The House with Only an Attic and a Basement - Softcover

Maris, Kathryn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141986573 ISBN 13: 9780141986579

Publisher: Penguin, 2018

Synopsis

A neurotically funny collection that looks under the hood of adult life

As in life, she was a pain in the arse
in death. He could hear her roaring
all the way from the fifth circle,
'Why the hell do you get to be in a
better circle than me, I'm wrathful
because of your lust -'

Deploying a chorus of voices both ancient and modern to explore a world of sexual politics and singles cruises, dysfunctional families and psychoanalysis, awkward cohabitations and self-help guides for the would-be Dream Girl, this is the third collection from a unique poetic talent: observant, obsessive and wickedly witty.

'The funniest book I've read in years. Maris flexes her wit and wisdom to create a litany of nervous characters in a style that's mordant, sarcastic, satiric yet often compassionate . . . a poet of risk, she is dark, deep and often laugh out loud'
DALJIT NAGRA

'Her dry, droll, clinically deadpan manner is all her own; but her themes - obscure hurts, implacable dissatisfactions, hardwired propensity for victimhood and suffering - reflect the experience of humanity at large'
CHRISTOPHER REID

About this title

Review:

The funniest book I've read in years. Maris flexes her wit and wisdom to create a litany of nervous characters in a style that's mordant, sarcastic, satiric yet often compassionate . . . a poet of risk, she is dark, deep and often laugh out loud (Daljit Nagra)

Her dry, droll, clinically deadpan manner is all her own; but her themes - obscure hurts, implacable dissatisfactions, hardwired propensity for victimhood and suffering - reflect the experience of humanity at large (Christopher Reid)

It's like being in a cage with a jaguar - both the car and the animal: one is very fast, the other very hungry. It's highly dangerous, but strangely, you don't mind. Bloody readable anyway (Hugo Williams)

About the Author:

Kathryn Maris is originally from New York and has lived in London since 1999. Her previous collections are The Book of Jobs (Four Way Books, 2006) and God Loves You (Seren, 2013), and a selection of her poetry appeared alongside the work of Frederick Seidel and Sam Riviere in Penguin Modern Poets 5: Occasional Wild Parties (2017). Her poetry has been published widely, including in Granta, The Nation, The New Statesman, Poetry, The Best British Poetry 2015 (Salt) and The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 (Faber & Faber).

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0141986573
• ISBN 13: 9780141986579
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80