{"product_id":"place-envy-essays-in-search-of-orientation-paperback","title":"Place Envy: Essays in Search of Orientation - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMichael Lowenthal\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\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 \u003c\/p\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.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\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\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 292\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 09, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51987445186861,"sku":"9780814259665","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/dOBEEMnGbs9780814259665.webp?v=1776178746","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/place-envy-essays-in-search-of-orientation-paperback","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}