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9781400247950

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'Paul Rousseau's debut memoir, Friendly Fire, feels like a shot across the memoir bow. Told in fractures, there's no meandering exposition, just an unflinching, rapid-fire account of a polarizing event--and what happens next. This is memoir writing at its best. Thoughtful. Vulnerable. Palpable. Empathetic. Hopeful.' * <strong>—SMOKELONG QUARTERLY</strong> * 'Rousseau recounts how he survived a gunshot wound to the head in this unique and haunting account... With punchy, insightful prose, Rousseau details the fallout, including the rift the incident caused between him and Mark, the financial challenges he faced as he tried to pay his medical bills, and the toll it all took on his psyche. Certain details are infuriating, including Mark's insurance company employing hack doctors to squash Rousseau's personal injury claim; others are unsettling, including Rousseau's assertion that the ordeal turned him into 'a rabid brute whose sole intention is to destroy.' The result is a mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.' * <strong>—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW</strong> * 'Told in sharp, clean prose, with a hard-earned sense of humor, his memoir proceeds in brisk chapters that alternate between those about the accident and aftermath and those about his life, his girlfriend Anna, and his devotion to the Timberwolves basketball team... A powerful, gut-wrenching tale of pain, suffering, and recovery.' * <strong>—KIRKUS REVIEWS</strong> * ''The words are simple,' writes Rousseau, 'I got shot in the head by my best friend at school.' But this story is anything but simple: a shattered life, broken friendship, long recovery and loss of self. Rousseau writes this vivid, startling memoir the only way he can: fractured. And in that structure there is so much beauty, so much bravery, and so much stubborn elegance--this is a gorgeous book that cuts to the bones of American life and a terrible injury.' * AMBER SPARKS, author of And I Do Not Forgive You * 'One of the most riveting memoirs I've read in years, Friendly Fire unfolds with urgency and so much heart, and the magic lies in how effortlessly Paul Rousseau tells this wrenching story. This is a big-time debut from a big-time talent.' * JAMES TATE HILL, author of Blind Man’s Bluff * 'This book is powerful, surprising, moving--and impossible to put down.' * AUSTIN ROSS, author of Gloria Patri *

''The words are simple,' writes Rousseau, 'I got shot in the head by my best friend at school.' But this story is anything but simple: a shattered life, broken friendship, long recovery and loss of self. Rousseau writes this vivid, startling memoir the only way he can: fractured. And in that structure there is so much beauty, so much bravery, and so much stubborn elegance--this is a gorgeous book that cuts to the bones of American life and a terrible injury.' * AMBER SPARKS, author of And I Do Not Forgive You * 'One of the most riveting memoirs I've read in years, Friendly Fire unfolds with urgency and so much heart, and the magic lies in how effortlessly Paul Rousseau tells this wrenching story. This is a big-time debut from a big-time talent.' * JAMES TATE HILL, author of Blind Man’s Bluff * 'This book is powerful, surprising, moving--and impossible to put down.' * AUSTIN ROSS, author of Gloria Patri * 'Unique and haunting.... A mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.' * Publishers Weekly *

Author Information

Paul Rousseau is a disabled writer with work in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity, Catapult, and elsewhere. You can find more of his work online at Paul-Rousseau.com.

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