A Woman, a Plan, an Outline of a Man

Literary Nonfiction. Essays. Sarah Kasbeer’s vivid descriptions of growing up in Illinois recall the coming-of-age memoirs of Mary Karr, but written for the #MeToo era. As an adult living in New York during this clarifying cultural moment, she has no choice but to fully reckon with the aftermath of her own trauma. Artful and entertaining, this debut collection explores sexuality, desire, privilege, shame, and the ways we find to heal. In A WOMAN, A PLAN, AN OUTLINE OF A MAN one woman picks up the pieces of a typical all-American girlhood: the abusive boyfriends, the sexual assaults, and the pervasive feelings of isolation and shame. I emerged from this collection oddly hopeful about the process of healing, especially if it can bring us a book like this.–Alice Bolin

Kasbeer is a born raconteur whose stories name some of the loneliest parts of growing up female and turn them joyful with insight and levity.–Melissa Febos

This book is a god damn treasure; it is a dagger and an emancipation, a slice and a stitch, as devastating as it is darkly funny.–Mira Ptacin

An astonishing collection not for the faint of heart. Kasbeer speaks the unspoken and dares to be vulnerable in a world of facades.–Chloe Caldwell

A book every woman will relate to and every man should understand.–Tyrese Coleman