![\"Author](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/23-0824-s2p-Author-Alix-Strauss-800x600.jpg\")
Image Caption: Author Alix Strauss.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cThe Joy of Funerals\u201d centers around Nina, a lonely, single, thirty-something Manhattanite who goes to other people\u2019s funerals in the hope of connecting with the mourners in an attempt to fill the deep loneliness created by the inability to connect with the people in her life.<\/p>\n
The novel highlights the loneliness we all feel as human beings and our deep, innate, and necessary need we have for real relationships \u2013 something we are losing. Timing for a rerelease couldn\u2019t be more necessary, or perfect, especially after a pandemic, where we have been forced into an unwanted lifestyle of solitude, our deep ache for organic \u2013 non zooming, non-device driven, human to human connection has been intensified \u2013 we have been mentally, physically, and emotional starved. Much like Nina.<\/p>\n
If timing is everything, then the world has caught up with Alix Strauss. It seems that books offering once \u201ctaboo\u201d or too-edgy and dark themes are finally having a moment \u2013 e.g., \u201cI\u2019m Glad My Mom Died,\u201d \u201cDear Edward,\u201d \u201cBittersweet,\u201d \u201cSorry for Your Loss,\u201d and a slew of others, are titles performing well and hitting a nerve right now with readers.<\/p>\n
Throughout this powerful and provocative collection, these characters explore the basic need for human connection while seeking to understand themselves better. It is the ‘where do I belong’ and the ‘how do I fit in’ that these sad, bright, and amazingly strong women seek to answer.<\/p>\n
Written with raw wit, mordant humor and a uniquely penetrating voice, Strauss turns the spotlight on the unattractive subjects of loss, grief, and loneliness. \u201cThe Joy of Funerals\u201d is a smart, vivid, and arresting look into the inner world of those left behind, and those still holding on.<\/p>\n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/strong><\/p>\n Author Alix Strauss is a trend, culture, and lifestyle journalist; an award-winning, four-time published author; and speaker. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, among other publications. During the past 25 years she has written over 1,500 articles. Her books include: \u201cThe Joy of Funerals\u201d (St. Martin\u2019s Press & Palagram Press), \u201cBased Upon Availability\u201d (Harper Collins), and \u201cDeath Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous and the Notorious\u201d (Harper Collins). She is also the editor of \u201cHave I Got a Guy for You\u201d (Simon & Schuster), an anthology of mother coordinated dating horror stories. Her work has been an option for several TV and film projects. She lives in Manhattan.<\/p>\n