I loved an anthropologist. She went to Mongolia to study the gays. At first she kept their culture at arm's length, but eventually she decided that her fieldwork would benefit from assimilation. She worked hard to become as much like them as possible, and gradually she was accepted. After a while she ended our romance by letter. It breaks my heart to think of her herding those yaks in the freezing hills, the peak of her leather cap shielding her eyes from the driving wind, her wrist dangling away, and nothing but a handlebar moustache to keep her top lip warm.
Anthropology
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Amazon Review
Dan Rhodes' first book Anthropology consists of 101 stories, each around 120 words in length, and all working highly surreal variations around a single theme: relationships. A simple enough idea which is superlatively executed--the range and inventiveness of the texts within the strict format reveal a writer of formidable imaginative powers, able to move with ease from wit to farcical comedy to genuinely heartfelt evocations of loss and love. Each story is almost like a condensed novel, a distilled narrative that focuses on a particular moment, gesture, or conversation, humourously unravelling the fragile structures and barely disguised inequalities that characterise the détente between the sexes.
If the stories are individually quirky, bizarre and amusing, paradoxically the incremental effect is one that is surprisingly revealing of the deep, tectonic instabilities in our relationships with partners and lovers.
If the touchstone of Anthropology is, in the end, a kind of disbelieving laughter, it is emphatically not observational humour, nor the bittersweet angst of wry comedy that dominates much contemporary fiction: Rhodes highlights the essential absurdity of heterosexual relationships, the fundamental incomprehension and misunderstandings that divide men and women. The wayward commandments of desire, the desperate mismatches of affection, the hilarious disjunctions of perception, the disequilibria of power, all are scrutinised in turn by the author's cool, deadpan prose; and the superficial equivalence of form mimics the fact that, while relationships may seem similar on the surface, each is uniquely odd, perverse, or disfunctional.
The structure of the book is reminiscent of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style, its tone occasionally recalls Donald Barthelme's elegant postmodern short fiction, but Anthropology nevertheless mines a seam distinctly its own: quirky, surreal, often wildly funny, and cumulatively profound. --Burhan Tufail --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Essential reading for anybody who has ever been in love. I cannot express to you how much this book delighted me. Go and read it.' Big Issue
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
If you remember Revels and how great they were, you'll get some idea of how this book might make you feel.
ANTHROPOLOGY is like a bag of Revels - each story a treat of a sweet; every one a surprise and every one leaving you wanting another. Unlike a bag of assorted-centre sweeties, however, devouring them all at once won't leave you feeling bilious - just a little dizzy perhaps.
The single-paragraph stories contained in ANTHROPOLOGY are pretty odd - sometimes you just can't believe what you're reading; they're certainly surreal; they're poignant. Some are like jokes with sick punchlines; some are like a punch in the stomach; some are impossible to read out loud because the huge lump in your throat stops you from being able to speak.
Sometimes, as I read, the words Spike and Milligan and Brian and Patten spring to mind. In my view, not a bad thing.
There's a photo of Dan Rhodes at the back of the book: he was born in 1972 but doesn't even look young. He looks like a man who doesn't get much sleep. With a mind like that, it's hardly surprising. Maybe it's the lack of sleep that brings on these warped yet perfect observations. He merges utter fantasy with pure mundanity. Occasionally, the stories deliberately miss the point, which makes them all the more entertaining.
I keep my copy of ANTHROPOLOGY on my desk. When there's a lull (and sometimes I create a lull on purpose), I pick up the book an read a story. It stops me eating sweets.
If Dan Rhodes reads this, please get in touch: I need to know more...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Blissful sums this one up. 101 stories, each 101 words long, the whole thing readable in a couple of hours but it will stay with you infinitely longer. These are very short stories about love, all told from a male perspective, and almost every one is a winner. Some make you laugh, some make you cry, but they all prove that Dan Rhodes is a fantastic writer, and this is a book to treasure.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
The marketing of this book is putting it down just as a clever idea - 101 stories each told in 101 words. And it's also playing up the humorous, slightly surreal aspect - undoubtedly the story entitled 'Lesbian', where a new mother decides to name her baby by this word without having any idea what it means, is quite bizarre.
But one is missing so much if 'Anthropology' is simply levelled with the adjective 'quirky'. Dan Rhodes has achieved miracles in distilling emotions - well, one particular emotion particularly, that of obsession - into such brief, but affecting passages. I defy you not to read this book again immediately after you've read it the first time. I defy you not to cry at certain stories (crying at 101 words! ), and I defy you not to find yourself continually saying, "That's me!" or "I've felt like that!" Most of all, this book speaks to you about these things but does it in the blink of an eye - inflicting real emotion on the incredibly short attention spans we have developed in modern society.
Oh, and a last point - Dan Rhodes is 28. If this is a summary of his emotional ups-and-downs, I feel quite fortunate . . .
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
Short insightful prose about the weird, obsessive and crazy things about love and relationships. You'll spend more time mulling over it than reading it. A bit of a gem! :)
Published 3 months ago by bethany
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not my thing...
Novel to begin with but just lacked substance in places. Struggled to even understand some of the short stories but it didn't break the bank to purchase.
Published 3 months ago by michelle redman
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pretentious Twaddle
I downloaded this when it was on special offer and am annoyed that I paid anything for it at all! The other reviews rated it highly and I was attracted to the thought of short... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Katie Dale
4.0 out of 5 stars
Anthropology
If you're looking for something a bit different you can't go far wrong. This book is hilarious, a real gem. Now I must go and read more Dan Rhodes!
Published 4 months ago by wendy doyle
2.0 out of 5 stars
Really unsatisfying!
Too repetitive and misogynistic for my liking. Although the concept sounded original and interesting it actually resulted in a completely unsatisfying read. Sadly! Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. Glassup
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great collection of flash fiction.
This collection of 101 tiny stories is truly fantastic and showcases Dan Rhodes ability to get across a lot of meaning in a short space. Read more
Published 17 months ago by UrbicaMortis
5.0 out of 5 stars
A collection of gems
Dan Rhodes writes one hundred and one tales each of exactly one hundred and one words -- including the title -- about every kind of male-female love. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Martin Turner
4.0 out of 5 stars
surprisingly wonderful!
I was dubious about this book, considering I usually don't enjoy short story or romance, but I thought I should give it a try!
I was so surprised! Read more
I was so surprised! Read more
Published on 6 May 2010 by Larewen Evenstar
5.0 out of 5 stars
101 Tales of Love... In All Its Forms
When I first saw my copy of Dan Rhodes collection `Anthropology' I couldn't quite see how in a book of such a small size, for it is small indeed, you could possibly have 101... Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Simon Savidge Reads
1.0 out of 5 stars
No Queneau, and No Keats
I can't understand reviewers' urge to compare this to Queneau's Exercises in Style. While it's true that both rehash the same idea over and over, Rhodes still has a lot to learn... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2010 by BookJumper
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
