Review
". . . Pasha Malla's debut collection signals the arrival of a talented newcomer to Canadian fiction." -- Montreal Gazette
". . . Pasha Malla's intriguing first short-fiction collection. . . reveal[s] his tenacious skill. . . . the stories include an astonishing range of ideas about love, relationships, family, and culture, to name just a few themes. What is most alluring about Malla's writing is his unfailing ability to grasp the fallibility of his characters as they try to do the right thing, fail and then go on. Sophisticated and unpretentious. . . Like David Foster Wallace and Rick Moody, Malla often asks painful questions, revealing equally painful truths. . . . each story of The Withdrawal Method has been carefully layered to affect the reader in a similarly subtle and profound way, making a lasting impression with its integrity and narrative skill." -- Quill & Quire
"... display[s] an engaging combination of imagination and emotion.... splendidly creative.... an absolute gem.... Life is anything but ordinary in the hands of this gifted writer." -- Vancouver Sun
"Malla's style is sharp and funny. . . Malla manages to make us chuckle at the absurdity of life. . . . the collection is amusing and affecting, an accomplished first book by a writer to watch." -- NOW Magazine
“. . . expertly handled. . . disturbingly credible. . . . [Pasha Malla] never falters with various children’s points of view, and his development of these uncontrived plots is seamless. . . . These are strong stories that confront complex, irresolvable moral problems. Definitely worth reading.” -- Matrix
". . . [The Withdrawal Method is] an astonishing and bizarre mix. . . Pasha Malla is an impressive young voice that gives one hope for a future of new Canadian writing talent. . ." -- Globe and Mail
"These stories are weird and wild and wonderful. Funny, too. Pasha Malla has a deft touch." -- David Bergen, Scotiabank Giller Prize winner for The Time In Between
"[F]or my money one of the best young writers in Canada [is] Pasha Malla." -- Torontoist.com
“Dazzling debut . . . written in a language that is fresh and imbued with great feeling.” -- Globe and Mail
“Malla’s technical skills are . . . reminiscent of Munro . . . His handling of society’s unfortunates is very Barbara Gowdy . . . Buy The Withdrawal Method.” -- Vue Weekly
". . . Pasha Malla's intriguing first short-fiction collection. . . reveal[s] his tenacious skill. . . . the stories include an astonishing range of ideas about love, relationships, family, and culture, to name just a few themes. What is most alluring about Malla's writing is his unfailing ability to grasp the fallibility of his characters as they try to do the right thing, fail and then go on. Sophisticated and unpretentious. . . Like David Foster Wallace and Rick Moody, Malla often asks painful questions, revealing equally painful truths. . . . each story of The Withdrawal Method has been carefully layered to affect the reader in a similarly subtle and profound way, making a lasting impression with its integrity and narrative skill." -- Quill & Quire
"... display[s] an engaging combination of imagination and emotion.... splendidly creative.... an absolute gem.... Life is anything but ordinary in the hands of this gifted writer." -- Vancouver Sun
"Malla's style is sharp and funny. . . Malla manages to make us chuckle at the absurdity of life. . . . the collection is amusing and affecting, an accomplished first book by a writer to watch." -- NOW Magazine
“. . . expertly handled. . . disturbingly credible. . . . [Pasha Malla] never falters with various children’s points of view, and his development of these uncontrived plots is seamless. . . . These are strong stories that confront complex, irresolvable moral problems. Definitely worth reading.” -- Matrix
". . . [The Withdrawal Method is] an astonishing and bizarre mix. . . Pasha Malla is an impressive young voice that gives one hope for a future of new Canadian writing talent. . ." -- Globe and Mail
"These stories are weird and wild and wonderful. Funny, too. Pasha Malla has a deft touch." -- David Bergen, Scotiabank Giller Prize winner for The Time In Between
"[F]or my money one of the best young writers in Canada [is] Pasha Malla." -- Torontoist.com
“Dazzling debut . . . written in a language that is fresh and imbued with great feeling.” -- Globe and Mail
“Malla’s technical skills are . . . reminiscent of Munro . . . His handling of society’s unfortunates is very Barbara Gowdy . . . Buy The Withdrawal Method.” -- Vue Weekly
Book Description
Haunting and fresh, shot through with empathy and humour, Pasha Malla's deceptively smooth, brilliant stories grant us entry into fascinating worlds - the forbidden, complex world of children acting out half-understood fantasies of adulthood; the familiar, modern world of young couples navigating hairpin emotional turns; a near-future world where Niagara Falls has run dry; a long-past world where a frustrated chess-master unwittingly invents a sinister machine that will affect the lives of generations to come.
As in the extraordinary stories of writers such as Lorrie Moore, Haruki Murakami, George Saunders, and Barbara Gowdy, Pasha Malla offers us characters who are recognizable and situations that are familiar, and then peels back layers to reveal the strange, the wondrous, and the unexpected. The Withdrawal Method is an assured and mature first collection from one of our best young writers, one who pairs striking emotional depth with remarkable technical skill.
About the Author
PASHA MALLA's writing has appeared in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies, including two appearances in Journey Prize Stories, a "Notable Story" in Best American Nonrequired Reading (edited by Dave Eggers), the forthcoming Toronto Noir anthology and, most recently, GreenTOpia. He is the founder of Now Hear This!, a writers-in-schools program run through Descant magazine, and has edited an all-Canadian edition of Hobart that includes David Bergen, Mark Jarman, Sheila Heti and Lee Henderson. Pasha's current projects include a novel and a series of essay about Kashmir. Snare Books (Montreal) will publish All our grandfathers are ghosts, a collection of his poems, in 2008.
