Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Knocks you back, makes you rethink your life, with its daily rhythms, small epiphanies, moments of hope and despair, and glimpses of grandeur. . . an auspicious debut." -- Jay Parini
Review
"Duval is an inventive stylist."
Review
"A fresh voice and approach..."
Review
"Honest, funny, sad . . .Pete Duval's sense of story is as unerring as his generosity toward his people is heartening." -- Stewart O'Nan
Review
"[These stories] illuminate the lives of working-class people with moments of rare beauty..." Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Duval is an inventive stylist." Publishers Weekly
"A fresh voice and approach..." Booklist, ALA
"Intriguing . . . Duval is the master of convincing details." Boston Globe
"A confident, hard-muscled debut from a writer who knows how to handle the wheel even while flicking glances up at the mirror where all those miles recede behind us." The San Francisco Chronicle
"Honest, funny, sad . . .Pete Duval's sense of story is as unerring as his generosity toward his people is heartening." -- Stewart O'Nan
"Knocks you back, makes you rethink your life, with its daily rhythms, small epiphanies, moments of hope and despair, and glimpses of grandeur. . . an auspicious debut." -- Jay Parini
Synopsis
With uncanny insight and deadpan humor, the twelve stories in Pete Duval's debut collection feature night shift workers, lapsed Catholics, bullies, and smalltime thieves struggling with their jobs, their religion, and their families. Duval records in a fresh, off-kilter voice the desperate measures, heated confrontations, and moments of grace that occur in working-class communities. Throughout the collection, Duval explores his characters with compassion and candor and an eye for the surprising moment.
About the Author
JAY PARINI is a poet, novelist, and biographer who teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont. His books of poetry include House of Days and The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems. Among his eight novels are The Passages of H.M., Benjamin's Crossing, and The Last Station, which was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer. He has written biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner, and numerous works of nonfiction, including Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword by Jay Parini • xi
Impala • 1
Wheatback • 18
Midnight Mass • 26
Welcome Wagon • 40
Bakery • 44
Fun with Mammals • 85
Spectator Sport • 94
Cellular • 102
Rear View • 115
Scissors • 121
Something Like Shame • 132
Pious Objects • 141