The Computer Room

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In this unforgettable debut Emma Ensley cracks open a time capsule of adolescence and young adulthood at the turn of the millennium when internet chatrooms and youth group missions collided when fanfiction forums pulsed with drama and when girls learned to code-switch between AOL screen names and church pews. These linked stories hum with the strange holiness of coming-of-age: babysitting jobs and Bible verses slap bracelets and slut-shaming cheerleading chants and Cabbage Patch births. Told with tenderness and precision <em>The Computer Room </em>captures what it means to grow up longing-for closeness for clarity for someone to tell you what to name the baby. Ensley's characters are forever on the cusp of first love of self-invention of figuring out how to live in the body and in the South.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Through 13 stories Ensley brings to life the joys fears and complexities of adolescence and early adulthood-where first loves friendships and the search for identity collide with messy bedrooms teenage rebellion and the quiet hum of the family computer. Ensley's sharp heartfelt writing makes you laugh reflect and feel connected to those fleeting moments of youth when everything seemed both endlessly possible and impossibly confusing.</span></p><p></p>