About Finny
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (July 13, 2010)
Before I started writing my novel, I fell in love with some great coming-of-age books: The World According to Garp, Great Expectations, Catcher in the Rye, and several others. For me, these books brought back the excitement of reading. I loved their intricate and suspenseful plots, the slightly-larger-than-life characters, the humor, and the sense of bigness and adventure I got from even the opening sentences. I felt like these classic novels were treasure chests of funny characters and surprising moments and beautiful insights about the world.
And I realized: These are the kinds of books I want to write, books filled with unforgettable characters, books that make me laugh and cry (even at the same time), books that give me an almost childlike sense of wonder.
But one thing I noticed about a lot of these books is that they’re about young men. So I was interested in what it would be like to tell one of these big classic stories about a young woman coming into the contemporary world. And that’s how the idea for FINNY started.
Finny herself is a lonely, defiant young woman, with a wonderful sense of humor, and a great ability to cut through other people’s pretensions. She’s a character I’ve loved from the moment I met her, and I wrote this book that follows her over twenty years because I wanted to find out everything that happened to her. The book is a love story, about Finny’s relationship with a young man named Earl, but I also wanted Finny to live in a rich and detailed world, full of interesting and lively and sometimes mysterious characters, such as a narcoleptic pianist, a seductive New York heiress, and an unlikely mother figure with tastes for exotic Asian fruits and Irish fiddle music.
I hope this book will allow readers to completely immerse themselves in Finny’s world and her adventures, and leave them with the sense of enchantment I’ve found in my favorite books.
Check out the book trailer for Finny.
“Justin Kramon’s moving and engrossing, Finny, is as refreshing as it is unusual: Dickensian in its span and generosity, contemporary in its exuberance and furtive humor, timeless in its assessment of family and friendship, innocence and love, this is a debut novel of exceptional achievement and considerable rewards.” — Jim Crace, National Book Critics Circle Award-Winning author of Being Dead
“Justin Kramon has written a magnificently odd and fantastic book, bursting with whimsy and humor. Finny is a heroine you will never forget.” — Cristina Henriquez, Author of The World in Half
“[A] story pervaded…with a flavor of Alice in Wonderland…Kramon’s taste in quirky minor characters – a screaming headmistress, a sneezing undertaker – lends the story a surreal air…” –Kirkus Reviews
About Justin
A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has published stories in Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, Boulevard, Fence, TriQuarterly, and others. He has received honors from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America, The Best American Short Stories, the Hawthornden International Writers’ Fellowship, and the Bogliasco Foundation.
He teaches at Gotham Writers’ Workshop in New York City and at the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
He lives in Philadelphia.
Find out more about Justin on his website.
Justin’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS
Monday, August 16th: English Major’s Junk Food
Tuesday, August 17th: The Lost Entwife
Thursday, August 19th: The Bluestocking Society
Tuesday, August 24th: Rundpinne
Wednesday, August 25th: Tales of a Capricious Reader
Monday, August 30th: Dolce Bellezza
Wednesday, September 1st: Jenny Loves to Read
Friday, September 3rd: Raging Bibliomania
Tuesday, September 7th: Lit and Life
Wednesday, September 8th: Reading on a Rainy Day
Thursday, September 9th: Café of Dreams
Monday, September 13th: Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books (author visit)
Tuesday, September 14th: My Reading Room
Thursday, September 16th: Jo-Jo Loves to Read!
Wednesday, September 22nd: Fizzy Thoughts