Synopses & Reviews
Wry, poignant, and utterly believable, these stories brim with rare insights and fresh descriptions. Recalling the work of Lorrie Moore and Jonathan Franzen, "The Good Life features characters battling daily demons of envy, fear, and disillusionment while somehow maintaining an abiding optimism. In one story, an unhappy wife learns that her friend's New-Agey husband is able to teach her a few things about joy. In "Ax of the Apostles," a frustrated priest secretly becomes a binge eater. In "A Whole New Man," a hippie father's daughters sign him up for a makeover on television. Here are characters trying to weather the confounding people of the world--the lucky in love, the athletically gifted, the chronically successful--characters clinging to their cynicism while admitting that real hope and passion demand a suspension of skepticism. Erin McGraw "writes with charm and sweet irony of the foibles of misfits...true, melancholy, and frequently hilarious" (Ron Hansen), and her new collection is impossible to put down. "I've never loved a place so much," he said. "I used to stand up on the hillside and almost cry. It was so beautiful my eyes hurt." "Easy, Ron." "It was more than we'd ever asked for." "Don't press so hard. Nobody's going anywhere." "I just got to thinking. What do you suppose it would mean? To leave paradise. When people leave heaven, they don't go someplace better." Lili snorted despite the pain radiating from Ron's thumbs on either side of her spine..."There's more than one beautiful place in the world." "But this is the one we love." "I can imagine loving other places." Lili's voice was unsteady. Outside, pearly predawn light seemed to arise from the ice-coated bushes andsnowbanks, a landscape made of crystal. "People do it all the time. When you wake up from one dream, you go back to sleep and have another." "I don't," Ron said. "I get more and more awake, trying to make the first dream come back."
Synopsis
Erin McGraw's fiction has been hailed as "graceful . . . gratifyingly substantial" (New York Times Book Review) and "brilliant... [she's] a writer to watch" (Los Angeles Times). Wry but poignant, her new collection brims with priceless insights and fresh descriptions. The Good Life features characters battling daily demons of envy, fear, and disillusionment while somehow maintaining an abiding optimism. Here are characters trying to weather the confounding people of the world--the chronically successful, the lucky in love, the athletically gifted--characters clinging to their cynicism while admitting that real hope and passion demand a suspension of skepticism. Erin McGraw writes with charm and sweet irony, and her new collection is impossible to put down.
Synopsis
Erin McGraw's fiction has been hailed as "graceful . . . gratifyingly substantial" (New York Times Book Review) and "brilliant... [she's] a writer to watch" (Los Angeles Times). Wry but poignant, her new collection brims with priceless insights and fresh descriptions. The Good Life features characters battling daily demons of envy, fear, and disillusionment while somehow maintaining an abiding optimism. Here are characters trying to weather the confounding people of the world--the chronically successful, the lucky in love, the athletically gifted--characters clinging to their cynicism while admitting that real hope and passion demand a suspension of skepticism. Erin McGraw writes with charm and sweet irony, and her new collection is impossible to put down.
About the Author
Erin McGraw is the author of three books: Bodies at Sea (U. of Illinois, 1989), Lies of the Saints (Chronicle, 1996), and The Baby Tree (Storyline Press, 2002). Lies of the Saints was a New York Times Notable Book, and won the Ohioana Award for Fiction. McGraw has received grants from the Ohio Arts Council, and fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell and Stanford University. Her stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Story, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, and many other publications. She is a professor of creative writing at the Ohio State University, and is married to poet Andrew Hudgins.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS The Beautiful Tennessee Waltz 1 AWhole New Man 16 Ax of the Apostles 34 Appearance of Scandal 49 Aruba 67 Lucky Devil 84 Daily Affirmations 101 Citizen of Vienna 120 The Best Friend 137 The Penance Practicum 154 One for My Baby 173