- Paperback: 213 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060520132
- ISBN-13: 978-0060520137
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.5 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,196,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Vogue
‘These meticulously written tales about unconventional lives have great impact’
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
A second set of short stories (12 years after the publication of the highly acclaimed The Safety of Objects) by a multi-award-winning American writer, certain to gain high critical praise. The eponymous (very) short story deals with a strange obsession, and other tales feature a woman pursuing an unconventional strategy for getting pregnant; a former First Lady showing despair and courage in dealing with her husband's Alzheimer's; and an adult tragedy intruding into a childhood friendship. In an impressive mix of humour, sadness and suspense, Homes displays her exceptional ability to create absorbing stories full of depth and richness that also contain strong psychological and/or sexual undercurrents. With a comic timing so effective, her distinctive narratives demonstrate just how extraordinary the ordinary can be.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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First Sentence
I am walking, holding a small screen, watching the green dot move like the blip of a plane, the blink of a ship's radar. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I am walking, holding a small screen, watching the green dot move like the blip of a plane, the blink of a ship's radar. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Anyone who enjoys short stories would benefit from having this collection on their bookshelf. While some of them are painfully self-aware and bizarrely surreal - "Raft in Water, Floating" being one example - A. M. Holmes saves herself by the sheer beauty of "Georgica", the novella in "Rockets Around the Moon" and the breath-catching sadness of "The Former First Lady and the Football Hero".
"Whiz Kids" is distasteful and pointless. The title tale could do with having been a little longer. "Please Remain Calm" is oddly devoid of emotion. However, don't miss out on a lovely collection because of these three! Read and enjoy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
21 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Dissatisfaction
19 Sep 2005
Format:Paperback
Dissatisfaction is the emotion experienced by most of the characters in this collection, but is also, unfortunately, the most likely reader response to the work.
Homes has undoubted talent, and most of the stories start well and have interesting themes. However, she doesn't seem to know where to go with many of the pieces, and the endings uniformly pack no punch at all, rather allowing the stories to peter out into forgettableness.
The two exceptions to this trend are 'Georgica', startling if only for its premise of a woman who inseminates herself using sperm found in used condoms (!), and the outstanding title story, in which all Homes' best absurdist traits are on show. Perhaps significantly, the latter is the shortest piece in the collection.
This is not a terrible book, and is probably worth about 2.5 stars, but how anyone could give it 5 is beyond me. One is tempted to recommend that those reviewers turn to some of the undisputed masters of the short form for greater delights than can be found here.
Homes has undoubted talent, and most of the stories start well and have interesting themes. However, she doesn't seem to know where to go with many of the pieces, and the endings uniformly pack no punch at all, rather allowing the stories to peter out into forgettableness.
The two exceptions to this trend are 'Georgica', startling if only for its premise of a woman who inseminates herself using sperm found in used condoms (!), and the outstanding title story, in which all Homes' best absurdist traits are on show. Perhaps significantly, the latter is the shortest piece in the collection.
This is not a terrible book, and is probably worth about 2.5 stars, but how anyone could give it 5 is beyond me. One is tempted to recommend that those reviewers turn to some of the undisputed masters of the short form for greater delights than can be found here.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Imaginations Running (Really) Wild
26 May 2006
Format:Paperback
No matter what the gender is, everyone acts irrationally in all of Homes' short stories. It is without rhyme or reason these characters exist to do whatever and to say whatnot. Each tale ends abruptly therefore it is up to the readers to compose their minds about each conclusion. Some are funny than others and all of them are quite bizarre. Extreme usage of adjectives and pronouns in narrating events among more than two people at one time can result in a mild confusion in regards to the actual speaker or doer. Nevertheless, it is a fast read of a collection of peculiar people and happenings.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Some good stuff, but not her best.
11 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback
As is usually the case with Homes, these stories focus on discontented suburbanites. Mostly weaker men, stronger women. Some very good, if tough to read stories. As always, Homes's writing is quick-hitting. Especially as she deals with more serious topics: a husband and wife couple in which the woman's cancer is exposing the weaknesses in their relationship, the story of a man who hits and kills a kid with his car, and a story about Nancy and Ronald Reagan and dealing with his Alzheimer's. Overall, the stories were less outrageous than some of her other stuff, and several of them seemed to end with punch lines, which I didn't care for. But pretty good stuff otherwise.
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