List Price: $26.00 Details

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Save: $11.05 (43%)
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Return this item for free
  • Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
  • Learn more about free returns.
FREE delivery Tuesday, January 3 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon
Or fastest delivery Thursday, December 29
Arrives after Christmas. Need a gift sooner? Send an Amazon Gift Card instantly by email or SMS.
Only 2 left in stock - order soon.
As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.
[{"displayPrice":"$14.95","priceAmount":14.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"bCePx5b2hvropkXu1V5b6kwLRWik91q70Fhp%2FpJQyHgWYPxyQmG7dm3JpQ4DPdXbuGQnLaPxPlsG1X%2F4hZTiMpHw730JL8HqYo%2F7z4Urr2bS1Hhz1hkqSNkdmTHoCORfyxv5i6GeAZWdxpy6us95D89d%2BB6kDX77XHD1oQtFO%2BkZJE4mTiyJT8UyxUJnQ%2BrQ","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$7.82","priceAmount":7.82,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"82","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"8FEsEQ%2BduX6YhhOcuEJVuAqgZy3Dp0TFtfxQ9LPLletPL0%2BdaGMjJR4ks91UUVOC7yfFWjsDGSlRgVVYV3os1aOl8IcKruLTWIJl2oWcjhFbVt7rm0gs%2BJ5xB82Yg7Nyua1%2Bj2NlMm8bKAVrysfWWVipv9Eg1t5lg5H4Hd%2BNVPgMuiR75LbuG10xDP66aJ1W","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]
$$14.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$14.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
Return policy: Returnable until Jan 31, 2023
For the 2022 holiday season, returnable items purchased between October 11 and December 25, 2022 can be returned until January 31, 2023.
Marlena: A Novel has been added to your Cart
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Tuesday, January 3 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon
Or fastest delivery Friday, December 30
Arrives after Christmas. Need a gift sooner? Send an Amazon Gift Card instantly by email or SMS.
Condition: Used: Good
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Have one to sell?
Other Sellers on Amazon
Added
$7.75
+ $4.83 shipping
Sold by: whitelily
Sold by: whitelily
(266 ratings)
96% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Added
$14.94
& FREE Shipping
Sold by: FIRST COLONY BOOKS
Sold by: FIRST COLONY BOOKS
(653 ratings)
96% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Added
$16.00
FREE Shipping
Get free shipping
Free shipping within the U.S. when you order $25.00 of eligible items shipped by Amazon.
Or get faster shipping on this item starting at $5.99 . (Prices may vary for AK and HI.)
Learn more about free shipping
on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.
Sold by: moonbaexyz
Sold by: moonbaexyz
Just launched
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

Follow the Author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Marlena: A Novel Hardcover – April 4, 2017

4.1 out of 5 stars 289 ratings

Price
New from Used from
Kindle
Hardcover
$14.95
$6.00 $1.38

Enhance your purchase


"No Rings Attached: A Novel (Ms. Right)" by Rachel Lacey for $7.03
From award-winning author Rachel Lacey comes the second installment in the Ms. Right series: a captivating romance about a reluctant bookseller finding love in unexpected places.| Learn more

Frequently bought together

  • Marlena: A Novel
  • +
  • Sugar Street
  • +
  • Liberation Day: Stories
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

When Catherine was a teenager, she moved to the small, economically depressed town of Silver Lake, MN, following her mom's divorce. Now in her 30s, Catherine is still haunted by her past. Even a good job and a great husband can't compensate for a pain that won't fade completely and a powerful drinking problem that arose as a result of her best friend's death by drowning. Catherine is consumed by the memory of a girl who made having nothing seem like everything. As chapters deftly alternate between the protagonist's adult life and her adolescence, readers encounter teenage Cat: angry at her dad and unappreciative of her mom's efforts, the 15-year-old is primed for reinvention. A bookish girl on partial scholarship at a private high school, Cat meets Marlena, a force of nature: blonde, sexy, and unapologetically brash and worldly. Cat is soon ditching school to hang out with her friend, who's looked down on by many: Marlena is the daughter of a menacing meth cook who is not above trading his daughter's sexual favors to a drug partner. Drinking, pills, smoking, sex—all the staples of Marlena's life, once glamorous to Cat, become routine as Marlena's sketchy friends and dangerous behavior affect both girls. This searing work from debut author Buntin adroitly captures the dark side of friendship and the turmoil of young adulthood. VERDICT Hand this unflinching tale to savvy teens starting to look beyond Ellen Hopkins or to readers who appreciate gritty fare, such as E.R. Frank's Dime.—Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Gwinnett County, GA

Review

"At the center of Julie Buntin’s debut novel is the kind of coming-of-age friendship that goes beyond camaraderie, into a deeper bond that forges identity; it’s friendship as a creative act, a collaborative work of imagination. . .This generous, sensitive novel of true feeling. . . sweeps you up without too much explication, becoming both a painful exorcism and a devoted memorial to friends and selves who are gone." -The New York Times Book Review

"Excellent....a wild, gorgeous evocation...[Buntin’s] lyricism is precise and revelatory, capable of great beauty and, when called for, great ugliness. Marlena is a novel about youth―a time of splendor and squalor. Buntin make us see, hear and feel both." -The San Francisco Chronicle

"A vivid portrait of a friendship between two teen girls in a troubled community that captures the heartaches of adolescence...At every turn, Buntin’s prose flows with the easy, confident rhythms of an accomplished writer, and though there’s really no mystery in the narrative, it reads nearly as compulsively as a thriller...The tale of two friends, one who succeeds and one who fails, isn’t new―it’s the entire focus of Elena Ferrante’s wildly popular Neapolitan books. But it remains fascinating nonetheless, especially in Buntin’s capable hands."
-The Boston Globe

"Julie Buntin’s standout debut novel, Marlena. . . cannily interweaves two different time frames to capture an electric friendship and its legacy. . . .Buntin is attuned to the way in which adolescent friends embolden and betray. . . .Cat is a keen observer of all the markers of upward mobility: in this case, a New York life complete with a literary job and a kind, stable husband who makes dinner. The novel’s most impressive passages concern the watermark that remains, visible in the light of too many after-work martinis, and in attempts at adult friendships."-Vogue, "Girls on the Verge"

"It's still so early in 2017 that calling something a best debut novel of the year is a dicey thing to try and do. But if the Lorrie Moore blurb on the front cover doesn't tip you off that Julie Buntin's Marlena is a book you should be paying attention to, the fact that the author created something that could easily be called the millennial Midwestern version of the celebrated Elena Ferrante Neapolitan Novels crossed with Robin Wasserman's great Girls on Fire, should do the trick."-Rolling Stone

"In this icy and accomplished first novel, the intoxicating friendship between an inexperienced loner and her manic, wild-child neighbor continues to exert an irresistible pull on our narrator decades later"
-O, the Oprah Magazine

“Julie Buntin’s debut novel, Marlena.. . .joins a glut of recent novels that pair a retrospective female narrator with an extravagantly charismatic but troubled friend. . . .But Marlena,unlike the others, seems to be aware of the complicity of these kinds of stories in perpetuating the mystique of girls who go wrong. . . .Buntin vividly captur[es] the slow, blurry creep of intoxication. The value of novels like Marlena .. . is how insightfully they capture the complex intensity of girlhood that can’t see yet how exquisitely vulnerable it is.” -The Atlantic, "My Brilliant (Doomed) Friend"

"Riveting, assured debut novel ...Marlena is propulsive and gripping...Buntin excels at capturing the longing and intensity of being a teenager... Buntin. . .creat[es] characters so nuanced and true-to-life you’d swear you were remembering them yourself."
-Bookforum

"A quiet, powerful look at addiction."
-The New York Times, "3 Books Take a Deeper Look at the Opioid Epidemic"

"Magnetic"
-Vogue

"A gorgeous, knowing debut that will make you reflect on the people who continue to shape our lives long after we leave them behind."
–Marie Claire

"Haunting"
Harper's Bazaar

"[A] mesmerizing debut . . .Buntin weaves an indelible portrait of friendship."-Harper's Bazaar"14 Best new Books to Read in April"

"Marlena is a gorgeous portrayal of what it’s like to be a teenage girl, and an even more gorgeous exploration of the events that transform the woman a teenage girl grows into."-Newsweek

"Just when you think you’ve read every story there is to tell about teenage female friendships, along comes Julie Buntin with a story about two female teenagers so haunting that you can barely remember the names of those other books you’ve read...Stunning."
-Roar

"Stunning debut...stellar first novel...Buntin captures the agony, ecstasy, and lasting impact of adolescent friendship"
-Real Simple

"Brilliant...
Marlena so perfectly captures the bottomless need and desire of teenage girls and the reckless abandon with which they lives their lives...If you've ever been a teenage girl who loved and lived a little too hard for your own good, Marlena will resonate on a cellular level." -NYLON

"Astonishing first novel...Provocatively honest."
-Pif

"I tore through this stunning debut. . . .maddening, complicated, beautiful, essential. . . .Buntin beautifully captures that time in our lives, when our reliance on our friends feels as profound as our need for water or air."
-NYLON, 50 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2017

"A novel that’s as invigorating and devastating as an intense teenage crush, Marlena is about the people we encounter in life ― no matter how briefly ― who leave a permanent mark. Julie Buntin’s stellar debut has the emotional sophistication of only the very best coming-of-age novels, so it’s no wonder it comes with a glowing blurb from Who Will Run the Frog Hospital author Lorrie Moore."
-Vulture, 25 of the Most Exciting Book Releases for 2017

"Julie Buntin’s debut novel. . .will fill you with rich longing for the kind of faith and fascination friends once inspired. . .If you can swing it, I recommend meeting a good friend in a dark bar to discuss this book."
-New York Magazine

"A buzzy debut that melds psychological suspense with pure literary fiction"
-Huffington Post, 2017 Book Preview

"Riveting, heartrending"-BuzzFeed, "31 Incredible New Books You Need to Read This Spring"

"It’s rare that a literary novel gives me the feeling that Marlena did. . . .compelling, compulsory. . .[An] ice-clean story of two girls, one doomed, one in thrall, and what will happen to drag them both down into traps of their own making."-LitHub, "15 Books to Read This April"

"Sensitive and smart and arrestingly beautiful, debut novelist Buntin's tale of the friendship between two girls in the woods of Northern Michigan makes coming-of-age stories feel both urgent and new. . . .Buntin creates a world so subtle and nuanced and alive that it imprints like a memory. Devastating; as unforgettable as it is gorgeous."–Kirkus, starred review

“A keenly observed study of teenage character. . .poignant and unforgettable”
–Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[A] vivid debut. . . .Buntin’s prose is emotional and immediate, and the interior lives she draws of young women and obsessive best friends are Ferrante-esque.”
–Booklist, starred review

“The gifted young writer Julie Buntin has written a novel of deep and exquisite intelligence, humor, and riveting sensitivity. A terrific debut.”
–Lorrie Moore

“Julie Buntin captures that unique moment at the precipice of adulthood with emotional honesty and insight. She writes the kind of piercing, revelatory sentences you have to read to whomever is near, sentences you find yourself remembering years later.”
–Jonathan Safran Foer

"Marlena is absolutely lacerating. The most accurate portrait I’ve read about angst, lust, boredom, and the blindness of youth. It isn’t merely a friendship chronicle, nor is it a profile of a doomed, beautiful girl. It’s the story of a haunting, about the ghosts that never release us and continue to define us. Julie Buntin’s command of her craft is so flawless you forget that it’s fiction. I binge-read Marlena - sick to my stomach, with equal parts fear and nostalgia- stunned that any of us made it out of our adolescence alive." –Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter

"The true magic of Julie Buntin is she writes stories that feel like your own. This gorgeous, assured debut captures the romance of young friendship, cutting deep with the finest touch."
–Julia Pierpont, author of Among the Ten Thousand Things

"Marlena slayed me. Gorgeously written, with a sense of place so perfect I didn't even have to close my eyes to pretend I was there, this novel is rich and sensuous and beautifully conceived. Buntin writes about the all-consuming bond between teenage girls with urgency and suspense and despair. I loved every word."–Anton DiSclafani, bestselling author of The After Party and The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

"In
Marlena, Julie Buntin revitalizes a classic story making it all her own with sensuous, vibrant prose and a narrator who feels deeply even as she feints certain painful truths about herself. In these pages I not only saw my own story, I came to understand it better. Many readers will too. This is a fierce and gorgeous debut."Edan Lepucki, bestselling author of California

Buy $200, get $30 off Instacart gift card

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition (April 4, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1627797645
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1627797641
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 970L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.74 x 0.99 x 8.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 289 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Julie Buntin is from northern Michigan. Her debut novel, MARLENA, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize, longlisted for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and named a best book of the year by over a dozen outlets, including The Washington Post, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Vogue, The New York Times Book Review, Guernica, and other publications. She has taught creative writing at New York University, Yale Writers' Workshop, and Marymount Manhattan College, and is the Director of Writing Programs at Catapult. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
289 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 27, 2017
6 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 23, 2017
4 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 20, 2017
32 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 26, 2017
4 people found this helpful
Report abuse

Top reviews from other countries

Keith Brady
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful debut...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 18, 2017
3 people found this helpful
Report abuse
paris
5.0 out of 5 stars a book i will forever return to.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 27, 2019
Alex
3.0 out of 5 stars Read more like a memoir
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 1, 2017
One person found this helpful
Report abuse
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely read, draws you in
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 7, 2017
beatrice
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 15, 2018