You Are Not a Stranger Here - Hardcover

Haslett, Adam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385501676 ISBN 13: 9780385501675

Publisher: Doubleday, 2002

Synopsis

The publication of “Notes to My Biographer,” in Zoetrope: All-Story magazine introduced readers to the remarkable voice of Adam Haslett. Nominated as part of a National Magazine Award, broadcast on National Public Radio, performed at venues across the country, the story brought the author widespread recognition.

Now, in his first book, Adam Haslett gives us nine richly varied stories, each suffused with intense emotion and written in a lyric prose alternatively lush and spare. You Are Not a Stranger Here carries its readers into the hearts and minds of people facing life’s most profound dilemmas. We meet an aging inventor still burning with ideas as he makes a final visit to his gay son. A psychiatrist’s encounter with a reluctant patient reveals a young doctor’s own needs and fears. An orphaned boy finds solace in a classmate’s violence. The return of an old lover disturbs the peace between a brother and sister who have lived together for decades.

In settings that range from New England to Great Britain, from Los Angeles to the American West, the stories in this book treat what Faulkner called the old verities and truths of the heart: love and honor, pity and pride, compassion and sacrifice. They do so with heartbreaking precision and an often generous humor, drawing us past the surface of characters’ lives into the moments of decision and recognition that shape them irrevocably. Together these stories constitute a significant achievement by a powerful new writer.

About this title

Review:

"Adam Haslett is a wonderful rarity. You're likely not only to love his stories but to feel stronger for having read them" (Jonathan Franzen, author of 'The Corrections')

"Adam Haslett possesses the rare ability to combine powerful narrative with sensitive and perceptive observations of people and places. You Are Not a Stranger Here is a brilliant beginning to a literary career" (Barry Unsworth)

"Adam Haslett's tone is one of delicate, understated heartache... He never lets the reader forget that he is shining an unflinching light on those types of human suffering that cannot be cured, only endured" (Sunday Times)

"Enormously moving... Haslett's writing is harrowing, morbidly funny and deeply erotic" (Independent on Sunday)

"Adam Haslett arrives from out of nowhere sounding like a master" (Jay McInerney)

From the Publisher:

A superlative collection of stories by one of the most highly praised new writers in the USA.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0385501676
• ISBN 13: 9780385501675
• Binding: Hardcover