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How to Get Into the Twin Palms, a novel by Karolina Waclawiak (Two Dollar Radio The New Classics Edition, 2025) Coming Soon!

1st Printing Features: Trade paper, Gate-fold, Deckle Edge

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How To Get Into the Twin Palms New Classics Edition (FORTHCOMING)

a novel by
Karolina Waclawiak


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$ 17.95 
Format:  Paperback
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The Two Dollar Radio "The New Classics" edition will feature an original introduction and be released in 2025.


*One of the Best Books of 2012 Salon

"Waclawiak's novel reinvents the immigration story. How to Get Into the Twin Palms movingly portrays a protagonist intent on both creating and destroying herself, on burning brightly even as she goes up in smoke."
Abigail Deutsch, New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice


Synopsis

How To Get Into the Twin Palms is the story of Anya, a young woman living in a Russian neighborhood in Los Angeles, who struggles between retaining her parents' Polish culture and trying to assimilate into her adopted community. She lusts after Lev, a Russian man who frequents the Twin Palms nightclub down the block from Anya's apartment. It is Anya's wish to gain entrance to this seeminly exclusive club. How To Get Into the Twin Palms is a really funny and often moving book that provides a unique twist on the immigrant story, and provides a credible portrait of the city of Los Angeles, literally burning to the ground.


How to Get Into the Twin Palms by Karolina Waclawiak =

How to Get Into the Twin Palms by Karolina Waclawiak = Lena Dunham + Aimee Bender + Gary Shteyngart

* In most cases, none of these writers endorse this book. Our math formulas are supposed to be amusing anecdotes, similar to shelf-talkers in bookstores that say "If you like X, you might enjoy Y," or "This Book is like Cormac McCarthy writing an episode of Saved by the Bell with a soundtrack by Philip Glass."

Reviews

Scroll to bottom for Goodreads reviews.

*One of the Best Books of 2012 Salon

"Waclawiak's novel reinvents the immigration story. How to Get Into the Twin Palms movingly portrays a protagonist intent on both creating and destroying herself, on burning brightly even as she goes up in smoke."
Abigail Deutsch, New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice

"The novel is beautifully written and so suffused with loneliness it makes you ache. Not only is How to Get into the Twin Palms about the overwhelming state that is displacement, it's about what happens when loneliness becomes unbearable. Waclawiak writes through these tensions so elegantly, so tenderly, that How to Get Into the Twin Palms is, by far, one of my favorite books this year."
—Roxane Gay, The Rumpus

"Excellent... Waclawiak's book turns the traditional immigrant novel on its head, or maybe turns it inside out, or maybe just dyes its hair a nice shade of 'Black Stilettos,' turning its ears black in the process.”
Flavorwire

  "Visceral and strong..."
NYLON

"Karolina Waclawiak has upended the immigrant's tale."
The Week, Author of the Week

"Waclawiak writes about loneliness, isolation, and determination in a refreshing and quirky way.”
Vulture 

View the awesome HORN! REVIEWS review in short graphic novel/comic form.
The Rumpus

"Waclawiak writes of Anya's struggle to belong with wit and sensitive insight... [a] fantastic debut.”
Shelf Awareness 

"Masked by scenes of schmancy nightlife is a story about an immigrant wanting to belong. Barely getting by in LA on bingo-calling, Anya reinvents herself. With hair dye and a push-up bra, she tries to gain entry into the Twin Palms nightclub.”
Marie Claire 

"Sex-crazed, surreal, dreamy, violent, escapist, and always searching for some kind of truth. The book makes me think of questions I ask myself all the time. How can you separate yourself from the generations of women that have come before you? Is it even possible? Do you like these ancient parts of yourself? Are you proud of them or ashamed?”
HTML Giant 

"Karolina Waclawiak's debut novel, How to Get Into the Twin Palms, presents a vividly drawn portrait of Los Angeles inhabited by alienated immigrants, Russian gangsters, and sex-starved bingo-addicted octogenarians—all enveloped by smoldering fires that threaten to burn the city down.”
—Christine Schutt, Poets & Writers 

"Comical, but the story is deep, as Anya bumps up against the world in an attempt to define her identity as both an immigrant and a woman.”
Shelf Unbound Magazine 

"A taut debut... [that] strikes with the creeping suddenness of a brush fire."
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Waclawiak takes the immigrant novel and spins it on its head. A great addition to 1.5 generation literature, beautifully written, funny and touching.”
—Gary Shteyngart

Author

Author Karolina Waclawiak

Karolina Waclawiak  is the author of the critically acclaimed novels How to Get Into the Twin Palms and THE INVADERS. AWOL, a feature she co-wrote with Deb Shoval, premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Formerly an editor at the Believer, she is now the Executive Editor, Culture at BuzzFeed News. Karolina received her BFA in Screenwriting from USC and her MFA in Fiction from Columbia University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, VQR, the Believer, Hazlitt, and other publications.

Videos

View the official book trailer for How To Get Into The Twin Palms, directed by Dominika Waclawiak with cinematography by Ken Kurras:

Sneak Peek

Enjoy a sneak peek of select pages from How To Get Into the Twin Palms! (Use the "full screen" option at bottom right to enlarge the pages):


info

FORMAT: Two Dollar Radio - The New Classics Edition ("Blue Lev" cover)
The New Classics edition features an original introduction by a writer to be named soon.
LIST PRICE: $17.95
PAGES: 192
PRINT ISBN: 9781953387xxx
DIGITAL ISBN: 978-1-937512-xx-x
RELEASE DATE: 2025
SIZE: 5.5" x 7.5"

FORMAT: Original Paperback Edition ("Tattooed Lev"; sold out)
LIST PRICE: $16.00
PAGES: 192
PRINT ISBN: 9780983247180
DIGITAL ISBN: 978-1-937512-05-7
RELEASE DATE: 7/1/2012
AUDIO BOOK: Recordedbooks.com
SIZE: 5.5" x 7.5"

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Two Dollar Radio is a family-run outfit founded in 2005 with the mission to reaffirm the cultural and artistic spirit of the publishing industry. We aim to do this by presenting bold works of literary merit, each book, individually and collectively, providing a sonic progression that we believe to be too loud to ignore. Check out the ABOUT US section to read more...

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