Fun with Problems - Hardcover

Stone, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618386254 ISBN 13: 9780618386253

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010

Synopsis

In Fun with Problems, Robert Stone demonstrates once again that he is "one of our greatest living writers" (Los Angeles Times). The pieces in this new volume vary greatly in length—some are almost novellas, others no more than a page—but all share the signature blend of longing, violence, black humor, sex and drugs that has helped Stone illuminate the dark corners of the human soul. Entire lives are laid out with remarkable precision, in captivating prose: a screenwriter carries on a decades-long affair with a beautiful actress, whose descent into addiction he can neither turn from nor share; a bored husband picks up a mysterious woman only to find that his ego has led him woefully astray; a world-beating Silicon Valley executive receives an unwelcome guest at his mansion in the hills; a scuba dive guides uneasy newlyweds to a point of no return. Fun with Problems showcases Stone's great gift: to pinpoint and make real the impulses--by turns violently coercive and quietly seductive--that cause us to conceal, reveal, and betray our very selves.

About this title

Review:

"Stone's evocative prose treads through the murky waters of dead dreams and waning hopes, bringing out the pathetic and nasty side of people warped by addiction, sex, violence and time...Stone doesn't just let his wounded characters whimper in the corner. He turns them loose on a world hard enough to knock them down but indifferent enough to not care about them once they're gone." Publishers Weekly, starred review --Publishers Weekly

About the Author:

ROBERT STONE is the author of seven novels: A Hall of Mirrors, Dog Soldiers(winner of the National Book Award), A Flag for Sunrise, Children of Light, Outerbridge Reach, Damascus Gate, andBay of Souls. His story collection, Bear and His Daughter, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and his memoir,Prime Green, was published in 2006.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0618386254
• ISBN 13: 9780618386253
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 195