Cozy
by Adam Shaw
Adam Shaw is uncomfortable and unsure of what to do about it. Blending curious, reflective vignettes with confessional personal essays, Cozy traverses both the years following Adam’s parents’ deaths (settling their estates, reconciling with his estranged half- sister, raising his daughter) and also his childhood (growing up with an addicted parent, grappling with traditional views of masculinity, navigating sibling rivalries) to paint a portrait of the discomfort that arose from the relief and sadness, loneliness and interconnectedness, pride and guilt he experienced after those who brought him into this world were no longer part of it. It's about dive bars and old cassettes, last meals and new tattoos, family-as- strangers and interruptions at funerals, and the minutiae we collect and cherish and let go of as we sit in and learn to live with our traumas and pasts.
Preorder Ebook here!
Paperback and Ebook available November 10th.
Praise for Cozy and Adam Shaw
“I don't know what exactly to say about Cozy that will make you pick it up, but know this: I want to say exactly that. I think you'll like these essays. A lot. I think you'll find them powerful, meaningful. You might even need these essays. Which is all to say, I liked these essays, a lot, and found them powerful, and meaningful, and maybe even needed them. I'll tell you what would make me pick up this book, which is also the truth: with every essay, perhaps even on every page, Shaw wrote about himself and his parents and grief and life, with such deep and thoughtful curiosity and care that he had me thinking about myself and my own parents and grief and life—all of it!—in the very ways I want from a collection of personal essays.”
–Aaron Burch, author of Tacoma
“In Cozy, Adam Shaw builds a complex yet loving portrait of his father, anchored by burgers and breakfast specials, Diet Cokes and Buds. Shaw’s masterful memoir work is on full display in these essays as he dissects masculinity and responsibility with a layered tenderness that feels like a magic trick. Cozy hits in much the same way a good Diet Coke does: a reach toward comfort and a buzz to dull any pain, all existing in that overlap between sweetness and ache. This book reminds us that the only real way to ease the bruise of grief is to tell stories.
–Emily Costa, author of Girl on Girl
"In Cozy, his collection of short, surgical essays set among the dive bars, video stores, and locker rooms of Lafayette, Indiana, Adam Shaw offers a searing account of caring for and mourning his dementia-stricken father, a Vietnam veteran. Exploring loss, family, and the complicated inheritance passed from parents to children, Shaw also wrestles with masculinity, memory, and alcoholism. Few writers are as adept at indelibly capturing how grief settles into a room's corners—how we cozy up to it when we've lived with grief long enough for it to become as familiar as a worn recliner, a favorite barstool, or any other place we can sink into—the way Shaw does here. Packed with moments of incandescent grace and raw beauty, Cozy is a collection that you will want to make room for."
–John Waddy Bullion, author of This World Will Never Run Out of Strangers
"Not since The World's Largest Man have I read a more poignant examination of a son grappling with the death of his father. Channeling shades of Chris Offutt and Scott McClanahan, Adam Shaw’s Cozy is a deeply affecting meditation on grief, masculinity, and inheritance. These essays trace a son’s attempt to understand the complicated man who raised him, capturing the quiet ways men express love and the memories triggered by cold beers, old movies, and the comfort of a neighborhood bar. Cozy is a moving and unflinching portrait of what remains after loss and the ways fathers continue to shape us long after they are gone."
–Dan Russell, author of Poor Birds and Lies We Chose to Believe
“Cozy is a clear-eyed look at the many discomforts of growing up in a family and later losing that family, written with all the resonance, warmth, and good humor I've come to expect from Adam Shaw's compact essays over the years—and, of course, from this book's perfect title. You’ll want to sit down for this.”
–Michael Wheaton, author of Home Movies and publisher of Autofocus Books