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Adam Haslett's first collection of stories, You Are Not a Stranger Here?, caused a furore when it was published in the USA. The nine stories are set in Los Angeles, the Midwest, New England and England, but each summons its own complete and distinctive world. What unites them is the refined writing - elegiac in some instances - and a raw emotional power that carries the reader past the surface of the subject and into the core of the characters' lives.
The characters include a widower, a teenage boy, a young couple, middle-aged siblings, a father and son, a bereaved mother, a psychiatrist, an orphaned boy who finds solace in a classmate's violence. There is grief, passion, loneliness, humour - marvellous humour - and longing in these stories, but ultimately the book sets off the shock of recognition that takes readers past the cliched language of human suffering and brings them to understand their own experience through the characters' lives.
The characters include a widower, a teenage boy, a young couple, middle-aged siblings, a father and son, a bereaved mother, a psychiatrist, an orphaned boy who finds solace in a classmate's violence. There is grief, passion, loneliness, humour - marvellous humour - and longing in these stories, but ultimately the book sets off the shock of recognition that takes readers past the cliched language of human suffering and brings them to understand their own experience through the characters' lives.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
"New writers are often referred to as brave... But Haslett's courage is of a different variety: facing up to the incredibly painful subject matter. He tackles the thing that affects one in four of us at some point: mental illness. Frank, intelligent and humorous despite the bleak material, these stories work on more than one level, imparting an extraordinary sense of completeness." (The Times)
"Haslett sounds consistently in command of his material...[His] writing moves beyond the simple opposition of 'genuine empathy' and 'ironic attachment' and points towards another possibility." (TLS)
"[Haslett] writes with remarkable maturity about those parts of the human soul that psychiatry cannot reach... What is so remarkable about Haslett is not just this versatility, but also that he never lets the reader forget that he is shining an unflinching light on human suffering." (Sunday Times)
"There are subtle echoes of Nathanael West, or early Salinger. But Haslett invokes these writers because the quality of his writing is such that it takes us back to the best writing of the last 50-100 years, reminding us what fiction can do when it stretches itself and makes the honest effort to redeem suffering rather than concocting mere entertainment for the emotionally lazy... a standout collection, heralding the arrival of an exciting, gifted writer. Don't miss it." (Scotsman)
"Adam Haslett is a wonderful rarity: an old-fashioned young storyteller with something urgent and fresh and fiercely intelligent to say. Haslett's great gifts as a writer - his fearlessness in particular - are a great gift to the reader. You're likely not only to love his stories but to feel stronger for having read them." (Jonathan Franzen)
From the Publisher:
"Haslett sounds consistently in command of his material...[His] writing moves beyond the simple opposition of 'genuine empathy' and 'ironic attachment' and points towards another possibility." (TLS)
"[Haslett] writes with remarkable maturity about those parts of the human soul that psychiatry cannot reach... What is so remarkable about Haslett is not just this versatility, but also that he never lets the reader forget that he is shining an unflinching light on human suffering." (Sunday Times)
"There are subtle echoes of Nathanael West, or early Salinger. But Haslett invokes these writers because the quality of his writing is such that it takes us back to the best writing of the last 50-100 years, reminding us what fiction can do when it stretches itself and makes the honest effort to redeem suffering rather than concocting mere entertainment for the emotionally lazy... a standout collection, heralding the arrival of an exciting, gifted writer. Don't miss it." (Scotsman)
"Adam Haslett is a wonderful rarity: an old-fashioned young storyteller with something urgent and fresh and fiercely intelligent to say. Haslett's great gifts as a writer - his fearlessness in particular - are a great gift to the reader. You're likely not only to love his stories but to feel stronger for having read them." (Jonathan Franzen)
A superlative collection of stories by one of the most highly praised new writers in the USA.
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- PublisherJonathan Cape
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0224069152
- ISBN 13 9780224069151
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages224
- Rating
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You Are Not A Stranger Here?
Published by
Jonathan Cape
(2002)
ISBN 10: 0224069152
ISBN 13: 9780224069151
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