What Becomes: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

Kennedy, A L

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307476243 ISBN 13: 9780307476241

Publisher: Vintage, 2011

Synopsis

A New York Times Notable Book
A San Francisco Chroncile Book of the Year

Twice selected for Granta's list of Best Young British Novelists and winner of the Costa Book Award, A. L. Kennedy returns with a not-to-be-missed addition to the canon of one of this generation's most unique and inventive writers.

A man abandons his indifferent wife and wanders into a small-town movie theater, only to find himself just as invisible as he was at home. A woman trying to relax in a flotation tank is hijacked by memories of her past, while another is inadvertently drawn into a stranger's marital dysfunction. Whether documenting unexpected one-night stands or quotidian absurdities, the powerful stories in What Becomes capture the spirit of our times with unmatched brio and dazzling wit.

About this title

Review:

"Marvelous. . . . Kennedy is a force of nature. . . . Everything she touches turns to art, and here, she continues to impress with her psychological fearlessness and breathtaking affection for language." --The New York Times Book Review

"Beautifully wrought. . . . Every story in What Becomes is a stand-alone gem, presented with a sensibility that goes to Kennedy's Glasgow roots. She's a writer's writer, and deserves to be a reader's read." --The Denver Post

"There's a perpetual sense of danger in [Kennedy's] fiction, which is partly why it's so thrilling to read." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Funny, angry, brilliant. . . . These are wonderfully textured pieces, varying from sentence to sentence, mood to mood, committed to capturing the precariousness and unsteadiness of individual mental landscapes." --The Guardian (London)

"The hardest thing about the advent of a new collection of stories by A. L. Kennedy . . . is the search for synonyms for 'brilliant.' Her uncanny dialogue is as note-perfect as J. D. Salinger's, her vision as astutely bleak as Alice Munro's, and her ability to summon up a society in a few strokes rivals William Trevor's." --The Spectator

"Like a mirror reflecting our cracked souls. . . . A. L. Kennedy is painfully detailed about our human flaws and describes them so realistically, the reader dives into each sentence." --Associated Press

"Kennedy displays a biting lyricism that reduces Fitzgerald to nostalgia." --The Boston Globe

"[Kennedy] is rightly viewed as one of the most brilliant and eccentric writers of her generation. . . . Dazzling." --The Times (London)

"Nothing shines light on the darkest corners of human existence like icy British irony." --Los Angeles Times

"A. L. Kennedy is one of nature's Eeyores. . . . Like Eeyore, she's a born comic whose shtick is never to crack a smile once she has the room cracking up. These stories are peppered with precisely the sort of deadpan humor we resort to in extremis." --The Independent (London)

"Kennedy . . . inhabit[s] her characters so fully that the reader feels the keenness of each new rejection. . . . A first-rate collection." --The Telegraph (London)

"Arresting. . . . A writer who unsettles more often than she soothes, Kennedy ensures that nothing as longed for as simple happiness be taken for granted." --The Toronto Star

"Is it possible to be too good? In Kennedy's case, that's a very strong possibility. . . . Every story [in What Becomes] is powerful, brilliantly written, wise and utterly unique. Perhaps more significantly, each story feels true, and mercilessly human. . . . [She] writes with a sharp, angular, incisive quality, a prose that looks direct and straightforward on the surface, only to wound with its undertones and subtleties." --The Edmonton Journal

"[Kennedy is an] experienced and confident writer who is not afraid to experiment, with language, voice, page layout. . . . These are the best kind of short stories, ones which make you half-smile as they cause you exquisite pain." --The Short Review

"What Becomes is a tribute to the adventure of thought, in star-quality, unforgettable language." --The Post and Courier

"Deeply moving. . . . Kennedy knows how to write pain in all its stark detail, while managing to gently highlight the humor in the tragic reality of life." --The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Book Description:

The latest book from last year's winner of the Costa Book of the Year

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0307476243
• ISBN 13: 9780307476241
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224