Unkempt: Stories - Softcover

Eldridge, Courtney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156032082 ISBN 13: 9780156032087

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2005

Synopsis

In the seven stories and one novella collected in Unkempt, Courtney Eldridge gives life to characters of astounding originality. Probing the darker corners of the human psyche, she shows-with a sly and unexpected sense of humor-the neurotic mind at work, the skewed perspective of an alcoholic parent, the nature of sexual conquest, and the hazards of working in retail. Fresh, funny, and candid, Eldridge's writing delivers a new and marvelous vision of life.

About this title

Review:

PRAISE FOR UNKEMPT
"New Yorker Courtney Eldridge creates dark chaotic worlds, then traps the reader inside this space until they have read the last word, thereby becoming her collaborator . . . Eldridge's [obsessions] are bloody, naked and screaming. It's hard not to look."
-SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"[A] skewed, jittery, dazzlingly original collection . . . Neurosis is to Eldridge's stories what suburbia was to Cheever's: it's at once context, antagonist and metasubject. Her brilliant trick is to write in a voice so colloquially familiar that we don't automatically classify these crazy people as 'the other' but rather recognize them as our friends, our family members or even ourselves." -THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

From the Back Cover:

"Eldridge is unrelenting. Each story is painful, exhausting and provocative . . . driven by thoughts expertly rendered into dialogue . . . [Her obsessions] are bloody, naked, and screaming. It's hard not to look."--San Francisco Chronicle
In the seven stories and one novella collected in Unkempt, Courtney Eldridge gives life to characters of astounding originality. Probing the darker corners of the human psyche, she shows--with a sly and unexpected sense of humor--the neurotic mind at work, the skewed perspective of an alcoholic parent, the nature of sexual conquest, and the hazards of working in retail. Fresh, funny, and candid, Eldridge's writing delivers a new and marvelous vision of life.
"Courtney Eldridge is one of my favorite living short story writers. When I read her, I feel better about literature and better about the world."--Rick Moody, author of Demonology and The Ice Storm
Courtney Eldridge is a dropout of the University of Colorado, Boulder; the Rhode Island School of Design; and the University of Texas, Austin. Her stories have been published in McSweeney's, the Mississippi Review, Nerve, Salt Hill Journal, Pierogi Press, Hayden's Ferry Review, and she has contributed to the New York Times Magazine. She lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0156032082
• ISBN 13: 9780156032087
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 276