The Secret Goldfish: Stories - Softcover

Means, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007164904 ISBN 13: 9780007164905

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2004

Synopsis

Readers familiar with David Means' electrifying work in the Los Angeles Times Book Prize -- winning Assorted Fire Eventswill recognize his extraordinary vision in The Secret Goldfish. A trio of erotically charged kids goes on a crime spree in Michigan; a goldfish bears witness to the demise of a Connecticut marriage; and an extremely unlucky man is stalked by lightning. This dazzling new collection reveals Means' rare talent for the short story and establishes his place among the American masters.

About this title

Review:

"Lean, agile...There's not a cheap emotion or a predictable conclusion to be found...humane [and] unaccountably lovely."--New York Times Book Review on Assorted Fire Events

"Means is a courageous writer, intelligent and funny and humane...the pleasure in reading THE SECRET GOLDFISH is tremendous."--Donald Antrim

"David Means knows his way around the English language. [The Secret Goldfish] aims toward a mythology of the modern heartland...so lovely I want to quote the whole thing."--Los Angeles Times

"A darkly comic cache of stories . . . impressively inventive."--Elle

"With stunning simplicity, Means offers 15 stirring portraits of tragedy, loss, and love."--Esquire

"Vivid...Means's last collection was a finalist for the National Book Award...the stories here are just as unsentimental and tightly wound."--New York Times Book Review

"A splendid short story collection...from one of the most original writers of short fiction working today--Esquire on Assorted Fire Events

Crystalline."--The New Yorker on Assorted Fire Events

"We care for the characters as if we have known and loved and detested them forever...An exceptional book."--Michael Faber on Assorted Fire Events

"Riveting...it is Means' signature talent to view the lives of his characters, and life itself, from somewhere just beyond..."--Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex

From the Back Cover:

‘Means evokes a deep, troubling pathos without a speck of sentimentality’ Guardian
‘The prose is never less than beautiful, the images strangely tender’ Independent

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0007164904
• ISBN 13: 9780007164905
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224