Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Within her collection of short stories, Rage and Other Cages, LaBrie offers lessons on grief, loneliness, and companionship all the while writing with a compelling humor that ties her pieces together. Taking place in Philadelphia, these stories introduce complex yet relatable female characters, all struggling to survive and fight back against a world that so often criticizes and erodes them. The characters range from Jenny, a former child actress turned real estate agent who yearns for her past, to Hazel, a paralegal living with her mother, seemingly stuck in all aspects of her life. With each story, LaBrie urges readers to sit and stew with their own thoughts on abuse and rape culture, what it means to grieve, and most prominently, the prevalence and importance of rage as a tool for women. Although LaBrie writes, "we were never taught to manage our rage", readers come away wondering if rage needs containing after all, or is it instead an essential and vital part of being a woman.
Synopsis
Joyce Carol Oates calls LaBrie's writing "Mordantly funny, eerily discomforting, & unexpectedly wise -- an audacious gathering of stories mirroring our contemporary world."
In her award-winning collection of short stories, Rage and Other Cages, LaBrie offers lessons on grief, loneliness, and relationships that examine what it means to be female in today's America.
The characters range from a former child actress turned real estate agent who yearns for her past, to a nurse who must convince a murderer to donate his girlfriend's organs, to a bartender at Ray's Happy Birthday Bar who is kidnapped by a customer searching for a mysterious key. Bad dates, bad jobs, and bad situations force these characters to use their wits and wiles to survive. In a voice akin to Lorrie Moore meets Mary Gaitskill, LaBrie has her readers laughing on one page and raging on another. Her voice is memorable, raw, and undeniably skillful.