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The Breakup: A Novel
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Expected 18 Aug 26Win a free print copy of this book!
29 days and 07:11:19
25 copies available
U.S. only
A penetrating and moving novel about a crumbling marriage, set against the backdrop of a near-future America in the process of its own disintegration, from the New York Times bestselling author of Fantasyland and Evil Geniuses
Natalie and Asher’s marriage has long been marked by fault lines, quiet rifts in how they see the world and the lives they imagined within it. Now with both children nearly grown, their own ambitions at cross purposes, and a world transformed by AI, it feels like they have less in common than ever. After twenty-three years together, they're living apart.
As they navigate the terms of their separation, America is doing the same thing. It’s 2045, and the country is in the throes of a complex, years-long process of redrawing borders after an awful 2030s uprising that ended with red states seceding to form their own government, and blue cities breaking off from those states. While Natalie retreats to her childhood home in Tennessee—most of the state now part of the new Free American Republic—Asher stays behind in San Francisco, running the controversial National Institute of the Mind for a quixotic trillionaire and parenting their younger child, Logan. Apart for the first time in decades, Natalie and Asher’s relationship becomes a mirror of America’s own long unraveling—confused, messy, painful, and impossibly intimate.
When Natalie and Asher are forced back into proximity while touring colleges with Logan, they find themselves on a road trip through a strange, uncertain postwar American landscape, while confronting the flux within their own family. And they are faced with the question the nation already reckoned Is something broken still worth saving?
Razor-sharp, ambitious, at turns tragic and funny, brimming with imagination and surprises, The Breakup is a sweeping story where the personal and sociopolitical intersect in ways bracingly prescient and keenly insightful. And in the end, surprisingly hopeful.
Natalie and Asher’s marriage has long been marked by fault lines, quiet rifts in how they see the world and the lives they imagined within it. Now with both children nearly grown, their own ambitions at cross purposes, and a world transformed by AI, it feels like they have less in common than ever. After twenty-three years together, they're living apart.
As they navigate the terms of their separation, America is doing the same thing. It’s 2045, and the country is in the throes of a complex, years-long process of redrawing borders after an awful 2030s uprising that ended with red states seceding to form their own government, and blue cities breaking off from those states. While Natalie retreats to her childhood home in Tennessee—most of the state now part of the new Free American Republic—Asher stays behind in San Francisco, running the controversial National Institute of the Mind for a quixotic trillionaire and parenting their younger child, Logan. Apart for the first time in decades, Natalie and Asher’s relationship becomes a mirror of America’s own long unraveling—confused, messy, painful, and impossibly intimate.
When Natalie and Asher are forced back into proximity while touring colleges with Logan, they find themselves on a road trip through a strange, uncertain postwar American landscape, while confronting the flux within their own family. And they are faced with the question the nation already reckoned Is something broken still worth saving?
Razor-sharp, ambitious, at turns tragic and funny, brimming with imagination and surprises, The Breakup is a sweeping story where the personal and sociopolitical intersect in ways bracingly prescient and keenly insightful. And in the end, surprisingly hopeful.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication August 18, 2026
About the author
Kurt Andersen
47 books558 followersKurt Andersen is the author of the novels Turn of the Century, Heyday, and True Believers, and and, with Alec Baldwin of You Can't Spell America Without Me. His non-fiction books include Fantasyland, Reset and The Real Thing.
He is also host of the Peabody Award-winning weekly public radio program Studio 360,.
Previously, Kurt was a co-founder and editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine Spy, editor-in-chief of New York magazine, a columnist for New York, staff writer at The New Yorker, and design and architecture critic for Time.
He is also host of the Peabody Award-winning weekly public radio program Studio 360,.
Previously, Kurt was a co-founder and editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine Spy, editor-in-chief of New York magazine, a columnist for New York, staff writer at The New Yorker, and design and architecture critic for Time.
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Breakup by Kurt Andersen is a novel looking at a not too far in the distant future America and it's bleak. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the book. A couple of factors drove that decision - one, I am a voracious reader of non=fiction, especially history and current events. So the way "The Breakup" is playing out, it hits very close to home as we self-destruct in the US today. Secondly, I found it very difficult to connect with the characters. Andersen is a very good write, don't get me wrong. It was simply hard to connect or empathize with the main characters. And maybe that was the point? Ultimately, this wasn't for me and I opted out of finishing it. This book will appeal to many people of that I'm sure, it just wasn't for me. Thank you to #netgalley and #randomhouse for the opportunity to preview this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review