We Live in Water

(Paperback)

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Description

From the bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins comes a darkly funny, utterly compelling collection of stories about the American family We Live In Water is a world of lost fathers and redemptive con artists, of personal struggles and broken men. In 'Thief', a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to find out which of his kids is stealing from the family holiday fund. 'Anything Helps' sees a homeless man try to raise money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book; and in 'Virgo', a newspaper editor attempts to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope. We Live in Water is a wildly original, brilliantly realized contemplation of our times.

Reviews

These stories are very, very good. If you like to read, you'll like this book * Publishers Weekly *
A witty and sobering snapshot of recession-era America * Kirkus Reviews *
Wildly entertaining and thought-provoking * Booklist *
A genius of the modern American movement * Philadelphia Inquirer *
Jess Walter has impressive command of the short story...Since 13 stories should be plenty for a collection, maybe the best compliment we might pay the author is to object that this book is too short -- Lionel Shriver * Financial Times *
A more expansive, wittier Raymond Carver * Metro *
One for the hols * Sunday Times Style *
Clever, original and a little dark * Grazia *
There's no sudden resolution, but there's enough wit to help you get through the messy bits * Shortlist *
A collection of punchy stories . . . Sold and sold * Esquire *
Darkly amusing . . . Suffused with caustic wit, quirky descriptions and sharp details. We Live In Water never falls short of being highly engaging * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including The Financial Lives of the Poets and The Cold Millions. Beautiful Ruins was a New York Times bestseller, and We Live in Water was one of Barack Obama's books of 2019. Jess Walter lives in Spokane, Washington with his family.