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Sto caricando le informazioni... Tales of Falling and Flyingdi Ben Loory
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Fun to read - an original voice. ( ) These tales or fables read like minimalist Beckett, if Beckett had been taught how to write by Aesop, Isak Dinesen, and someone with the faith in humanity of Dickens. They are puzzling, wise, always clever, and often just plain funny, but they all make you think. Great sophomore outing. Revised from 4 to 5 stars because I keep thinking about them. I am glad you are not a Tolstoy Mr. Loory, because the readers’ world needs a “Ben Loory” as well. Every story in this book stretches the mind’s limits and shocks you without disturbing your soul. I feel lucky to read a book like this in my life time and recommend it to anyone who is into authentic entertainment. Raymond Carver put me off short fiction for many years. A short story never engages me emotionally the way a novel does, plus I found Carver’s work, in particular, rather dry, oblique and difficult to interpret. But in recent years a new brand of short fiction has risen to popularity, best exemplified by the work of Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners), Karen Russell (St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves) and Aimee Bender (Willful Creatures). This stuff is eccentric, surreal and whimsical. And, just like that, I am now a fan of short fiction. Ben Loory’s fiction definitely falls squarely into that category, so if you’re turned off by all things quirky, this is not for you. The stories in Tales of Falling and Flying are mostly very short and easy to read. Many of his characters (both human and animal) are strivers and dreamers. Some succeed while other fail spectacularly. Thus the title. But there’s also a fair amount of literal flying and falling as well. A personal favorite, “The Squid Who Fell in Love with the Sun,” is about a squid who, inspired by his love for the sun and his desire to be with her, reaches Leonardo DaVinci/Nikola Tesla heights of invention in his quest to achieve his goal. Ultimately, like Icarus, his success is also his downfall. In “The Fall” a man who sees a woman fall from a cliff and reports it to a policeman, only to find that he imagined the entire thing. Or did he? “Toward Earth” opens with a woman falling from a plane, only to discover that she has the ability to fly (and that skeptical geese can talk). There’s also a couple who just barely survives a zombie apocalypse, a girl with a dragon for an imaginary friend, a man who eats rocks, an epidemic of homicidal giant spiders, a monster in the closet and an overworked Grim Reaper. This is a varied and hugely entertaining book. On the surface, the stories are mostly humorous, but there’s also a certain pathos that gives them extra depth. I actually read quite a few of them twice too look for clues to their meaning. This is a very entertaining read. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
"Mesmerizing and magical. . . . A stunning book." --NPR.org "Short stories so imaginative -- and yet so perplexingly familiar -- they could have formed in a dream. . . . Taut, meticulously balanced and written in Loory's direct, witty prose, his own stories take a page from Aesop: high-flying tales nonetheless boiled down to the essentials." --The Los Angeles Times "Ben Loory's stories are little gifts, strange and moving and wonderfully human. I devoured this book in one sitting." --Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children A dazzling new collection of stories from the critically acclaimed author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for The Day Ben Loory returns with a second collection of timeless tales, inviting us to enter his worlds of whimsical fantasy, deep empathy, and playful humor, in the signature voice that drew readers to his highly praised first collection. In stories that eschew literary realism, Loory's characters demonstrate richly imagined and surprising perspectives, whether they be dragons or swordsmen, star-crossed lovers or long-lost twins, restaurateurs dreaming of Paris or cephalopods fixated on space travel. In propulsive language that brilliantly showcases Loory's vast imagination, Tales of Falling and Flying expands our understanding of how fiction can work and is sure to cement his reputation as one of the most innovative short-story writers working today. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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