- Paperback: 216 pages
- Publisher: Picador; First Edition edition (Sep 1 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312420560
- ISBN-13: 978-0312420567
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14 x 1.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #433,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
To herald a Davis book as "the usual" may sound like faint praise, but the writer's loyal fans know that it is anything but. In this latest collection, Davis (Almost No Memory; The End of the Story) doesn't disappoint: the 56 stories paragraph-long meditations, stories in sections and humorous one-liners showcase the wordplay and distillation of meaning that have become her stylistic hallmarks, offering up crisp twists on familiar themes. In "The Meeting," a woman's corporate encounter sparks an internal identity crisis and rant; the childbearing conundrum is nailed in "A Double Negative." Relationships are probed in stories ranging from "Old Mother and the Grouch," with its fancifully imagined characters, to the brief "Finances," which gives voice to the messy issue of domestic equality. There are riffs on mown lawns and the use of the word "cremains" by a funeral parlor, and spooled-out ponderings on domestic priorities, selfishness and boring friends. Communication and language are paramount in Davis's world: an elderly man searches for his brother a language researcher in a hostile environment in "In a Northern Country," and a one-sided question-and-answer session in "Jury Duty" is the more revealing for what is omitted. The title story is an example of the author's famous one-liners that provide initial quick humor, then cause the reader to think again. And a longer story about Marie Curie, told in sections, fascinates with its interior imaginings. Eclectic and astute, Davis continues to find new ways to tell us the things we need to know. (Oct.) Forecast: Davis attracts a cultish core audience, and the low price of this hardcover title should make it an attractive impulse purchase.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"Highly intelligent, wildly entertaining stories, bound by visionary, philosophical, comic prose-part Gertrude Stein, part Simone Weil, and pure Lydia Davis."—Elle
"Davis should be counted among the true originals of contemporary American short fiction."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Davis deploys her gift for verbal bemusement, annoyance, and high anxiety . . . [and] converts her characters' complex ruminations into narratives full of insight and pleasure."—The Village Voice
"Her stories are intellectual and playful, and rigorous as brainteasers."—Bookforum
"Davis should be counted among the true originals of contemporary American short fiction."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Davis deploys her gift for verbal bemusement, annoyance, and high anxiety . . . [and] converts her characters' complex ruminations into narratives full of insight and pleasure."—The Village Voice
"Her stories are intellectual and playful, and rigorous as brainteasers."—Bookforum
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A quietly eccentric humor,
By nicolemoshi (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories (Paperback)
...that captures the essence of human experience. Urgent - natural - inevitable. A good variety of forms - entertaining for the minimalists in particular.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Playful writer,
By
This review is from: Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories (Hardcover)
I've been quoting her story "Spring Spleen" to people (in its two-sentence entirety) because it's so delightfully short and it conveys its meaning perfectly. I appreciate quirky and inventive writers very much and found SJII to be an enjoyable read. She's up there with Russell Edson and Padgett Powell as a master of the short form.
5.0 out of 5 stars
thought provoking, boiled-down, heart-of-the-matter stories,
By A Customer
This review is from: Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories (Hardcover)
I love this book and also felt the need to counter the 2 star reviewer who quoted a one line story from the book without including the story title or the italics. Both are essential to taking in the story because Lydia Davis does not waste a word, even on the title. Most of the stories leave the reader with something universal, even when the "univeral thing" goes unsaid. Some of the stories were so close to the bone that I feel I could've written them if I could pare off words as well as she does. I found the book thought provoking and highly entertaining.
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