History on a Personal Note: Stories - Softcover

Kirshenbaum, Binnie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060520892 ISBN 13: 9780060520892

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2014

Synopsis

From New York City to the former East Germany, from rural Virginia to affluent suburbia, the characters in these short stories grapple with love, loss, greed, perversion, and other awful truths as they try to transcend their limitations with occasional humor and dignity. In "History on a Personal Note," Lorraine, a Southerner, wonders if her German paramour will find the inspiration to leave his wife amidst the destruction of the Berlin Wall. In "Viewing Stacy from Above," a pregnant woman descends into a pit of despair as she contemplates the constraints of motherhood. In "Money Honey," a young adulteress who ditches her husband is reprimanded by an extended family of elders whose morals are even more dubious than her own.

Contemplative, allegorical, and witty, History on a Personal Note takes us into a world laced with black humor and makes us laugh -- until it hurts.

About this title

About the Author:

Binnie Kirshenbaum is the author of An Almost Perfect Moment, On Mermaid Avenue, A Disturbance in One Place, Pure Poetry, Hester Among the Ruins, and History on a Personal Note. She is a professor at Columbia University's School of the Arts, where she is chair of the Graduate Writing Program.

Synopsis:

Short stories take place in New York City, the former East Germany, and Virginia, and are set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the Kennedy era, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the renovation of Ellis Island.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0060520892
• ISBN 13: 9780060520892
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192