Actor Sarah Jessica Parker and author Elysha Chang appeared on Good Morning America to discuss Chang’s A Quitter’s Paradise, the first book published by SJP Lit, Parker’s new imprint with independent press Zando.
Chang’s novel, published on Tuesday, follows Eleanor, a woman who has quit her graduate program and is in denial about the recent death of her mother. A critic for Kirkus called the book “funny, original, and overflowing with wisdom—this is an absolute delight of a debut.”
On the morning show, GMA co-anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Parker, “What was it about this story?”
“Oh, everything,” Parker said. “Unique, original voice; a story about grief that is able to be surprising and funny;…a voice that was fresh; a protagonist that is slippery and complicated and withholdin and yet pulls the reader in.”
Stephanopoulos asked Chang what it was like to get the phone call from Parker about her book.
“I was absolutely floored,” she said. “It was something I had been working on for six, seven years alone, and in a community of writers, of course. To finally have it be read, and to hear it read with such enthusiasm by S.J. and also my editor, Erin Wicks—I knew the book would be in really good hands.”
“It must be so gratifying to usher new voices into the world,” Stephanopoulos said to Parker.
“It’s exciting, especially when the voice is not one that you’ve seen produced on a page,” Parker replied. “I think this is a family story that is many family stories, and Elysha has found a way to illustrate and describe it that feels…deeply personal but is very relatable.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
