A sharply humorous， fast-paced debut novel about the effects—some predictable， some wildly unexpected—that an encounter at gunpoint can have on the life of a (previously) assured young woman.The gun in question is pointed at twenty-one-year-old Ellis as she walks through a New York City park. In the end she is unrobbed and physically unharmed. But she is left psychologically reeling.Over the next few weeks Ellis keeps everyone at bay: the police， the men who want to save her (“the ROTC boy” poet and “the red-faced representative of the world”)， and the university therapist who hints that her sweaters may be too tight. But when Ellis accompanies her mother， a nurse， on a mission to the Philippines， she finds that life—even if held up—cannot be held back， and neither， finally， can she.