- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape (8 May 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224084801
- ISBN-13: 978-0224084802
- Product Dimensions: 13.6 x 2.2 x 21.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 885,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Refresh, Refresh
and over one 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? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
`This is a big, bold, brave, ballsy, beautiful book.'
THE TIMES
`A powerful, assured collection of short stories - Percy cuts deep into his characters.'
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Benjamin Percy is one of my favorite authors writing today. He's able to mix genre fiction with literary fiction to create captivating, eloquent stories. Loved this book. Also, check out The Wilding: A Novel, which was fantastic.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
18 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Plays Out Much Like a Small Movie
17 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback
Danica Novgorodoff set a pretty high standard for herself with the gorgeous Slow Storm, last year's poignant work about crisscrossing lives that converge in the onslaught of a huge storm. Just as she showed there, she has an ability to capture the small nuances of human emotion in little movements and facial expressions, a talent she brings to her latest, Refresh, Refresh, an adaptation of Benjamin Percy's prose short story of the same name. (A movie based on the book is in the works, so the story has hit the trifecta of cultural touchstones.)
Refresh, Refresh takes place in rural Oregon. It marks the time three teenage friends spend together as they struggle with growing up without fathers and trying to define for themselves just what it means to be a man. They live in a town where most of the adult men have gone off to fight in Iraq, and they know, as they count down the minutes till graduation, that they will be expected to do the same.
Or not. Life is full of possibilities. But when you change the plan, the one that seems to be carved in stone, you're not only defining yourself and your own views on life--you're also making a statement about the decisions of everyone else surrounding you.
The title refers to one of the constants in the boys' lives: refreshing their email to check for news on their dads. As they await news of their fathers' fates, they come closer to their own.
Refresh, Refresh, fittingly given its background, plays out much like a small movie, with Novgorodoff using the pages as her own personal cinema. It's beautifully done, and the story itself offers a perfect meshing with her talents.
-- John Hogan
Refresh, Refresh takes place in rural Oregon. It marks the time three teenage friends spend together as they struggle with growing up without fathers and trying to define for themselves just what it means to be a man. They live in a town where most of the adult men have gone off to fight in Iraq, and they know, as they count down the minutes till graduation, that they will be expected to do the same.
Or not. Life is full of possibilities. But when you change the plan, the one that seems to be carved in stone, you're not only defining yourself and your own views on life--you're also making a statement about the decisions of everyone else surrounding you.
The title refers to one of the constants in the boys' lives: refreshing their email to check for news on their dads. As they await news of their fathers' fates, they come closer to their own.
Refresh, Refresh, fittingly given its background, plays out much like a small movie, with Novgorodoff using the pages as her own personal cinema. It's beautifully done, and the story itself offers a perfect meshing with her talents.
-- John Hogan
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
29 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback
Benjamin Percy possesses a narrative voice that can only be described as hard, imaginative and haunting. At least two of the stories in this collection are good enough to be among the greatest short stories I've ever read. I highly recommend this book, especially for those who enjoy a very masculine voice that relies heavily on imagery and metaphor and for those who enjoy authors like Cormac McCarthy and Phil LaMarche, who have similar styles.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Sad but beautiful
9 Jun 2010
Format:Paperback
I don't really know how to write a review of this book, which I guess is why it took me so long to do so. It's so sad, all around, and so hopeless in so many ways. The three boys that are at the center of the story aren't the only ones affected by the war, most of the town is, so there isn't really anywhere for them to go to get away from the worry and fear that they themselves feel. Each of them deals with it in their own ways, coming together for their fights. The prevailing feeling is pain. The fights just make that pain physical, shared, and visible.
Most of the story is told through the artwork. The dialog and text are pretty sparse. It works so well in this graphic novel that I can't imagine the short story it was based on. The lack of words make the faces and feelings take on so much more meaning and, in the end, the feelings are what this book is about. And it's beautifully drawn. The images pulled me into the story in a way that I don't know if the short story would have.
Anyway, I really thought Refresh Refresh was very good, but I know that I'm not doing it any kind of justice here. Just trust me, it is well worth the read.
Book source: Philly Free Library
Most of the story is told through the artwork. The dialog and text are pretty sparse. It works so well in this graphic novel that I can't imagine the short story it was based on. The lack of words make the faces and feelings take on so much more meaning and, in the end, the feelings are what this book is about. And it's beautifully drawn. The images pulled me into the story in a way that I don't know if the short story would have.
Anyway, I really thought Refresh Refresh was very good, but I know that I'm not doing it any kind of justice here. Just trust me, it is well worth the read.
Book source: Philly Free Library
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
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.
