Stop Me If You've Heard This One

by Kristen Arnett

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things, a sparkling and funny new novel of entertainment, ambition, art, and love.

Cherry Hendricks might be down on her luck, but she can write the book on what makes something funny: she’s a professional clown who creates raucous, zany fun at gigs all over Orlando. Between her clowning and her shifts at an aquarium store for extra cash, she’s always hustling. Not to mention balancing her judgmental mother, her messy love life, and her equally messy community of fellow performers.

Things start looking up when Cherry meets Margot the Magnificent—a much older lesbian magician—who seems to have worked out the lines between art, business, and life, and has a slick, successful career to prove it. With Margot’s mentorship and industry connections, Cherry is sure to take her art to the next level. Plus, Margot is sexy as hell. It’s not long before Cherry must decide how much she’s willing to risk for Margot and for her own explosive new act—and what kind of clown she wants to be under her suit.

Equal parts bravado, tenderness, and humor, and bursting with misfits, magicians, musicians, and mimes, Stop Me If You've Heard This One is a masterpiece of comedic fiction that asks big questions about art and performance, friendship and community, and the importance of timing in jokes and in life.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Contemporary, Lesbian, Audiobook, Literary Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 2025

Reviews

[Kristen Arnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply reviewing my own book, like a totally normal person - thank you for reading, everyone! I appreciate you! <3

[fatma · Rating 3 out of 5]

i dont know how a novel about a lesbian clown managed to be underwhelming, but here we are. there was barely any plot to speak of, the storyline didnt really go anywhere, and all the main characters aside from the lead felt underdeveloped. this one fell pretty flat for me.

[Sunny Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bleak and gay in the most Florida way imaginable

[julia &#x1fab1; · Rating 4 out of 5]

if u like plots dont read this if you like discussions about the importance of art while The Horrors are happening read this

[Quill&Queer]

I heard you like magic? I got a wand and a rabbit!

[Celine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this novel about a lesbian clown living in Florida, who falls for a magician, while trying to build a name for herself, and navigate debilitating grief. It was funny, sexy, and deeply chaotic.

As is Arnett's signature style, a wild premise meets a tender execution-the result being something unlike anything you've read before.

At times, I felt just a pinch fatigued by the inner clown monologue aspect of the storytelling, but...it IS a book about a 28-year-old clown. So that's on me.

Overall, I think this is special, unique, and worth picking up.

[verynicebook · Rating 3 out of 5]

this started off so strong! very fun and more deep than I was expecting. unfortunately I found this plateaued and kind of bored me a bit toward the middle/end of the book, nothing reallyyyy happened and I was hoping it would be a little bit more exciting but it fell a little flat! I still had fun and enjoyed this overall though.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know this book was supposed to be kind of cringey and unserious but it was so deeply unfunny and boring that it just pissed me off

[Angie Miale · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can I describe this book?

Well-

-it’s incredibly well written
-some poignant conversations
-lesbian clown in Central Florida
-nothing really happens
-it makes you vaguely uncomfortable

If I only read like 50 books a year I would be angry that I read this one. Thankfully I read 500 books a year and I will probably forget this.

Some of the descriptions are so ridiculously specific and perfect, though.

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was completely underwhelmed with this story that I can only liken to driving around for hours and never reaching your destination. Fans of the author and aspiring clowns will likely enjoy this tale much more than I did.

I think what bothered me most was the protagonist, Cherry, is 28 years old but acts like an immature teen for most of the novel. Throughout the book she uses being a clown to identify what qualifies as funny or not funny. While the premise sounded fun, I only laughed once, at a directive to add cheese (cheese is funny, this novel, sadly, not funny).

[Book Riot Community]

Kristen Arnett is a maestro of dark humor, known for twisting familiar setups into fresh punchlines. So when I heard she was writing a novel about a horny lesbian clown in Florida, I knew it was going to be just the right amount of demented. It’s a hilarious book with an opening scene so shockingly absurd that you simply must see what happens next. But it’s also so much more: a story about choosing laughter over tears, a contemplation on committing to the bit, and a pursuit of high art in low places. Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One is a zany and emotionally resonant book with plenty of tricks up its sleeve.

—Susie Dumond, 11 Must-Read New Queer Books Out in March 2025

[Rach A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

colour no one surprised that I thought the book about a lesbian clown with a thing for older women was an absolute banger


——————
hot lesbian clown novel?? don’t mind if I do!

[Kylie · Rating 2 out of 5]

if you’re a lesbian clown with mommy issues boy do i have the book for you!

[Sava (Fang Runin’s version)]

DNF
not for me

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Kristen Arnett's first two novels. And granted it's been years since I read them so it's possible my taste has changed since then, but naturally this one was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. Sadly...it was a bit of a flop for me. :(

I think this book helped me realize that I do not like books that *explain* comedy. I had a similar issue with Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's possible that a book can be funny. You can tell jokes in books, funny things can happen, and I can be entertained. I just really do not like when a book goes so far out of its way to explain WHY a joke is (allegedly) funny. Please just tell the joke and let me laugh. There is nothing less funny than someone explaining a joke in painstaking detail.

I really liked the themes and discussions that were happening in this book about Making Art (tm) and what it means to be an artist, what you sacrifice for your art, how easy it is to get discouraged and up and quit, all while The Horrors (tm) persist. When the cards are so fucking stacked against you, it's truly a miracle that any art gets created at all.

HOWEVER. This book just feels like a lot of really great abstract ideas and thoughts that do not gel together to make a cohesive narrative, in my opinion. As sad as I am to say that.

Cherry's inner monologues about Making Art (tm) are SOOO self-serious and tedious. It's a lot. And I guess I didn't exactly believe that THIS character, an amateur aspiring clown, a dirtbag (non-derogatory), would be having such profound, philosophical thoughts about art in the first place? It felt like these were a *writer's* thoughts and personal struggles with *their craft*...all plopped into the story and changed to be about clowning instead because that's just like a funny and unique gimmick. I would have loved to read Arnett's thoughts about this in a personal essay or a creative nonfiction with funny anecdotes sprinkled in.

The grief stuff, the family stuff, the existing as queer stuff, so fucking real. Super well done. But again, I just felt like there was always either a bit too much or a just not enough going on that I didn't feel like everything all came together in the end.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit, here it is… the hot lesbian clown novel I didn’t know I needed in my life. Let's be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of clowns—and am I the only one? NO! Before reading this book, I may have even said at some point "I hate clowns." Meet Cherry, a 28-year-old lesbian living in Orlando who has an appetite for MILFS, a terrible relationship with her lesbian mother, and for whom clowning is a form of extreme art: “to clown well, you must embrace the light smile and the dark heart.” Thanks to Kristen Arnett, my relationship with clowns is forever changed. Arnett puts on a damn good show in these pages, one that is sexy and outrageous, hilarious and profound. I'm going to tell everyone about this book while performing *jazz hands,* which seems appropriate considering Arnett's witty, farcical humor positively snaps and sizzles on the page.

[Deirdre O'Keeffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this because I loved With Teeth but this was SO BAD. Surface level and one dimensional, the story never really goes anywhere and tbh the jacket summary was more interesting then the book itself. Huge disappointment, 2 stars because I actually powered through and finished

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been waiting impatiently for an ARC of this book since I first heard about it. I tore through it, loved it, thought about how much I love Florida, and laughed at clown stuff. I adore Kristen’s writing of messy queer characters in central Florida!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

quintessential kristen arnett: warm and hopeful and bittersweet and brutal, and very weird throughout. she is so good at capturing relationships in such few words! i hope she has a long and storied career doing whatever the fuck she wants

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4

This book is quite unlike any I've ever read.

Cherry is a clown. Not a foolish person. An actual clown.

While she holds down a "full time" job at an aquarium store, she perfects her act. And Cherry is old school. No tumbling, no flash, just a traditional clown called Bunko.

Of course Cherry's other weakness often coincides with the children's parties she clowns at. Because Cherry has a terrible weakness for other people's moms. It can get her into all sorts of trouble.

But Cherry's world is about to undergo drastic change. Her mom is in a new relationship, her best friend Darcy s being secretive and Cherry herself may have fallen in love with a woman who could catapult her career to new heights.

Cherry is a great character. Kristen Arnett has given us a woman who struggles with family life, never seems to have a clear direction but she's sure that she wants to be the best clown.

The book is funny but interspersed with moments of pathos. Cherry's relationships are the mainstay of the novel as she navigates her way to finding what she really wants to do with her life.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Little, Brown for the advance review copy.

[miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

i really appreciate kristen arnett's commitment to writing lesbians who are weird little freaks. dirtbag dykes forever! however i think this book overpromised and underdelivered--there's a lot going on, thematically (mommy issues, grief and resentment and love comingled towards a dead sibling, clowning as a concept and/or an art, gentrification, different sects of lesbianism) and none of the themes really reach a conclusion that was satisfying for me. did not like the way that whiteness/race was not engaged with once at all, for a book that wanted to grapple with capitalism/gentrification/homophobia/class in america. i also, and this i admit is my bad, don't really care about florida

[ari · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 - I don’t think I really got this one. It started off strong but fizzled super quickly. I didn’t find Cherry funny (was she supposed to be? Or was she not supposed to be?) & in general the characters fell flat. I just felt like I missed a lot of the underlying things this one was about.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

with no exaggeration, i think this might be the best book about grief and self-discovery and lesbian clowns that i've ever read

[Meghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say this is my fault for picking up a book about a gay clown and then being like ahhh there’s too much clown content. Literally so much clown content though pls be warned

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy pub day to the lesbian clown kink novel I didn't know I needed ❤ The opening scene of this book is unforgettable. Four months after reading it, I still have no words. Luckily, Kristen Arnett has plenty, and she uses them to great effect. I loved the thoughtfulness and hope that threaded throughout this book; those really held it together and provided a steadying force for a concept that easily could have gotten out of control. I've been a longtime reader of KA's essays and newsletters in addition to their fiction, and Cherry's meditations on humor, jokes, and committing to the bit felt like reading a KA essay inside a KA novel. What a treasure. Will be recommending this one with both hands and my whole heart.

[Krissy (books_and_biceps9155) · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off-thank you @riverheadbooks for my copy! I knew this sounded unique/fun and quirky. Which, it is, but it so much more than that. It’s about acceptance, coming into oneself, childhood trauma and grief.

Cherry is *hot* lesbian clown by profession, a lover of MILFs and a bit messy. You can’t help but love her though. I felt her endearing and I wanted her to succeed. Arnett’s writing is profound, whip smart and satirical, which is an excellent combo. Describing this book sounds absurd but I promise you it’s full of heart. Don’t let the jokes hide the fact that this one will pull at your heartstrings.


4.5 rounded up***

[Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 51% this was awful

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

well this was very weird. for a book about a clown it was surprisingly not very funny. strange pacing! florida… much to think about. see sara’s review for more

[Gabriella · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn’t do much for me! I always felt like I was on the verge of fully sinking into the story, but just never got there. I did enjoy the topic, because I’ve never really thought about clowns as performance artists. While I appreciated Kristen Arnett’s theories about clown art, her commentary on Florida left much to be desired. It felt like she thought she was making more profound points on the state's politics/homophobia/gentrification/etc. than she actually was, and I kept waiting for her to share something novel or just super funny (which is something she can do as a writer, and seemingly would have done in a book about clowns.)

I did enjoy all the mommy issues!!! Cherry’s mom is infuriating, and I wanted to choke her during the dinner with *******. These scenes of familial frustration, along with the bizarre magical sexcapades, are the moments I enjoyed most in this book. Sadly, there just aren’t enough of them to make up for the rest (which kinda drags.)

I probably will continue reading Kristen Arnett’s work, but I don’t expect to see this book on any “2025 best of” lists (even autostraddle better not let nepotism win out!!!!!!) For readers interested in exploring this author, I’d recommend Arnett's second novel, With Teeth, over her third.

[Maricarmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galaxy mind meme but it's: gay clown novel...by kristen arnett... narrated by cameron esposito (I loved it)