Random Acts of Senseless Violence

In a dystopian future New York, twelve-year-old Lola Hart documents her life through diary entries as society deteriorates around her. Once comfortable, her family's circumstances shift dramatically when her mother loses her teaching job and her father's writing scripts stop selling. Unable to afford their Manhattan apartment or Lola's private school tuition, the Harts relocate to a small apartment near Harlem, and Lola enrolls in public school. Their struggles mirror those of many New Yorkers. Riots, fires, tuberculosis outbreaks, roaming gangs, and civil unrest have become routine, destabilizing life throughout the city and country. Through her diary, Lola records her family's adjustment as conditions worsen. Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, Jack Womack presents a stark vision of American decline through vivid prose and imaginative storytelling. The novel combines a coming-of-age narrative with black humor, offering speculative fiction that examines societal collapse through a young girl's perspective.