Description
Book Synopsis''This is fiction, but it has, for me, the clang of truth'' John Updike
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY E. L. DOCTOROW
John O'Hara is widely credited with inventing the New Yorker short story, and remains the most-published short story writer in the history of the magazine. Selected from his vast collection of short fiction written over forty years, these refreshingly frank, sparely written stories show him at his best. Exposing a world of bartenders and ''b-girls'', car washers and criminals, O''Hara dissects the subtleties that bind humans together and the pressures that separate them.
Trade ReviewThis is fiction, but it has, for me, the clang of truth -- John Updike
Better than anyone else, he told the truth about his time, the first half of the twentieth century. He was a professional. He wrote honestly and well -- John O’Hara on John O’Hara, inscribed on his gravestone
A man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvellously well -- Ernest Hemingway
A social realist obsessed with the peccadilloes of the upper class, but he was considered a daring writer in the Thirties and Forties, his best prose distinguished by its concision, clever dialect and sexual candor. He is credited with inventing the New Yorker short story * Washington Post *
A writer of dream-sharp tales, crisp yet dense * Los Angeles Times *
