“Sentence by rat-a-tat sentence, a thrill.”
—Sam Sifton, The New York Times

“A party-girl novel like [I’ve] never read before.”
—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker

“[A] sharp, fast-paced look at the highs and lows of the human heart.”
—Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic

“[A] cult classic.”
—Shannon Carlin, Time

“Precise and nimble, with some of the best descriptions of sex ever put to the page.”
—Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harper’s Bazaar

"Deliciously sexy."
—Lily Meyer, The Atlantic

“An audacious novelist, ahead of her time.”
—Alexandra Alter, The New York Times

“I loved [Fish Tales] . . . Fantastic.”
—Issac Fitzgerald, the Today show

“Nettie’s voice [is] astonishing. It just leaps off the page like a panther . . . Unlike anything I’ve ever read.”
—Joumana Khatib, The New York Times Book Review podcast

“It is as sexy as novels by Sally Rooney, as druggy as novels by Tao Lin, as gross as novels by Ottessa Moshfegh, as queer as novels by Garth Greenwell, as violent as Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life . . . Fish Tales is breathtaking and brutal, disorienting and delightful . . . Its voice is as clear and intimate and alive as it must have sounded to its best readers four decades ago.”
—Namwali Serpell, The New York Review of Books

“A wild romp filled with sex and drugs, pleasure and pain . . . For the right reader, [Fish Tales] will be everything.”
—Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe

“A rush of life from start to finish.”
—Philip Janowski, Chicago Review of Books

“[An] erotic novel of raw longing and fierce freedom . . . Fish Tales luxuriates in its protagonist’s flaws.”
—Danielle Amir Jackson, The Paris Review

“Utterly confident . . . This unsung Morrison-edited novel is one that keeps up with the best of them.”
—Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler

“Unflinching . . . A meditation on female sexuality and the cost of pursuing freedom.”
—Lindsay Johns, The Times Literary Supplement

“[A] classic . . . Still pioneering decades after its first run, [Fish Tales] slices into the flesh of the novel of ideas . . . Exhilarating . . . There is no one quite like Lewis in the literary canon.”
—Harmony Holiday, Bookforum

“Riotous, bawdy, horny, alarming, funny, gross, and frank. A chronicle of the sexual and romantic misadventures of Lewis, a true original, this novel felt like a blast of fresh air.”
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub

“Feels just as edgy as it did when it was first released.”
—Shannon Carlin, Time

“My favorite book I’ve read this year.”
—Rachel Tashjian Wise, Opulent Tips

“As fresh as ever.”
—Sophia M. Stewart, The Millions

“A fast, fearless book . . . so full of life it practically vibrates in your hands . . . Thank heavens for the revival of Fish Tales; thank heavens for the fierce vision of Nettie Jones.”
—Justin Torres, author of Blackouts

“As exhilarating and scary as a high-wire act on the sharp edge of a razor blade.”
—Michael A. Gonzales, Longreads

“Wondrous and outrageous, real and incandescent and alive. A genuine treasure.”
—Bryan Washington, author of Palaver

“Fish Tales is candid, fast, and alive. Nettie Jones renders everything as its own particular organism—cities, relationships, and of course the body and its grotesque eroticism.”
—Raven Leilani, author of Luster

“Enthralling . . . Fish Tales will certainly dazzle you, and it might even scandalize you, but it never tells a lie.”
—Angela Flournoy, author of The Wilderness