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More copies of this ISBN:Vanilla Bright Like Eminemby Michel Faber
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:M ichel Faber is not only a master storyteller but a daring innovator as well. Here are the pitch-perfect prose, indelible characterizations, and deep empathy for which he has been highly acclaimed. Here also is a satirical streak that depicts individuals at uncanny and all-too-familiar turning points in their lives. The alienated find sanctuary in ÒThe Safehouse,Ó their histories and diagnoses written like endless ads on their T-shirts. In ÒAndy Comes Back,Ó a man awakens after a five-year coma, only to flee his home. In ÒThe Eyes of the Soul,Ó perpetual televised beauty replaces the derelict view from a suburban picture window. In ÒFinesse,Ó a dictator holds his surgeon’s family hostage to the outcome of a risky operation. These sixteen stories move from unspeakable sadness through moments of exquisitely distilled happiness. Review:"'Scots author Faber (The Crimson Petal and the White) practices a distinct and finally winning form of defamiliarization in these 16 short tales, creating characters with very low thresholds for overstimulation, so that the everyday, through their eyes, looks nightmarish or sublime. A man wakes in a pile of garbage in 'The Safehouse,' strips off his fetid raincoat and then can't understand why, as he tries to figure out what day it is, the townspeople want to help him — even after he discerns his name, an address and a phone number printed on his T-shirt. In 'Serious Swimmers,' a recovering drug addict is overwhelmed with love for her son during a swim at the local pool. The homicidal wife-beater on a rampage (in 'Someone to Kiss It Better') is oddly sympathetic as his misguided coverup goes very wrong. More fantastically, legions of Western businessmen are held in ecstatic captivity by a machete-wielding Miss Soedhono ('Explaining Coconuts'), while the grotesque 1861 demise of Alchester's richest man (in 'Flesh Remains Flesh') is freakish and deeply satisfying. Faber's elaborately imagined stories often end at a moment of tension or ambivalence, underscoring his characters' fragility and giving the book an uncanny coherence. (Sept.)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Poignantly eerie...odd and haunting...When Mr. Faber, who wrote the intoxicating novel The Crimson Petal and the White, shoehorns the name Eminem into the title of a literary short-story collection, he isnt overreaching. These stories blend darkly phantasmagoric elements with humorously commonplace ones, and Eminem makes a perfectly good avatar for that kind of thinking...Every one of the main characters here...Ýreaches some point of change by the end of the story. But these are not cheap epiphanies; they are genuinely odd and stirring changes of heart. Mr. Faber, who remains a writer capable of invoking all manner of inchoate dangers, teases...[characters] toward a realization that life-or-death power is beyond both of them." Review:"[Faber] mines the mundane for the unexpected, even the surreal, with impressive assurance. Occasionally, his facility gives an impression of superficiality, but at his best he explores conflicts with a compelling balance of menace and wit." Review:"Freakish and deeply satisfying. Fabers elaborately imagined stories often end at a moment of tension or ambivalence, underscoring his characters fragility and giving the book an uncanny coherence." Synopsis:The bestselling author of "The Crimson Petal and the White" presents this collection of 16 stories that move from unspeakable sadness to moments of exquisitely distilled happiness. About the AuthorMICHEL FABER is the author of the bestselling The Crimson Petal and the White, as well as three other books. His work has been translated into twenty languages. He lives in the Scottish Highlands. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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