Coming. Apart.
Published on 20. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
125 pages
978-1-62897-628-1 (ISBN)
Description
In the stark, poetic voice that garnered her novel Anatomy. Monotony. cult status in Norway and abroad, writer and performance artist Edy Poppy offers a vision of sexuality and alienation unlike any other.
The sharp, sensual stories of Coming. Apart. chart the unraveling of relationships in all their complexity. From rural Norway to Berlin, Edy Poppy follows characters caught between intimacy and escape-lovers who drift, clash, fracture. A couple's erotic games slip into something darker. A woman retreats to the countryside, shadowed by memory. Another navigates obsession, ambivalence, and solitude with uneasy clarity.
Written in a voice that is both visceral and exacting, Edy Poppy's first story collection moves along the fault lines of connection and desire. Blurring fiction and lived experience, Poppy offers a fierce meditation on what it means to stay-or leave.
The sharp, sensual stories of Coming. Apart. chart the unraveling of relationships in all their complexity. From rural Norway to Berlin, Edy Poppy follows characters caught between intimacy and escape-lovers who drift, clash, fracture. A couple's erotic games slip into something darker. A woman retreats to the countryside, shadowed by memory. Another navigates obsession, ambivalence, and solitude with uneasy clarity.
Written in a voice that is both visceral and exacting, Edy Poppy's first story collection moves along the fault lines of connection and desire. Blurring fiction and lived experience, Poppy offers a fierce meditation on what it means to stay-or leave.
Reviews / Votes
"Edy Poppy is a courageous writer who dares to transgress the limits most of us set for ourselves. But she does it so playfully and with such elegance that the reader can't resist coming along to explore forbidden realms. Anatomy. Monotony. has become a cult classic in many circles, and I see no reason why Coming. Apart. should not have the same impact." -Elle"A daring story that seamlessly blends fiction with autobiographical elements, creating a narrative that is both emotionally raw and poetic." -The Common
"Fantastic!" -Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick
"There is a riveting, devil-may-care impulse in Poppy's use of language and in her perspective. Sheexplores mood nuances and emotional variations in the magnetic field between euphoric highs and pathetic lows." -Nora Simonhjell, Morgenbladet
"Coming. Apart. is a knife-edge book that confirms that women have taken over the writing of interesting short stories." -Vidar Kvalshaug, Aftenposten
"The words flow with velvety smoothness, softly and lightly in spite of their gravity. Delightful!" -Anita Hartviksen Ravn, Rana Blad
"Poppy maintains her ability to push boundaries with ease, drawing us into seven stories about love, separation, morbid sexuality, and emotional turmoil." -Lonningspils
"In Coming. Apart. Edy Poppy unflinchingly strips bare the messiness of connection and lust, power imbalances, and the agonizing tension between freedom and constraint-boldly exposing humankind's darkest desires and traumas, and exploring territory many wouldn't dare to think, let alone put to paper. It is a mettlesome and provocative collection of short stories that refuses to be ignored." -Tupelo Quarterly
"Poppy writes resolutely about abjection in love and sex; the collection's seven stories cover incest, stalking, and self-harm, showing what female sexuality looks like when women are allowed to be as complex and flawed as men." -Full Stop
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Normal, IL
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 138 mm
Width: 216 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
190 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62897-628-1 (9781628976281)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Edy Poppy (b. 1975), grew up on a farm in Bo, Telemark, Norway. She moved to Montpellier when she was 17, and spent several years in France before moving to London where she worked with art, fashion, film and writing. She is the author of the novel Anatomy. Monotony., which has been translated into Italian, Finnish, German, Polish and English, as well as the short story collection Coming. Apart. and most recently the novel Iggy. Poppy has lived in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Lipari, Reykjavik, and Rio, and now calls Oslo home.
May-Brit Akerholt's published translations of Norwegian works include plays, novels, and poetry collections by writers such as Henrik Ibsen, Jon Fosse, and Ruth Lillegraven. She lives in Australia, where she is a recipient of a fellowship from the Theatre Board of Australia Council.
May-Brit Akerholt's published translations of Norwegian works include plays, novels, and poetry collections by writers such as Henrik Ibsen, Jon Fosse, and Ruth Lillegraven. She lives in Australia, where she is a recipient of a fellowship from the Theatre Board of Australia Council.