Jade Sharma

Q&A with Jade Sharma, author of the edgy debut ‘Problems’

BY MICHELE FILGATE
JULY 22, 2016 6 AM PT

Jade Sharma is trying to break rules. Her debut novel, “Problems,” begins with all-consuming monotony: “Somewhere along the way there stopped being new days.” Maya, the narrator, is addicted to heroin, in a loveless marriage, having an affair with a guy who isn’t really interested in her and struggling with an eating disorder, among other things. Her problems could fill a book — and in fact, they do, in a brisk, mordantly funny, fragmented narrative that is refreshingly honest, despite the fact that Maya is a liar. An Army brat who grew up in Germany, Delaware and Tokyo, Sharma, 36, lives in New York City. We spoke in her apartment on the Lower East Side; this interview has been edited for length and clarity.