Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/09\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 292\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814259665\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichael Lowenthal is the author of the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Same Embrace, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eAvoidance, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eCharity Girl, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Paternity Test\u003c\/i\u003e and of the short story collection \u003ci\u003eSex with Strangers.\u003c\/i\u003e His writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Magazine, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eOut, \u003c\/i\u003e and many other publications. His stories have been widely anthologized\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Michael Lowenthal","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49917361946852,"sku":"9780814259665","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9780814259665.jpg?v=1789891476","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/place-envy-essays-in-search-of-orientation-michael-lowenthal-paperback","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}