Description
Book SynopsisA joyful, freewheeling, funny and profound new collection from ‘one of the most inventive, adventurous and accomplished fiction writers in the US today’ (Lionel Shriver) For one woman, a cross-country train ride becomes a parallel journey into the dark psyche of American manhood. An old man and his neighbour enter strike up a friendship that might a more sinister battle of wits than he first thinks. A man, waiting for his wife in a bar on Valentine's Day, is plagued by a stranger who claims to be clairvoyant. In electric prose T. C. Boyle explores myriad facets of society: greed and excess, parenthood and responsibility, the digital world and the way we understand our mortality. Roaming unrestrainedly through the present and near future, he inhabits his characters’ minds with a ventriloquist’s flair, skewering human motivations and revealing us to ourselves with empathy and wry humour.
Trade ReviewPitch-black and incisive ... few authors can match Boyle’s ability to nail humanity’s talent for scuppering itself. * FINANCIAL TIMES *
The prolific Boyle continues to have fun and make literary mischief with his latest story collection ... There's no reason why these 13 stories should seem so funny, as most of them confront individual mortality and some sort of cultural collapse. They run the gamut from the subversively real to the surreal in such a way that they blur the distinction between the implausible and the inevitable ... A playful virtuoso with a deadly seriousness of purpose * Kirkus, Starred Review *
Forty-plus years into his stellar career, the prolific Boyle retains his signature charm and wit while mining the human condition for its many intrinsic foibles ... Boyle’s genius lies in his ability to describe characters through the eyes of other characters, adding nuance and depth. There's a rich musicality in Boyle’s prose ... Once again, Boyle’s virtuosity shines * BOOKLIST *
"Boyle skewers American culture, masculine identity, and the modern age in his splendid latest collection ... Boyle’s stories are raw, unflinching, and highly entertaining ... Readers will be enthralled * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *
Praise for T. C. Boyle: Some of the best, funniest, bleakest, most unsettling short stories I’ve ever read * THE TIMES *
Always enjoyable, virtually incapable of dullness or slack sentences … His stories reveal truths about modern life while still feeling beautifully invented * NEW YORK TIMES *
