The New Naturals

By: Gabriel Bump

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Critically acclaimed, for readers of Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Jennifer Egan's The Candy House, a moving and darkly funny novel about an attempt to found an underground Utopia.

An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western Massachusetts doesn't look like much. But to Rio, a young Black woman bereft after the loss of her newborn child, this hill becomes more than a safe haven—it becomes a place to start over. She convinces her husband to help her construct a society underground, somewhere everyone can feel safe, loved, and accepted.

Soon their utopia begins to take shape and attracts the unhoused, the disillusioned, and the spiritually lost. But no matter how much these people all yearn for a sanctuary from the existential dread of life above the surface, what happens if this new society can't actually work?

From an exciting new literary voice, The New Naturals is fresh and deeply perceptive, capturing the absurdity of life in the 21st century. In this remarkable feat of imagination, Bump shows us that, ultimately, it is our love for and connection to each other that will save us.

**A 2023 NEW YORK TIMES and WASHINGTON POST Notable Book and a BOSTON GLOBE Best Book of the Year**

Critic reviews

Included in Fall Preview & Most-Anticipated Lists: New York Times, Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Vulture.com, ELLE.com, The Millions, and Lit Hub

MOST ANTICIPATED: The Millions * Lit Hub

"A Blithedale Romance for the 21st century, only less naive and more complex. Race, class and gender collide in all the ways they do in the so-called real world. Bump's prose is fresh and frequently surprising. This is funny, sad, sad-funny and funny-sad and just plain smart."—Percival Everett, author of Dr. No

“The New Naturals is a tragicomedy for our times, exploring that age-old question of how to connect with our fellow human beings and build community, even as the world makes increasingly less sense. A tour-de-force, full of heart and asking the big questions about life and the mind.”



—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie

"Wry and astonishing … Brisk dialogue and flashes of mordant humor pay off, and Bump cannily grapples with such issues as gentrification, microaggressions, and environmental racism. This is a scalding study in human nature.”—Publishers Weekly

"The New Naturals explores how grief can become aspiration, how aspiration can become wildness. Bump writes so tenderly about the human error endemic to man-made things---community, partnership, love."
—Raven Leilani, author of Luster

“Bump captures our contemporary condition with grace… [A] sharp, imaginative novel”—The Boston Globe

“Gabriel Bump's brilliant and surprising novel The New Naturals takes us inside a utopian world and, even more deeply and wondrously, inside the souls of an impressive array of characters. Through them, Bump holds up a mirror to our own grief, longings, and rage in the face of a cruel, crumbling society. Intricate and intimate, Bump's prose is simply masterful.”—Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

“A keenly observant work of literary fiction, revealing provocative insights into what happens when ideals, aspirations, and human fallibility collide. I was both gripped and hypnotized by Bump’s distinctive voice, so unique I couldn’t help but reread passages just to relive its poetic cadence. I flew through the pages. I fell in love with characters who not only shared my concerns but hopes and sympathies as well. THE NEW NATURALS is bold, funny, dark and masterful.”

—Oscar Hokeah, author of PEN/Hemingway Winner Calling for a Blanket Dance

“Gorgeous and lyrical… An effecting, experimental tale of race and reinvention”—Kirkus Reviews

Unlistenable!

This book may have great qualities. But the narration gets in the way of comprehension of the sentences, so it’s hard to say. The director and producer fail the listener, as the narrator’s bizzare way of emphasizing the wrong words, stopping in mid-sentence at bizarre places, and adding expressions inappropriately make it hard to tell what you’re listening to. Sometimes the narrator sounded like it was AI. I gave up in frustration.

Existential Crisi Gone Amuck

This was not the most well-written prose. All the characters were flawed and had either mental health issues or addictions. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing to address mental health or addiction issues. However, the lack of character development left me wanting them to be more developed. The secondary characters were also flat to me. The dialog was often hard to get through and flat. I can’t say I enjoyed the book, but I endured it.

Written in the 3rd person

Hard to feel anything for the characters as it's written in the 3rd person. Just couldn't get interested.