Chloe Caldwell is the author of three books- I'll Tell You in Person, Women, and Legs Get Led Astray. Her essays have been published in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, The Cut, The Strategist, BuzzFeed, NYLON, VICE, Longreads, and many anthologies. Her essay "Hungry Ghost" was listed as Notable in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2017. She lives in Hudson, New York, and teaches creative writing online at Writing Workshops, LitReactor, and the Fine Arts Work Center. Find out more at www.chloesimonne.com.
Named a Most Anticipated Book by BuzzFeed,
Glamour, NYLON, and Bustle
A W Magazine Essential Feminist Read
"In her memoir The Red Zone: A Love Story, Caldwell grapples
with the realities of her 30s . . . Caldwell is grown now. Strange
visitors are at her door-PMDD, or premenstrual dysphoric disorder,
and a prospective life partner who happens to be a divorced man
with a daughter. Here, our heroine is on a different journey: to
establish a peace accord with her own period, whose cyclical
hormonal fluctuations wreak havoc on her body and relationships . .
. To find relief, she harnesses her episodes for semi-scientific
investigation and emotional revelations that do, ultimately, serve
to connect Caldwell with Tony, his daughter and a network of women
obsessed with finding out why they cycle through rage and agony.
These women have suffered excruciating, often emotionally
shattering episodes that are alternately undisclosed, unrecognized
or dismissed . . . I found myself texting images of certain pages
to a friend I suspect may have PMDD." -Kristen Millares Young,
The Washington Post
"Periods are often shrouded in mystery and shame. But in Chloe
Caldwell's new memoir, The Red Zone: A Love Story, she
brings the period front and center by making the rhythm of a
menstrual cycle the rhythm of a life . . . It's humorous and
genuine . . . a story about the things we so often fear society
will render illegitimate through its judgmental gaze-periods, being
a stepparent, bisexuality, divorce. But it shows us that the only
gaze required to render our experiences as legitimate is our own,
searing and red-hot, and always fiercely authentic." -Nylah Burton,
Shondaland
"Characteristically affecting, sharp, and funny." -Katie Heaney,
The Cut
"Caldwell poetically captures the complexities of living (and
loving) with PMDD . . . Flip through The Red Zone, and
you'll find many things: Reddit threads and diaristic lists;
romantic excursions and heated text messages; questions and
(sometimes) answers. But whatever shape its content takes, one
thing is clear: The Red Zone is an homage to love . . .
Perhaps that's why I was able to see my own first pivotal period
experience in a new light after reading." -Rachel Schwartzmann,
Byrdie
"A mix of memoir, medical investigation, and group therapy,
Caldwell's latest is a red-hot probe into the biology,
ramifications, and politics of menstruation. Using her personal
struggles with premenstrual dysphoric disorder as a vehicle to
explore the way that other women experience their periods, Caldwell
takes us from Reddit threads to the halls of her own marriage with
the candidness and bravery that has made her a standout memoirist
and teacher." -Courtney Maum, Literary Hub
"I first read the novella Women by Chloe Caldwell when I was
heartbroken over my first queer relationship, and it became my
go-to recommendation for people to understand what I had gone
through. I can only imagine her new memoir, The Red Zone,
will become that book for many more people: ones with premenstrual
dysphoric disorder (PMDD), difficult periods, medical concerns that
evade diagnoses, or even just people whose relationship to labels
of all sorts is ever-changing. Chloe Caldwell is known for her
candor and honesty in her writing and The Red Zone more than
lives up to that reputation." -Analyssa Lopez,
Autostraddle
"Caldwell turns her focus on her period, forever a source of
anxiety and rage that's now threatening her relationship. Through
interviews, conferences and Reddit threads, the author explores the
boxes we put ourselves, and one another, in-at any time of the
month." -Lauren Emily, GO Magazine
"Both frank and emotionally resonant . . . A welcome return for an
assured and compelling literary voice." -Vol. 1 Brooklyn
"Caldwell's book is refreshingly different, honoring the intimacy
and conflict that menstruation can bring . . . A humorous, tender,
and informative memoir, The Red Zone shows readers how
exploring our bodies can help us connect to the deepest parts of
who we are and how we relate to others." -Nylah Burton,
BitchReads
"This memoir explores finding the language and communication skills
to come to terms with emotions and physical pain beyond anything we
have ever encountered in media, social or familial conversation,
medical treatment . . . I wish it was around back in the 1990s. I'm
glad it's here now. This is one you're going to buy for the
teenager as well as your friends and colleagues in their twenties
and thirties. With a love story entwined with a chorus of voices,
this is compulsively enjoyable and empowering memoir." -Lauren
LeBlanc, The Observer, Best Memoirs of Spring
"Caldwell comes to the realization in her 30s that her strong waves
of emotion are tied inextricably with her menstrual cycle . . .
With wry humor, Caldwell takes the reader with her on her journey
of not only discovering what's wrong, but dealing with the symptoms
of it. She tells the love story between herself and her body as she
works to understand it better." -Emma Cariello,
Chronogram
"From bleeding on her boyfriend's sheets to real talk about blood
clots to sometimes hating her period unapologetically, [Caldwell]
tells honest, shame-free stories about learning from, suffering
through, and simply having a period. And in doing so, Caldwell
gives readers the period story we deserve." -Anna Sims, Electric
Literature
"Ultimately, the story is one of self-acceptance . . . The Red
Zone is a gift to us all and almost one of a kind in terms of
narratives with a primary focus on periods." -Samantha Mann, The
Rumpus
"What I think is so compelling about Chloe's writing is her candor
and how deeply personal she gets . . . The Red Zone is maybe
her most generous and well-researched work yet . . . A textured and
comprehensive book about PMDD that will likely become a significant
resource for people who menstruate." -Shelby Hinte, Write or Die
Tribe
"Scintillating . . . [Caldwell] smartly blends the personal and
cultural to confront the ways women's suffering has been dismissed
throughout history . . . The result gives a vibrant voice to a
struggle that many have been taught to quietly shoulder alone. This
is an audacious tribute to women everywhere." -Publishers
Weekly
"Caldwell delves deeply into medical and social aspects of
menstruation as well as complex aspects of women's health,
identity, marriage, and family, resulting in a fresh, intimate, and
engaging chronicle." -Booklist
"Caldwell's candor about all things menstrual is the greatest
strength of this dynamic book . . . [W]omen who suffer from PMDD
will take solace in the ups and downs of Caldwell's journey toward
self-acceptance, health, and love. The narrative may also appeal to
anyone who suffers frustration and anger in the face of an illness
for which they struggle to get an accurate diagnosis, a situation
that disproportionately affects women. Provocatively intimate
reading." -Kirkus Reviews
"It's the greatest love story known to woman: that of herself with
her own body. This is deep, wild genius at work-a sharp, generous,
questing, very funny book that lays bare the grueling extremes of
menstruation. THERE WILL BE BLOOD. And thank god for that. Because
we bleed. We bleed and bleed and bleed. As much as they want to
pretend we don't. Chloe Caldwell writes with guts and grace. We are
very lucky to have her." -Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Grown
Ups
"The necessity and urgency of The Red Zone made me wonder
how I-and any woman-had lived so long without it. Through the lens
of PMDD and the female body, Caldwell refracts every issue
imaginable, from relationships to hormones to queerness to
stepmotherhood to blended families, all with hilarity, intimacy,
and depth. Feeling seen by this book is an understatement; it's a
survival guide." -Zaina Arafat, author of You Exist Too Much
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
