Synopses & Reviews
In this dazzling collection of short fiction, the National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of The History of Love — "one of America's most important novelists and an international literary sensation" (New York Times) — explores what it means to be in a couple, and to be a man and a woman in that perplexing relationship and beyond.
In
one of her strongest works of fiction yet, Nicole Krauss plunges
fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and
what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed
from the very beginning of time. Set in our contemporary moment, and
moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to
Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man
feature male characters as fathers, lovers, friends, children,
seducers, and even a lost husband who may never have been a husband at
all.
The way these stories mirror one other and resonate is beautiful,
with a balance so finely tuned that the book almost feels like a novel.
Echoes ring through stages of life: aging parents and new-born babies;
young women's coming of age and the newfound, somewhat bewildering
sexual power that accompanies it; generational gaps and unexpected
deliveries of strange new leases on life; mystery and wonder at a life
lived or a future waiting to unfold.
To Be a Man illuminates
with a fierce, unwavering light the forces driving human existence: sex,
power, violence, passion, self-discovery, growing older. Profound,
poignant, and brilliant, Krauss's stories are at once startling and
deeply moving, but always revealing of all-too-human weakness and
strength.
Review
"This collection of stories
from Krauss is a wonder, with the author's signature straddling of the
tragic and the absurd, her particularly Jewish frame of reference, and
the extraordinary range of her narrative voice." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
"In a first collection,
National Book Award finalist Krauss uses superbly controlled language to
investigate how we become who we are....Small gems, large ideas, highly
recommended." Library Journal (Starred Review)
Review
"What defines a life
well-lived?...Krauss winningly explores these and other weighty issues
in a home run of a short story collection....Above all, these stories pay
homage to strong women." Booklist (Starred Review)
Synopsis
"A superb collection...Krauss's depictions of the nuances of sex and love, intimacy and dependence, call to mind the work of Natalia Ginzburg in their psychological profundity, their intellectual rigor...Krauss's stories capture characters at moments in their lives when they're hungry for experience and open to possibilities, and that openness extends to the stories themselves: narratives too urgent and alive for neat plotlines, simplistic resolutions or easy answers." (New York Times Book Review)
"From a contemporary master, an astounding collection of ten globetrotting stories, each one a powerful dissection of the thorny connections between men and women...Each story is masterfully crafted and deeply contemplative, barreling toward a shimmering, inevitable conclusion, proving once again that Krauss is one of our most formidable talents in fiction." (Esquire)
In one of her strongest works of fiction yet, Nicole Krauss plunges fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed from the very beginning of time. Set in our contemporary moment, and moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man feature male characters as fathers, lovers, friends, children, seducers, and even a lost husband who may never have been a husband at all.
The way these stories mirror one other and resonate is beautiful, with a balance so finely tuned that the book almost feels like a novel. Echoes ring through stages of life: aging parents and new-born babies; young women's coming of age and the newfound, somewhat bewildering sexual power that accompanies it; generational gaps and unexpected deliveries of strange new leases on life; mystery and wonder at a life lived or a future waiting to unfold. To Be a Man illuminates with a fierce, unwavering light the forces driving human existence: sex, power, violence, passion, self-discovery, growing older. Profound, poignant, and brilliant, Krauss's stories are at once startling and deeply moving, but always revealing of all-too-human weakness and strength.
Synopsis
O, The Oprah Magazine's 20 Best Titles of the Year
Time Magazine's 100 Books to Read in 2020
Financial Times' Best Books of 2020
Esquire's Best Books of 2020
Lit Hub's Best Books of 2020
Bustle's Best Short Story Collections of 2020
Electric Literature's Favorite Short Story Collections of 2020
Library Journal's Best Short Stories of 2020
Brooklyn Based Best Books of 2020
Avenue Books to Read Before the End of 2020
"Superb. . . . Krauss's depictions of the nuances of sex and love, intimacy and dependence, call to mind the work of Natalia Ginzburg in their psychological profundity, their intellectual rigor. . . . Krauss's stories capture characters at moments in their lives when they're hungry for experience and open to possibilities, and that openness extends to the stories themselves: narratives too urgent and alive for neat plotlines, simplistic resolutions or easy answers." --Molly Antopol, New York Times Book Review
"From a contemporary master, an astounding collection of ten globetrotting stories, each one a powerful dissection of the thorny connections between men and women. . . . Each story is masterfully crafted and deeply contemplative, barreling toward a shimmering, inevitable conclusion, proving once again that Krauss is one of our most formidable talents in fiction." --Esquire
In one of her strongest works of fiction yet, Nicole Krauss plunges fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed from the very beginning of time. Set in our contemporary moment, and moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man feature male characters as fathers, lovers, friends, children, seducers, and even a lost husband who may never have been a husband at all.
The way these stories mirror one other and resonate is beautiful, with a balance so finely tuned that the book almost feels like a novel. Echoes ring through stages of life: aging parents and new-born babies; young women's coming of age and the newfound, somewhat bewildering sexual power that accompanies it; generational gaps and unexpected deliveries of strange new leases on life; mystery and wonder at a life lived or a future waiting to unfold. To Be a Man illuminates with a fierce, unwavering light the forces driving human existence: sex, power, violence, passion, self-discovery, growing older. Profound, poignant, and brilliant, Krauss's stories are at once startling and deeply moving, but always revealing of all-too-human weakness and strength.
About the Author
Nicole Krauss is the author of the novels Forest Dark, Great House, The History of Love, and Man Walks Into a Room. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, and The Best American Short Stories,
and her books have been translated into more than thirty-five
languages. She is currently the inaugural writer-in-residence at
Columbia University's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Institute. She lives in
Brooklyn, New York.