We Were the Universe
“Witty…singular…entertaining… The ride could not be more rewarding; Parsons’s transgressive boldness allows us to feel the soul in places that moderation simply cannot reach. Parsons has gifted us with a profound, gutsy tale of grief’s dismantling power.”
—Alissa Nutting, The New York Times
“Parsons’s witty and profane debut novel [is] a tender, exuberant and profoundly moving follow-up to her lauded 2019 story collection, Black Light.”
The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)
“In this novel about the shape-shifting nature of love, Parsons captures Kit’s grief in aching and honest terms.”
TIME Magazine — #2 Best Books of 2024
“Parsons offers a hilarious and haunting look at the astronomical nature of loss.”
TIME Magazine — 100 Must-Read Books
“We Were the Universe is a stunning novel, filled with compassion and an understanding of what it means to be a person in the world who wants—needs—to withdraw, but for too many reasons to count, can’t. This is a beautiful book that asks how we move on, or fail to, when our universe implodes.”
—Michael Schaub, The Boston Globe
“Kit is one of the most whip-smart, hilarious, atypical mothers in the history of fiction…A book that astonishes by a writer who possesses the same brilliance as her narrator. One caveat: You must read until the end. The last seven pages will leave you breathless.”
—Leigh Newman, Oprah Daily
“One of a number of exuberantly sex-positive lit-fic books out this year, We Were the Universe delights…Parsons more than makes up for it with her own prismatic writing in this smart, hysterical, aching novel.”
Elle — Best Literary Fiction of 2024
“A heartrendingly sad and gut-bustingly hilarious novel that gets at the galactic nature of grief… We Were the Universe eschews the conventional grief novel in its horniness, the conventional motherhood novel in its queerness, and even the conventional sex novel in its emphasis on fantasy over reality.”
—Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Autostraddle
“This sharp, funny, howl-of-pain of a novel has much to say about sisterhood, motherhood, friendship and love.”
Marie Claire UK — Best Books 2024
“We Were the Universe is about living with grief, being gloriously messy, and stumbling into forgiveness and understanding, as much as it is an atypical ghost story. Parsons deftly balances it all.”
—Kate Preziosi, Lit Hub
“Parsons has a voice and style all her own…It’s heavenly to experience the serotonin rush with Kit on a journey into the wilderness—because Parsons turns it into a wasteland of human emotions, all on their way to the funnel of redemption.”
—Kerneels Breytenbach, Vrye Weekblad
“Funny, glittering… Light is everywhere in We Were the Universe… It left me with a feeling of wonder at the ways in which we, as humans, are linked to one another—the way we burn through all kinds of darkness like stars smoldering in the night.”
—Hannah Jansen, The Rumpus
“Much of We Were the Universe reads like the transcript of a raunchy standup comedy show…Kit undergoes a gradual, organic shift—masterfully depicted by Parsons—which will leave readers feeling surprisingly hopeful.”
—Bianca Sass, Chapter 16
“Remarkable and original…suggestive evidence of a New Psychedelia, young women writers updating Carlos Castaneda for the 21st century. Parsons has created a character so appealing in her cheerful brokenness that you won’t want to leave her side for a minute.”
Kirkus Reviews — Starred Review
“We Were the Universe is an honest punk novel: albums are recorded in closets and drugs are done in trailers; there is artistry and there is experimentation and there is self-destruction, but the band only has each other to bear witness.”
—Madison Ford, Southwest Review
“Kimberly King Parsons renders the psychedelic experience whimsical, feral and queer…Profoundly whimsical, the novel reflects the psychedelic experience in the realest way possible.”
—Natalie Storey, Psychedelic Press
“Parsons’s first book, the wonderful story collection Black Light, brimmed with world-weary wit and Hempel-esque sentences. Her first novel is just as much a marvel.”
—Michelle Hart, Electric Lit
“Parsons’s captivating novel is wholly alert to the untidiness of life, and Kit’s stream of thought is sensationally alive—a heart-wrenching foray into the complexity of loss and identity.”
Booklist
“One can imagine Kit whispering the name of her band to her sleeping child: You are the universe. That’s what our loved ones are, after all.”
—Joyce Saenz Harris, Dallas Morning News
Black Light
“Parsons writes with the unpredictable power of a firecracker, bringing flashes of illumination to people who struggle with disappointment… Every story in this collection is beyond remarkable, and Parsons proves herself to be a gutsy country-punk poet with a keen eye and a stubbornly unique sensibility.”
NPR
“Occasionally a debut collection lands with such a wet, happy thud that you immediately start imagining the rest of the writer’s long career…It’s not just that Parsons’ people are doomed. Even as they squirm and melt and seize, you love them, and root for them.”
Los Angeles Times
“[Black Light] crackles with the frenetic energy of the women who stalk its pages…Parsons’s characters are sharp and uncannily observed, bound up in elastic and electrifying prose. This is a first-rate debut.”
Publishers Weekly — Starred Review
“Comparisons have been made to Denis Johnson, Karen Russell, Carmen Maria Machado…and we’ll add Angela Carter. The Angela Carter of Lubbock, Texas. It has a ring to it. Just keeps getting better as you turn the pages.”
Kirkus — Starred Review
“There is a reckless kind of heat to the tender, broken characters in these stories… Parsons is both unflinching and eloquent in her portrayals of people as they burn and rage.”
The Paris Review
“In lithe, lyrical prose à la Amy Hempel and Noy Holland, Parsons’s short fiction parses the addictions and desires of Texan girls and women, and will break your heart even as it makes you laugh.”
O, The Oprah Magazine
“Caustic and biting, Kimberly King Parsons’ debut collection Black Light takes an unflinching look at the manifold ways girls and young women adroitly navigate a culture determined to demean them.”
LAMBDA Literary
“A collection that recalls the work of Katherine Dunn, Alice Munro, and Denis Johnson. But Parsons also charts her own territory with stories that offer the promise of transcendence and desire while simultaneously threatening the pain of regret and loss.”
Texas Observer
“The characters in the stories that make up Kimberly King Parsons’s Black Light are so alive to the pleasures of life that their exhilaration is present in every word and word choice here.”
Publishing Triangle
“This story smartly resists epiphany, and sometimes the waiting takes time, and sometimes the waiting is the thing itself, full of its own curious and complicated light.”
Electric Lit — Aimee Bender
“Black Light is an unshakable debut…Compulsively readable, this book is as much a love letter to language as it is to the natural world, the darkened corners of desire, and the absurdities of girlhood…You’ll underline every sentence.”
Bustle
“A story collection rooted in the vastness and contradictions of Texas…Black Light has been described as Friday Night Lights meets Ottessa Moshfegh. What more could a reader want, really?”
The Millions
“Parsons has established herself as a prime chronicler of the bleaker side of human existence. In these moody, stylish stories…The result is a searing first book.”
Vol. 1 Brooklyn
“An assured debut. Imbued with the expanses of their landscapes, Parsons’s dozen tales portray characters navigating unavoidable shifts in the realities of their lives.”
Booklist
“Black Light is full of stories that jump off the page thanks to Parsons’ intoxicating language and keen ability for rendering perfectly imperfect characters.”
Alma
“Parsons peers into the darkness that lies beneath the human condition in a set of mercilessly human stories ranging from the burn of first love to the bane of obsession.”
Paperback Paris
“This collection put a spell on me…Expect perspectives you’ve never considered before as you dive into this book.”
Debutiful
“Black Light transports readers, in electric prose, to [Parsons’s] home state of Texas.”
PDX Monthly
“Parsons makes good use of the games played by siblings, exploring what they reveal about the hidden fears and desires of the young.”
Ploughshares
