Rate this book

Further Interpretations Of Real-Life Events: Stories (2012)

by Kevin Moffett(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0062069225 (ISBN13: 9780062069221)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: I get nervous I've read all the contemporary fiction I'll like and then a book like this comes along and is the best thing I've read in a year and I stop being so paranoid. A huge variety of voices. How did one guy come to write this rich vibrant society? I believed in all of them. They were all real. I could see them on the street. The sort-of senile millionaire was just as solid as the widow with denial issues. I wasn't bored by a story about a woman who'd been relocated to a retirement village. That's a remarkable thing he accomplished. Pretty much six stars. The writing is so good. I could quote nearly any line as an example of how perfect it is. Why not this one?: "These were the words with the strongest aftertaste. If they weren't heroic, they were at least- no, they... more were definitely heroic. He savored them after Paula left. He let himself savor the thought, however delusional, of her savoring them."
review 2: In the first story in this magnificent collection a writing professor instructs his students to place characters in short stories in pivotal situations, but not to have them reach conclusions That, he says, is the work of the reader. Malloy follows his own dictate in each ensuing story. The reader is placed into a moment in time that is challenging and transitional for each character, then left to interpret the clues and form his own conclusion as to how the character will fare in the future. In fact, in one story observation is made that "his future was separated from his past." "InThe Pines" tells of a woman always used to being admired by and listened to by men, which is how she has gauged her happiness. At 74 she finds herself uprooted by well meaning relatives to another state, to a retirement community. Her future is completely uprooted from her past. Some of the situations, while familiar (a father trying to adjust to life on the fringes of that of his daughter, a single mom coping with loneliness and responsibility), but the handling here is truly original. Highly recommended. less

Download links for: Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events: Stories

Advertising