Synopses & Reviews
A powerful, moving collection of stories from one of the masters of American drama, A Primitive Heart is a powerful, heart-rending, and completely authentic collection of stories that cut to the quick of American manhood and reveal the distance within the most intimate relationships. A Primitive Heart shows David Rabe to be a fiction writer of range and versatility. Whether he is writing about a marriage shadowed by the unacknowledged discord of a risky pregnancy, a group of men whose attempt to settle an account launches them toward unexpected violence, or a young journalist who believes hes escaped his Catholic roots, only to be forced to confront them by a priest who once mentored his writing, Rabes muscular voice, singular gift for dialogue, sly wit, and fearlessness in depicting the savage side of humanity, tenders an inimitable portrait of America and offers benedictions to her lost souls. A Primitive Heart confirms the mastery of David Rabe's writing and establishes him as an exciting voice in fiction.
Review
"Brightened...by compassion of deft psychological insight...Rabe carefully renders the provisional reconciliation of teacher and student, a moment of genuine grace." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"A Primitive Heart is not only an exhibition of David Rabe's acclaimed dramatic powers but also proof of his narrative magic. Here are six riveting stories in which characters are pulled by the rip tide of circumstance beyond comfort and predictability into murky and treacherous waters." Billy Collins
Review
"Rabe has a way of implicating the reader of creating a near claustrophobic bond with his restless characters, writing so convincingly that the subtext becomes almost palpable, accruing darkly, like a storm. Okay: I'm eating my heart out." Ann Beattie, author of Where You'll Find Me: And Other Stories
Review
"It's a great boon to his fans that David Rabe has the courage to follow his gift where it takes him. His stories are as wonderful as his plays intriguing, powerful, and true." Denis Johnson, author of Jesus' Son: Stories
Synopsis
David Rabe's muscular voice, inimitable gift for dialogue, sly wit, and fearless daring to depict the uglier side of American men and humanity in general have made him one of our most acclaimed writers. With this collection of stories he shows himself to be a fiction writer of range and versatility, though often returning to the themes of fractured male-female relationships, the violence that often lurks beneath the surface of male bonding, the dark hold of Catholicism on those who have left it, and the struggle to forge and maintain connections in families marred by divorce, miscarriage, or children given up for adoption.
About the Author
David Rabe is the author of Hurlyburly, Those the River Keeps, A Question of Mercy, Streamers, In the Boom Boom Room, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, and other plays, as well as screenplays and the novel Recital of the Dog. He is the recipient of a Tony Award and three Hull-Warriner Awards for playwriting.