The Dog of the Marriage
By (Author) Amy Hempel
Quercus Publishing
Quercus Publishing
1st October 2009
6th August 2009
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
813.54
Paperback
432
Width 128mm, Height 196mm, Spine 30mm
340g
A quietly powerful presence in American fiction in during the past two decades, these collected stories show the true scale of Hempel's achievement. Her compact fictions, populated by smart neurotic somewhat damaged narrators, speak grandly to the longings and insecurities in all of us, and in a voice that is bracingly direct and sneakily profound.
These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With her trademark compassion and wit, Hempel takes readers into the marriages, minor disasters and moments of revelation in an uneasy America.The toughest party of reading The Dog of the Marriage is how much your jaw muscles ache from the effort it takes not to laugh and cry in front of strangers. Amy Hempel is my god among writers' Chuck Palahniuk. * Chuck Palahniuk *
Her work is an exemplar of the truth that the short story can be the briefest of affairs, but it can stay in the mind forever - Glasgow Herald. * Glasgow Herald *
These are astonishing stories, hilarious and surprising and insightful... if there's a funnier, smarter or richer book published this year, I will eat my shoes - Guardian. * Guardian *
Reaffirms her impressive mastery of fiction Hempel's wit, insight and crisp writing make her work consistently powerful' Observer. * Observer *
Born in Chicago in 1951, now living in New York, Amy Hempel has published her acclaimed and prize winning short stories in magazines such as Harpers and Vanity Fair. She is the author of four volumes of short stories, collected here.