Synopses & Reviews
Stories that capture our times by “a young author who has already established himself as a unique American voice” (Elle).
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as "a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain." His new collection of stories — some of which have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, and the Best American Short Stories — is set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to readers of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles — a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction—even as they are battered by larger, often invisible, economic, political, and racial forces of American society.
Searing, intimate, often slyly funny, and always marked by a deep imaginative sympathy, American Estrangement is a testament to our addled times. It will cement Sayrafiezadeh’s reputation as one of the essential twenty-first-century American writers.
Review
"A haunting book, and filled with longing." Hilton Als, author of White Girls
Review
"These stories combine the intensity of theater, the humor of your smartest friend, and the emotional insight of the imaginary and gentle god you might wish for and fear as a witness. Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is an extraordinary talent, and these stories merit reading and rereading and rereading." Rivka Galchen, author of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
Review
"Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is a first-rate short story writer. Every sentence is a delight, and his work has a captivating, immersive quality that leaves the reader shaken and moved. American Estrangement is a superb book with a strange and subtle power sure to haunt readers long after they’ve closed the cover." Phil Klay, author of Missionaries
Video
Watch the Powell’s virtual event with Saïd Sayrafiezadeh and David Adjmi!
About the Author
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh was born in Brooklyn and raised in Pittsburgh. He is the author of a memoir, When Skateboards Will Be Free, and a story collection, Brief Encounters with the Enemy. He is the recipient of a Whiting Award and a Cullman Center Fellowship. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, Granta, the New York Times Magazine, and McSweeney's. He teaches at New York University and Hunter College and lives in New York City.