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Beautiful Wishes Of Ugly Men: Stories (2014)

by Adam Prince(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1306605245 (ISBN13: 9781306605243)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Dzanc Books

review 1: This book is pure genius! I admit the last book I read before this was the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. It was for research purposes (don't judge!). In one short story, Adam Prince had more content than the entire Fifty Shades trilogy! My mind was racing the entire time while reading about the different characters, comparing myself and others to them. I was making hypothesis on the correlation of all the stories. It was like I was reading it for a thesis, but it was enjoyable the entire time. The endings left so many questions, but I like the way it was set up for the readers' thoughts to create their own ending. I literally thought about the characters and the possible endings for at least a month after putting the book down. I highly recommend this book and look forwar... mored to more from this author!
review 2: I knew Adam Prince when we were fellow students/teaching assistants in the University of Arkansas's MFA program (1999-03). I always looked forward to his stories in our writing workshops (i.e., a bunch of people sitting around a long table in a conference room critiquing each others' stories and poems)and, had we ever voted on which of us were most likely to "really make it big" as writers, I know he would have been at the top of my list and that of many others. One of the things that's always impressed me the most of about Prince's work is its range of settings, styles, conflicts, and all that sort of stuff. His general "voice" is quite distinct and inimitable, but at various times his writing has reminded me a little of everyone from Pearl Buck to Isaac Asimov to Vladimir Nabokov to Coraghessan Boyle to Robert Coover to Denis Johnson to Charles Bukowski to many others. Even though I already knew that Prince was a very gifted storyteller, this recently published collection simply amazes me. Funny stories can be hard to write for today's rather jaded and demanding audiences, but the various puns and comical situations here are as unique as everything else about this book. I'm not sure the cover is the greatest: It may set off the "Porn!" alarm in many heads. Yet, while sex (another hard topic to write about these days) is a crucial ingredient in just about all of these 11 stories, it functions and is revealed so matter of factly and intelligently that it's hard to imagine anyone accusing "Beautiful Wishes" of being "gratuitous male fantasy" or anything similar. If you're still wondering about the specifics, several of us have written more lengthy, detailed reviews of this collection on Amazon. Check there if you like, but what I really think you should be doing is reading these stories for yourself. less

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