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Powell's Q&A, Kids' Q&A | February 2, 2012

Emily Winfield Martin: IMG Kids' Q&A: Emily Winfield Martin

2 comments By Emily Winfield Martin

Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a... Continue »
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    Oddfellow's Orphanage

    Emily Winfield Martin 9780375869952
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2 Burnside Small Press- Fiction and Prose
2 Remote Warehouse Literature- A to Z

Hiding Out

by Jonathan Messinger

Hiding Out Cover

 

Staff Pick

Hiding Out, Messinger's wonderful debut collection, is full of mishaps and mishaps waiting to happen, but he somehow transforms the uncomfortable moments into familiar sparks that shine and resonate.
Recommended by Kevin Sampsell, Powell's City of Books

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Hiding Out is a collection of hilarious, sparkling stories about people avoiding the consequences of their poor decisions. A jilted lover dresses as a robot to win back the heart of an ex-girlfriend. A man builds a time machine to embrace the identity he always denied. Playful and empathic, these misadventures feature lonely hearts failing terribly to make a connection.

Review:

"Time Out Chicago books editor Messinger has a few gems sandwiched between predictably sardonic musings on failed relationships and poor life decisions in his debut collection. The opening piece, 'Captain Tomorrow,' expertly captures a mixture of teenage summer malaise and a hint of innocence lost, but it's not until several stories later, with the man-eating wolf farce 'Not Even the Zookeeper Can Keep Control,' that the reader encounters something other than recycled humor. Ironic kookiness seems to be the order of the day: a child with a large head gets stuck in a fence; there's a machine shaped like a large ear of corn and known as 'The Hummingbird'; and there are several 'hidden' stories wedged into the text. Scattered throughout are hints of Messinger's talent, and these are found in stories that explore burgeoning teen sexuality — notably 'One Valve Opens' and 'The Birds Below.' The familiar-feeling patina of self-consciousness will turn off as many readers as it hooks." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Look here. Jonathan Messinger is that guy. That guy whose stories made me come out of blurb retirement to write one more. The stories in this book are beautiful and simple and funny and true. You should not want more from a story than you will find in here." Elizabeth Crane

Review:

"I'm not going to fuck around here — Hiding Out is a book you should read. Messinger switches up styles, voices, even locales with aplomb. Just when I thought I knew where things were headed, along came the next story — or in some cases, the next paragraph — to confound expectations in the very best ways. Girls, ghosts, loneliness, the power of memory and coming of age, it's all here, the real stuff of life." Bryan Charles

Review:

"There's such freshness, naturalness, humor and charm to Jonathan Messinger's stories — an overall sense of immediacy that planted me in the present — that only in retrospect did I realize how in Hiding Out, Messinger had also subtly constructed a personal and original world." Stuart Dybek
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780977199235
Author:
Messinger, Jonathan
Publisher:
Featherproof Books
Illustrator:
Funderburk, Rob
Subject:
General
Subject:
Stories (single author)
Subject:
Short stories, American
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2007
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
20070931
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
, Y
Pages:
183
Dimensions:
7.04x5.08x.55 in. .43 lbs.
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Related Aisles

Hiding Out New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$13.95 In Stock
Product details 183 pages Featherproof Books - English 9780977199235 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

Hiding Out, Messinger's wonderful debut collection, is full of mishaps and mishaps waiting to happen, but he somehow transforms the uncomfortable moments into familiar sparks that shine and resonate.

by Kevin Sampsell
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Time Out Chicago books editor Messinger has a few gems sandwiched between predictably sardonic musings on failed relationships and poor life decisions in his debut collection. The opening piece, 'Captain Tomorrow,' expertly captures a mixture of teenage summer malaise and a hint of innocence lost, but it's not until several stories later, with the man-eating wolf farce 'Not Even the Zookeeper Can Keep Control,' that the reader encounters something other than recycled humor. Ironic kookiness seems to be the order of the day: a child with a large head gets stuck in a fence; there's a machine shaped like a large ear of corn and known as 'The Hummingbird'; and there are several 'hidden' stories wedged into the text. Scattered throughout are hints of Messinger's talent, and these are found in stories that explore burgeoning teen sexuality — notably 'One Valve Opens' and 'The Birds Below.' The familiar-feeling patina of self-consciousness will turn off as many readers as it hooks." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "Look here. Jonathan Messinger is that guy. That guy whose stories made me come out of blurb retirement to write one more. The stories in this book are beautiful and simple and funny and true. You should not want more from a story than you will find in here."
"Review" by , "I'm not going to fuck around here — Hiding Out is a book you should read. Messinger switches up styles, voices, even locales with aplomb. Just when I thought I knew where things were headed, along came the next story — or in some cases, the next paragraph — to confound expectations in the very best ways. Girls, ghosts, loneliness, the power of memory and coming of age, it's all here, the real stuff of life."
"Review" by , "There's such freshness, naturalness, humor and charm to Jonathan Messinger's stories — an overall sense of immediacy that planted me in the present — that only in retrospect did I realize how in Hiding Out, Messinger had also subtly constructed a personal and original world."
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