Staff Pick
A whip-smart collection of Portland-centered linked short stories, The Folly of Loving Life is Monica Drake at her best: darkly funny, incessantly but uncontrivedly quirky, suddenly heart-breaking, and full of bursts of remarkable insight into this absurd and sometimes soul-crushing monkey business called being human. Recommended By Gigi L., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Following her acclaimed novels Clown Girl and The Stud Book, Monica Drake presents her long-awaited first collection of stories. The Folly of Loving Life
features linked stories examining an array of characters at their most
vulnerable and human, often escaping to somewhere or trying to find
stability in their own place. These stories display the best of what we
love about Monica’s writing — the sly laugh-out-loud humor, the sharp
observations, the flawed but strong characters, and the shadowy Van
Sant-ish Portland settings.
Review
"What can I say about Monica Drake’s stories? They are brilliant, sure. They are hilarious, yes. Each one is a marvel. But more importantly – they are raw and awake and full of life. At the center of each one is the bright beating heart of what literature can be: Relevant, unusual, entertaining, fascinating, unique. These are not characters – and Drake’s is not a voice – that you can ignore or forget." Pauls Toutonghi, author of Dog Gone
About the Author
Monica Drake is the author of the award-winning indie novel Clown Girl, as well as The Stud Book. She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona and designed and launched the BFA in Writing at the Pacific Northwest College of Art where she currently is faculty. Her short stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Paris Review Daily, The Sun, Oregon Humanities Magazine, Northwest Review and other publications, in print, online and anthologized.