Fresh Complaint

(Paperback)

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Description

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR
AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR

The first-ever collection of short stories from Jeffrey Eugenides, the bestselling author of Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides and The Marriage Plot, explores characters in the midst of personal and national emergencies.
Kendall has failed as a poet, and now embezzlement seems like his next-best career option. Rebecca has failed to find customers for her mouse figurines, now the bailiffs are coming for her husband. Diane has failed to meet the one, but is thrilled to have found her path to motherhood through a turkey baster.

With his trademark humour, compassion and complex understanding of what it is to be human, Jeffrey Eugenides stories elevate muddling through into something triumphant.

Reviews

[An] excellent short story collection Eugenides deploys his pronounced gifts for comedy and characterisation at the same time as he builds an overwhelming atmosphere of suffocation Guardian

A very good short story writerthey are a breeze to read and Eugenides inhabits each new consciousness with easy confidence The Times

I adored Fresh Complaint beautifully written and couldnt be more topical Observer, Books of the Year

Eugenides has always been known as a master of prose, a sharp and precise writer whose use of language is second to none If you want a manageable yet unputtdownable reading experience for the week, it has to be this Sunday Times Style Magazine

The ten stories that make up Fresh Complaint, Eugenides first collection, boast a wide range of themes a collage of the writers myriad of interests and voices TLS

Deftly drawn sketches most concern the tribulations of growing older, and the infernal complications of family life as we adjust to the requirements of ever-changing circumstances Financial Times

The collection explores the connection between the inner and outer life, with a suave wit and equanimity that make it deceptively conversational Literary Review

These are poignantly told, but its the characters who are feeling an emotional lack that make the biggest impact Daily Mail

Jeffrey Eugenidess beautifully written collection of short stories Fresh Complaint is not only the best thing Ive read all year it also couldnt be more 2017, featuring transgender teenagers, rape allegations on campus and much more besides Rohan Silva, Evening Standard, Books of the Year

There is much to enjoy and admire; notably the fact theres not a dud in the collection, an achievement thats harder to pull off that it might seem Independent

Author Bio

Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published in 1993 to great acclaim and he has received numerous awards for his work. In 2003, Eugenides received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex, which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and Frances Prix Medicis and has sold more than 3 million copies.