PARADISE LOGIC is out now where books are sold, via Simon & Schuster in the US and Scribner in the UK

Praise:

“‘Paradise Logic’ dissolves form at the molecular level and builds an extraordinary story out of the residual goop. . . Unbearable tragedy lurks in these pages: rape, addiction, dissociation, generational memory of the pogroms and of the Holocaust, all chopped to pieces and stuffed between winningly insane layers of syntactical bizzaria and presentational devices galore. Refractions of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos,” Cosmopolitan magazine, Kemp’s own zines, the Torah, “Madoka Magica,” “The Divine Comedy,” Arthurian legend, Miltonian verse and more are all gloriously present. Illustrations and emoticons abound; phrases repeat themselves; characters morph into and out of one another. I have heretofore described about one-sixteenth of what’s happening. “YOLO” is the last phrase to appear on the last page of this book — and lo, you doth only live the very once. You might as well write like it. This book swings big. The ball arcs toward Gehenna, and Kemp’s hyper narrator Naruto-runs off the page, trying kawaiily to get under it. Here, at last, is someone doing something new.” 

—Alexandra Tanner, THE NEW YORK TIMES

"The funniest book of the year and one of the smartest."—GARY SHTEYNGART 

"Freed from the mundane, or perhaps freed to transform the mundane into the absurd, the book thrums with energy, verging on ecstasy." —LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS

"Prepare to read it at a frenetic pace, because it’s just too good to put down." —AIR MAIL

“Extraordinarily odd, distinct and jarring, one needs to only crack the spine to get a sense of Sophie Kemp’s voice and style. There’s something Miranda July-esque about the whole performance, a statement on whether these desires can exist divorced from the effects of a patriarchal society, and how to understand being a girl, a girlfriend, a woman who is attracted to men, under the circumstances we’ve been handed. Offbeat, hilarious, and often dismal, Paradise Logic is the excavation of heterosexual desire our age deserves.”  

—LITHUB’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2025”

"Kemp . . . is possessed of a voice like nobody else’s, and it’s deployed here to dazzling effect." —VOGUE 

“While she may be a new novelist, Kemp is an adept, masterful critic: incisive, lucid and arrestingly direct. Paradise Logic is a masterclass in absurdism, yes, and an exercise in persona writing. Its core question is a compelling one: desire is not—and cannot be—logical. What would it mean for someone to treat it as if it were? . . . Kemp demonstrates what every flirtation with absurdism requires: pushing something to its furthest logical extreme, and not being afraid to get freaky with it. . . Paradise Logic has substance; it just prefers style.”  

—THE YALE HERALD

"A mythic heroine, on an odyssey to apotheosize via girlfriendhood." —HELLGATE

"Paradise Logic revolves around a refreshingly human conceit: What if heterosexual women did away with the veneer of detachment and the faux vows to turn to lesbianism? What if they instead were honest about their desire for men? What are Cosmopolitan, and W, and umpteen other women’s magazines, if not, in some sense, Girlfriend Weekly? And, in our desperation for these potential boyfriends’ affections, don’t we become accomplices to our own subjugation?" 

—THE WASHINGTON POST

"Bizarre, brilliant . . . boldly funny and interesting." —OUR CULTURE

"In Kemp's energetic debut, a young woman embarks on a quest to become 'the best girlfriend of all time'... The inventive conceit yields plenty of humor and incisive commentary. This funhouse portrait of the Brooklyn dating scene feels all too real." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Reality veers between an almost alien-like approach to modern mores and crystal clear understanding; her perceptions are at once surreal and instantly recognizable. Kemp’s writing is ambitious and fresh while engaging with the recurring theme of women’s role as a vessel for men’s desires in a patriarchal society. Reality’s heightened approach to her world makes its violence even more apparent. With an impressive ear for rhythm, Kemp’s writing shines throughout this imaginative novel.” —BOOKLIST (starred review)

"Paradise Logic is an astonishment, and the odyssey of Reality Kahn reads like the strangest, funniest, most profound, vibrant, and trippy dream you ever had, except it’s not just a dream, it’s a work of art, deeply real and dangerously alive. A great writer is bornth." —SAM LIPSYTE, bestselling author of No One Left to Come Looking for You

"The 21st C heir apparent to Kathy Acker. Reality sets about her quest with a Quixotean determination. A wildly propulsive novel and delight to behold.” —JEN GEORGE, author of The Babysitter at Rest

"I loved this wild, roaming marvel of a debut, acutely aware that I was reading a book completely unlike any other, admiring this voice which metabolizes perennial concerns about love, identity and gender into some of the weirdest and funniest prose imaginable. It's a privilege to spend time with Sophie Kemp's singular mind." 

—MEGAN NOLAN, author of Acts of Desperation and Ordinary Human Failings