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J. Robert Lennon
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Pieces For The Left Hand Paperback – 7 Mar. 2005

by J.Robert Lennon (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 56 ratings
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A student's suicide note is not what it seems. A high-school football rivalry turns absurd - and deadly. A much-loved cat seems to have been a different animal all along. A pair of identical twins aren't identical at all - or even related. A man finds his own yellowed birth announcement inside a bureau bought at auction. Set in a small American town, told in a conversational style, Pieces for the Left Hand is a stream of a hundred anecdotes, none much longer than a page. At once funny, bizarre, familiar and disturbing, these deceptively straightforward tales nevertheless shock and amaze through uncanny coincidence, tragic misunderstanding, strange occurrence or sudden insight. Unposted letters, unexpected visitors, false memories - in Pieces for the Left Hand, these are the things that decide our fate. Wry and deadpan, powerful and philosophical, these addictive little fables reveal the everyday world as a strange and eerle place.
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  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Granta Books
  4. Publication date
    7 Mar. 2005
  5. Dimensions
    13.7 x 1.6 x 19 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1862077401
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1862077409
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

'Lennon s writing stands out because he has an ability to take everyday situations and turn them into comedy. -- Big Issue in the North

'an ingenious and thoroughly satisfying collection' -- Literary Review

Funny, disturbing, sad, weird- you end up realising that, looked at the same way, this is your world. A thinker -- City Life Magazine

I love everything about J.Robert Lennon s latest book- from the paperback s chunky format to...the humourous, macabre and poignant...stories -- Report (Algarve)

These crumbs from a writer s table provide a surprisingly nourishing meal -- The Leeds Guide

Perfectly formed pieces with the power to disturb and amaze... A well- written and thought- provoking book. -- Nottingham Evening Post

About the Author

J. Robert Lennon was born in 1970 and lives in New York State. He is the author of Mailman, The Light of Falling Stars, The Funnies and On the Night Plain, all available from Granta Books.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Granta Books (7 Mar. 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1862077401
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1862077409
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.7 x 1.6 x 19 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 56 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
J. Robert Lennon

J. Robert Lennon

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J. Robert Lennon is the author of two story collections, Pieces For The Left Hand and See You in Paradise, and eight novels, including Mailman, Castle, Familiar, and Broken River. He holds an MFA from the University of Montana, and has published short fiction in The New Yorker, Harper's, Playboy, Granta, The Paris Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. He has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and The London Review of Books, and he lives in Ithaca, New York, where he teaches writing at Cornell University.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
56 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Ben S
5.0 out of 5 stars An Undiscovered Gem
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 September 2015
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Astonishing weirdness and beauty from the gloriously macabre Lennon. These short observational snapshots run the gamut from the warmly mundane to the head-scratchingly oblique, and along the way the wonderful strangeness of modern life is unwrapped piece by piece.

I cannot recommend this author enough, speaking as a devotee of Sartre, Rushdie and Anthony Powell.
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POC
4.0 out of 5 stars A world away from paradise...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2018
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Good, but nowhere near as great as his later collection of short stories.
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Spanky The Duck
5.0 out of 5 stars Left to hiw own devices
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2006
Lennon follows up his excellent 'Mailman' with this oddity, a collection of 100 'anecdotes' apparently jotted down in passing by a nameless resident of some middle american backwater.

Wgat might, in less capable hands, have been a pointlessly pretentious exercise, emetges, thanks to Lennon's skill and wit, as arguably the finest book of the calendar year (2005). Richer inn scope and characterization than most novels, even though the lonegst 'piece' runs for barely three pages, full of gallows humour and eerie coincidences, this confirms Lennon's reputation as one of the most daring - and entertaining - writers around
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Lynne Taetzsch
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful assessment in delightful short shorts.
Reviewed in the United States on 15 July 2013
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While these stories were short shorts, some no more than a page, each one left me with something significant. Great character sketches of people and towns. Lennon is an insightful assessor of human action and the human heart.
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チャコ
4.0 out of 5 stars good
Reviewed in Japan on 11 February 2013
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少し表紙に汚れがありましたので、綺麗に拭き取り使用には問題はありませんでした。何か食べ物の汚れのようでした。中は経年の劣化があるものの何ら支障はありませんでした。
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pickypicky
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on 25 May 2017
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Not all pieces are brilliant, but it's a brilliant concept with many magicien moments.
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Zachary Cole
4.0 out of 5 stars 100 Anecdotes
Reviewed in the United States on 9 October 2009
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This is a great, funny collection of 100 very short stories--but as the subtitle suggests, they're more like anecdotes. The stories vary in tone and style-- a small-town sports animosity leads to violence, a lonely man accidentally shares his depression with q co-worker, and a lucid dreamer suffers a crisis of faith. The stories are are all roughly less than three pages, and some of them will say with me longer than many novels I've read--especially haunting, surreal tales such as "Heirloom" and "Twins."
8 people found this helpful
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Mary Ann
5.0 out of 5 stars Twisty super-short short stories that you will remember long after the book is done
Reviewed in the United States on 11 August 2007
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I first read a few of these super-short shorts when it was excerpted in one of the Best American Short Stories anthologies. I was crushed when I found out that it was of print, but was very happy to find it through Amazon. For anybody that likes odd, deja vu-ish stories, this is a winner. Most of the stories are fun to reflect on, and leave an fun twisty feeling in both your head and your stomach with their bizarre coincidences and strange happenings. This strange little book has moved onto the list of my top 10 favorite books of all time.
2 people found this helpful
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