- Paperback: 244 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1416578420
- ISBN-13: 978-1416578420
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,624,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This absorbing new collection of 20 stories (after Blood and Foreign Parts) explores relationships and fears in contemporary Glasgow. Each story offers a different perspective on the quiet desperation of the trapped, but the complex characters stubbornly resist the mold of victims. Even the six-year-old girl in "Someone Had To," brutally abused by her uncle, does not cry out; she responds to his torments with an unblinking stare. In "The Bridge," Fiona overcomes the frantic warnings in her head and stands up to an artist she adores. Galloway imbues her stories with a lurking malevolence, and her characters' defeats could perhaps be attributed to their fears. "Test" opens with a woman awakening to "the crackle of someone unwrapping a claw hammer. A length of cable. Cheese wire." With a combination of relief and disgust, she realizes that a discarded sandwich tray made the sound, but the sense of an unnamed threat relentlessly pervades the story and the collection as a whole. In several of these tales, Galloway departs from the bleak realities of Glasgow housing estates and presents a more surreal vision. In "After the Rains," the sun comes out for the first time in nine months and people literally blossom: the florist turns into a garden; the greengrocer watches a cabbage "foresting the front of his overalls." Galloway's deft prose calmly stretches reality but avoids a descent into the ridiculous, an impressive testament to her talent and versatility. Agent, Jonathan Cape. (Feb. 14)Forecast: The Valentine's Day pub date may be an ironic gesture. In any case, literary worth and not marketing gimmicks will sell this notable collection.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Library Journal
In the prelude to this uneven collection of 20 stories, award-winning Scottish writer Galloway (The Trick Is To Keep Breathing) includes a quotation from English writer Margaret Kennedy that serves as a mantra for the book: "It is better to break one's heart than to do nothing with it." Thus, "Valentine" details a relationship that leaves a woman emotionally deprived; in "Waiting for Marilyn," jealousy arises when a hairstylist flashes an engagement ring at her client; in the disappointing title story, a prostitute details the inside of her pimp's mouth in a rambling monolog. In those stories, Galloway's style is self-indulgent, and the profusion of details cascades into chaos. The more successful stories are "Sonata," which features the cool observations of a concert pianist's pregnant girlfriend; "He Dreams of Pleasing His Mother," a stark narrative of a son's love-hate relationship with his mother; and "Bisex," the painful narrative of a woman in love with a bisexual man. Galloway's narrators are contemporary in their sadness, loneliness, and unsuccessful search for belonging. An optional choice for public libraries. Mary Szczesiul, Roseville P.L., MI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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