Synopses & Reviews
The award-winning author of the bestsellers Cod and The Basque History of the World makes his eagerly anticipated fiction debut -- with this funny and moving romp through the world's melting pot.
The White Man in the Tree and other stories
The White Man in the Tree is a comedy of cultural misunderstandings set in the Caribbean, New York, and Paris, a novella and eight stories about people who, because of their differences -- between men and women, blacks and whites, Caribbeans and visitors, Jews and Christians, rich and poor -- misjudge each other. As celebrated a nonfiction writer as he is, Mark Kurlansky was born to write fiction as well: he has an ability to unmask our foibles and write about love with wit and outright humor.
Whether it is a sophisticated European filmmaker, an ambitious young black Haitian woman, a promising politician obsessed with women's feet, or a fish-out-of-water rabbi in search of a kosher chicken in Curaçao, each of Kurlansky's characters engages us with impulses and interactions that are by turns comic, insightful, and poignant. The White Man in the Tree is an affectionate portrait of a unique society, where Europe, America, Africa, and Asia meet Latin America. Filled with surprises and delight as Kurlansky approaches each scene from a new and unexpected angle, The White Man in the Tree is a tender, wholly original, and thoroughly entertaining fiction debut.
Synopsis
The award-winning author of the bestselling "Cod" and "The Basque History of the World" makes his literary fiction debut with this funny and moving romp through the melting pot. This collection of a novella and eight stories are about people who, because of their differences, misjudge each other.
Table of Contents
Contents The White Man in the Tree: A novella in two parts
Devaluation
The Unclean
Naked
Beautiful Mayagüez Women
Vertical Administration
Packets and Paperscraps
The Deerness of Life
Desaparecidos
The White Man's Glossary