Your Driver Is Waiting

Description

In this electrifyingly fierce and funny social satire— a gender-flipped reboot of the iconic 1970’s film “Taxi Driver”—a ride share driver is barely holding it together on the hunt for love, dignity and financial security . . . until she decides she’s done waiting.

Damani is tired. Her father just died on the job at a fast food joint, and now she lives paycheck to paycheck in a basement, caring for her mom and driving for an app that is constantly cutting her take. The city is roiling in protests –everybody’s in solidarity with somebody– but while she keeps hearing that they’re fighting for change on behalf of people like her, she literally can’t afford to pay attention.

Then she gives a ride to Jolene (5 stars, obviously). Jolene seems like she could be the perfect girlfriend – attentive, attractive, an ally – and their chemistry is off the charts. Jolene’s done the reading, she goes to every protest, and she says all the right things. So maybe Damani can look past the one thing that’s holding her back: She’s never dated anyone with money before, not to mention a white girl with money. But just as their romance intensifies and Damani finally lets her guard down, Jolene does something unforgivable, setting off an explosive chain of events.

A wild, one-sitting read brimming with dark comedy, and piercing social commentary and announcing Priya Guns’ feverishly original voice, Your Driver Is Waiting is a crackling send-up of our culture of modern alienation.“A ferocious new voice. A fierce and immersive debut. A story that made me rock back and forth with awe. Priya Guns’s voice blazes on the page with humor, heart, and a fortitude that is inspiring to behold. There’s no doubt who’s in the drivers’ seat. I was just grateful to be along for the ride.”
—Weike Wang, author of Joan is Okay and Chemistry

“Your Driver Is Waiting is a perfect gut punch of a novel. This is my favorite kind of writing, full of love and real friendship and frustrations boiled over and the urge to burn everything down. Priya Guns is phenomenal here, her writing is laser-focused and hilarious and full of aching need. This is a hard-hitting masterpiece. I devoured it.”
—Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth and Mostly Dead Things

PRIYA GUNS is a writer, teacher and actor. She was born in Jaffna and raised in Tkaronto. She has taught geography and English to marginalized groups in 7 countries. In 2015 she founded Capokolam, a youth arts education program in Sri Lanka.
 US