$5.95

Used Trade Paper

Usually ships in 5 to 7 business days

available for shipping or prepaid pickup only

Qty	Store	Section
1	Remote Warehouse	Anthologies- General

Handbook for Drowning: A Novel in Stories

by David Shields

Comment on this title and you could win free books! Synopses & Reviews Comment on this title and you could win free books! ISBN13: 9780060975319 ISBN10: 0060975318 Condition: Standard All Product Details Only 1 left in stock at $5.95!

 

Synopses & Reviews

Review:

"Uneven but often alluring stories, though many of them read like outtakes from Dead Languages, Shields's ambitious 1989 novel of a son's growing up under the stressful nurturing of eccentric parents who were also passionately liberal intellectuals....An offering of compellingly skilled stories, then, but not the wished-for staking out of new terrain. As to the estimable achievement of Dead Languages, what's here is a little bit like finding a plate of hors d'oeuvres after the dinner is already eaten." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"The model here seems to be Leonard Michaels. One story, 'The Sixties,' even carries the tag 'After Leonard Michaels's "In the Fifties."' There is Michaels's brevity (24 stories, 178 pages: not one word wasted), some of his unkindness, some of the threat of sexual ugliness his stories wield; but there isn't the cold perfection, because Shields isn't cold and he doesn't have the temper for perfection. He doesn't have the heart of a formalist. You want more from him than just art--some plot, some theme, some warmth....Shields does best when he plants his feet in the world. In three books he's traveled from clunkiness to pure technique. If he keeps heading in the same direction he could end up writing stories of two or three beautiful words." Craig Seligman, Voice Literary Supplement

Review:

"Similar in theme to his most recent novel, Dead Languages, these linked stories sensitively probe the psychic wounds inflicted by families....While most are effective individually, the stories have a much greater cumulative impact. In the end, A Handbook for Drowning may be best appreciated as a kind of episodic novel." Library Journal

back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Be the first to add a comment for a chance to win!

back to top

Product Details

ISBN:

9780060975319

Subtitle:

A Novel in Stories

Author:

Shields, David

Publisher:

HarperPerennial

Location:

New York :

Edition Description:

1st HarperPerennial ed.

Series Volume:

no. 4

Publication Date:

1993

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

177 p.

back to top

Other books you might like

1. 
   Making History 1ST Edition Carolyn See Used Hardcover $9.95
   
2. 
   Mary Shelleys Monster Martin Tropp Used Hardcover $2.98
   
3. 
   The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector

   

   Used Trade Paper $4.50
   
4. 
   Mama Day Gloria Naylor Used Hardcover $6.95
   
5. 
   Like Never Before Ehud Havazelet

   

   Used Trade Paper $5.50
   
6. 
   Linden Hills Gloria Naylor Used Hardcover $7.95
   

Related Subjects

Handbook for Drowning: A Novel in Stories Used Trade Paper David Shields

0 stars - 0 reviews

$5.95 In Stock

Product details 177 p. pages HarperPerennial - 0- English 9780060975319 Reviews:

"Review" by Kirkus Reviews, "Uneven but often alluring stories, though many of them read like outtakes from Dead Languages, Shields's ambitious 1989 novel of a son's growing up under the stressful nurturing of eccentric parents who were also passionately liberal intellectuals....An offering of compellingly skilled stories, then, but not the wished-for staking out of new terrain. As to the estimable achievement of Dead Languages, what's here is a little bit like finding a plate of hors d'oeuvres after the dinner is already eaten."

"Review" by Craig Seligman, Voice Literary Supplement, "The model here seems to be Leonard Michaels. One story, 'The Sixties,' even carries the tag 'After Leonard Michaels's "In the Fifties."' There is Michaels's brevity (24 stories, 178 pages: not one word wasted), some of his unkindness, some of the threat of sexual ugliness his stories wield; but there isn't the cold perfection, because Shields isn't cold and he doesn't have the temper for perfection. He doesn't have the heart of a formalist. You want more from him than just art--some plot, some theme, some warmth....Shields does best when he plants his feet in the world. In three books he's traveled from clunkiness to pure technique. If he keeps heading in the same direction he could end up writing stories of two or three beautiful words."

"Review" by Library Journal, "Similar in theme to his most recent novel, Dead Languages, these linked stories sensitively probe the psychic wounds inflicted by families....While most are effective individually, the stories have a much greater cumulative impact. In the end, A Handbook for Drowning may be best appreciated as a kind of episodic novel."