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Seller: Russell Books, Victoria, BC, CanadaRussell Books
AbeBooks seller since June 1, 1996
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 6.16
Quantity: 1 available
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Seller Inventory # FORT444450
- Title
- The World Afloat
- Author
- Farrant, M. A. C.
- Publisher
- Talon
- Publication year
- 2014
- Condition
- Very Good
- Signed
- Signed by Author(s)
- Binding
- paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0889228388
- ISBN 13
- 9780889228382
City of Victoria Butler Book Prize: M.A.C. Farrant, The World Afloat (Winner)
In The World Afloat, a series of seventy-five “miniatures” that melds narrative with elements of prose poem and farce, master of the absurd and expert observer M.A.C. Farrant peers into the complexities of human experience – through the rear window.
Inside the linoleum-lined kitchens and lace-trimmed living rooms that drift through these stories, Farrant interrupts the daily routines – doctor’s appointments, gardening, mealtimes – of her eccentric yet familiar characters with intensely surreal, laugh-out-loud moments. What happens when a whimsical spirit becomes captive to a middle-aged body? At the end of a Love Your Package workshop, what does the wrap-up dinner look like? Can a soggy tomato salad really end someone’s marriage? Brimming with pathos and bathos in equal measure, Farrant’s smart prose offers escape and renewal from the monotony of modern life, while at the same time poking fun at her readers’ pathological devotion to the technology and interpersonal relationships that leave them feeling bored and empty. Sexuality and depravity, childhood and bad parenting, and love and divorce are all deftly handled in this hot flash of a book that goes straight to the heart of things. As each “miniature” reads stranger (and truer) than the one before, Farrant manages to coax her readers from their well-worn, earthbound narratives and into a world afloat on satire, absurdity, and, in her most brilliant moments, expansive joy.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
M.A.C. Farrant has been writing and publishing since the 1980s: Nineteen works of fiction, non-fiction and memoir; two produced plays, countless book reviews for the Vancouver Sun and Toronto Globe & Mail; and over a dozen chapbooks. Along with Pauline Holdstock, she ran the Sidney Reading Series from 1994–2009.
Her books have been finalists for many awards, among them the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, the Ethel Wilson fiction prize, two Jessie Richardson theatre awards, The Van City Book Prize, the National Magazine Awards, the ReLit Award, the Gemini Awards for the Bravo short film adaptation of her story, Rob’s Guns & Ammo, and the Victoria Book Prize (three times), the last of which she won in 2014 for her collection of miniature fiction, The World Afloat. The Strange Truth About Us was one of the Globe & Mail’s Best Fiction books of 2012.
Her 2021 non-fiction book, One Good Thing, was a BC Bestseller. Jigsaw: A Puzzle in Ninety-Three Pieces, another non-fiction book, was released in 2023. In 2024, Talon Books will issue the expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of her memoir, My Turquoise Years.
Her most recent chapbooks are Some of the Puzzles (2021) and The Literary Cow Festival (2024) both from above/ground press in Ottawa. Talonbooks is the publisher of her last ten books.
Farrant is well-known for her acerbic wit and laugh-out-loud humour. BC Bookworld has called her “Canada’s most acerbic and intelligent humourist”. Bill Richardson has called her “a master of the Zen-like art of delivering weight in a way that is featherlight” further noting that she’s “the most accomplished and unapologetic miniaturist in Canadian letters.” Archived material is in the “Special Collections Branch” at the University of Victoria.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Russell Books
Victoria, BC, Canada
AbeBooks seller since June 1, 1996
Shipping rates from Canada to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 5 to 7 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 14.96 | £ 18.71 |
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Russell Books
100-747 Fort St.
Victoria, BC Canada V8W 3E9
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For assistance with billing questions, please refer to our help page in abebooks. If you cannot find the answers you are seeking or have questions about your order you can contact us by emailing info@russellbooks.com. Responses to emails will be provided as soon as possible. For further information - (250) 361-4447
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Shipping prices are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. Canadian and U.S. orders sent with Automated Package Tracking and delivery confirmation, where available. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you regarding any extra shipping costs. Thank you! - Russell Books