The End of Eve: A Memoir - Softcover

Praise for The End of Eve
By turns tender and heartbreaking, Gore's book is a brave, thoroughly authentic journey to the center of the human heart. Wickedly sharp reading filled to bursting with compassion, rage, pain and wit.--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Gore's mantra of "Behave in a way you're going to be proud of" guided her well during her mother's seemingly unending final illness but also in the writing of this book.--Therese Nielsen, Library Journal

Ariel Gore has changed my mind twice before, on motherhood and happiness-- now she's stunned me thrice. This is the story of the world's most startlingly insane, beautiful mother who was supposed to die in one year-- but nearly killed her entire family and staff before she was through. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll need a bucket. Don't die-- or surrender!-- before you read her tale.
-- Susie Bright, Mommy's Little Girl: Susie Bright on Sex, Motherhood, Pornography, and Cherry Pi

Dorothy Parker famously said 'there are no happy endings, ' but Ariel Gore's sweet, tough, elegant account of her mother's last days is absurdly happy--if happy means inhabiting life in all its mess, distress, beauty and occasional hilarity. A near-perfect gem.
-- Karen Karbo, Julia Child Rules: Lessons on Savoring Life

The depth of insight of The End of Eve often took my breath away. Not to mention its drop-dead humor, the sadness, and the rage. Ariel Gore's memoir is in its essence a how to book. In the face of death, our grief, how to breathe, how to be brave, how to be funny, how to be authentic. How to make it through. But most of all: tenderness -- how Ariel puts human tenderness on the page is an act of poetry damn close to sublime.
-- Tom Spanbauer, In The City of Shy Hunters

Ariel Gore takes some of the heaviest life work - caring for a difficult, terminally ill parent - and somehow through her writing transforms it into a funny, interesting, moving experience. Her work is like origami in that way - capable of changing one solid thing into something entirely different, and beautiful, because of the way she looks at the world. Totally unique, and very inspiring.
--Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney

Gore is a brave writer who does not flinch at baring herself even when she is behaving badly. She can take the perils of lifelong grief and transform them into a swan song you hope never ends.--Emily Grosvenor, Eugene Magazine

If Cheryl Strayed's Wild was a grungier version of that original 21st century woman's-quest-for-self-actualization-in-far-off places, Eat, Pray, Love (with less cash, more blisters), then Ariel Gore's The End of Eve is a more Portland version of Wild (more tattoos; road trips in trailers; a cornucopia of naturopaths, hipsters, even a feminist boyfriend with a PhD in Anais Nin)...To say I loved this memoir avoids admitting an embarrassing cliché Once I picked up this book, I literally could not put it down. Written while the wound of loss was still fresh, the rawness of this memoir sets it apart from others in the genre...Transcending blame, Gore shifts the paradigm that usually dominates grief memoirs, charting a courageous course through a different type of sorrow: mourning for the parent who couldn't, wouldn't love her enough.--Wayne Scott, The Oregonian

A darkly humorous mother-daughter memoir ... Gore never wavers into self-pity.--Meredith May, The San Francisco Chronicle

Far from being morose, though, this is a darkly humorous and at times even insanely cheerful account, launched by her mother's nonchalant announcement that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer. [P]art Terms of Endearment, part Grey Gardens, and part Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Altogether, a quiet, funny, unsentimental portrait of caregiving and bearing witness.--June Sawyers, Booklist

The memoir is in the running for my favorite book of the year. It is gut-wrenching to read and bear witness to this period in the author's life, but by the end, the reader has been given a hard-won gift in this beautifully written book. A worthy addition to anyone's bookshelf.--Jillian L. Schweitzer, AtlasWonders

Behave in a way you're going to be proud of, she writes on her wrist. The simple agency of this moment--a human being trying to be good--feels universally poignant and almost heartbreakingly endearing.--Nishida Mehra, Trope Magazine

The End of Eve was accomplished by an experienced journalist and writer across genre -- her prose is both eloquent and spare. Gore is an expert at plunging into the sensory specifics of a narrative moment and staying only long enough for the characters to have a compelling exchange -- plus, she never wastes a detail of description that doesn't resonate on a larger thematic level.--Alison Barker, The Los Angeles Review of Books

The End of Eve is more than a memoir; it is a new Bible of sorts, a book we can turn to when things get thick.--Sarah Maria Medina, Bitch Media

This is a remarkable balancing act between boundaries and compassion, between self-protection and self-giving. With the help of richly dark humor and hard work, Ariel Gore maintains her poise and outlasts the demon. Barely. Read this book. It's all about living in the mess with grace. It's a lesson in courage.--Richard Haddaway

The End Of Eve: A Memoir is the perfect antidote to Mother's Day. As a memoirist, Ariel Gore is gifted: she is able to tell a heartbreaking story of illness and betrayal with the perfect mix of respect, humor and irreverence.--Jessica Wakeman, The Frisky

An incredibly honest and genuine voice.The memoir explores all the complex and at times contradictory emotions that make up relationships -- love, anger, jealousy, joy, hopelessness. The prose is tender and candid, and very often darkly funny.--Caroline Diezyn, Offbeat Home & Life

If I had to pick a must-read book of the year so far, it would be this book. The End of Eve is approachable, witty, and beautiful, with an underlying tough-as-fucking-nails attitude that leads you into dazzling spaces and dark corners without a second's warning. The intersection of gorgeous, thoughtful writing and an immediately-compelling story put it high up on my list of books to recommend to just about anybody. Read it, okay?--Susie Rodarme, Insatiable Booksluts

Gore has such well-honed storytelling skills that she pares away the unnecessary until all that remains is a spare, exposed and beautiful story.--Rebecca Fish Ewan, Brevity

Hip Mama Magazine
It's the quality of the writing that sets Hip Mama apart.
--The New Yorker

Hip Mama is considered one of the best zines out there.
--San Francisco Chronicle

Fun and irreverent.
--USA Today

Ariel Gore's transformation from globetrotting teenager to the hippest
of mamas reads like a movie script about a Gen-X slacker following her
bliss to unlikely success.
--Utne Reader

How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead
One of the snappiest, most useful books a writer for hire is likely to read.
--David Pitt, Booklist

Atlas of the Human Heart
Oregon Book Award finalist

Gore's adventures make absorbing reading.
--Beth Leistensnider, Booklist

A terrific and important book. Ariel Gore rips through the cultural
wasteland of the 1980s with fierce desire and female angst, taking us on
a wild ride. Impossible to put down.
--Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney

Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness
Thoughtful, funny, and inspiring, Gore is a down-to-earth guide to the
elusive human quest for happiness.
--June Sawyers, Booklist

The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show
Booksense pick

This novel is a miracle - deliciously subversive and deeply spiritual.
--Gayle Brandeis, author of Fruitflesh and The Book of Dead Birds

An affecting tale about the search for home, connection, and authenticity.
--Christopher Castellani, author of The Saint of Lost Things

Piercing and insightful, Gore's first novel limns one woman's complicated
relationship with her religion and her personal faith.
--Kristine Huntley, Booklist

With a dash of mysticism mixed with the underground freak show scene,
Ariel Gore creates a fascinating, inventive, and modern odyssey.
--Beth Lisick, author of Everybody in the Pool

Punctuating the narrative with stories of the saints, Gore depicts
Frankka's religious reawakening with both irreverence and respect for
tradition and faith.
--Publishers Weekly

A bold and imaginative story.
--Michelle Tea, author of Rose of No Man's Land

Breeder: Real Life Stories from the New Generation of Mothers
Forget books that drone on about what is considered 'normal.' Scrap guides and articles that tell you how it's done...
--Spike Gillespie, author of All the Wrong Men and One Perfect Boy: A Memoir

The women who gathered in my mother's kitchen when I was a child weren't free. The women whose voices are gathered in this remarkable collection are - and that's a difference worth celebrating and a development that must be documented. --Dan Savage, author of American Savage

The Mother Trip: Hip Mama's Guide to Staying Sane in the Chaos of Motherhood
Gore knows that motherhood is isolating, heartbreaking, and delightful,
and she's not afraid to say so.
--Linda Beck, Library Journal

Ariel Gore is a brave, wise, and absolutely original voice on the subject of
mothering.
--Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger: A Woman's
Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships

Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City
As rough-hewn and gorgeous as the city that inspired it, this anthology
breaks queer ground as it shows us that everywhere is Portland but Portland is its own special place, home to queers seeking and finding home, from the city itself to each others arms.
--Daphne Gottlieb, author of Kissing Dead Girls

At age 39, Ariel Gore has everything she’s always wanted: a successful writing career, a long-term partnership, a beautiful if tiny home, a daughter in college and a son in preschool. But life’s happy endings don’t always last. If it’s not one thing, after all, it’s your mother. Her name is Eve. Her epic temper tantrums have already gotten her banned from three cab companies in Portland. And she’s here to announce that she’s dying. ?Pitifully, Ariel,” she sighs. ?You’re all I have.” Ariel doesn’t want to take care of her crazy dying mother, but she knows she will. It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it? And, anyway, how long could it go on? ?Don’t worry,” Eve says. ?If I’m ever a burden, I’ll just blow my brains out.” Amidst the chaos of clowns and hospice workers, pie and too much whiskey, Ariel’s own ten-year relationship begins to unravel. Darkly humorous and intimately human, The End of Eve redefines the meaning of family and everything we’ve ever been taught to call ?love.”