These 11 arresting, comic, and moving stories by Parker testify to the driving force of love, the lengths to which people will go to claim it and pursue it, the delusions they will float to keep it going, the torment that goes part and parcel with it, and despite all of the above, the absolute necessity of it.
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PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
These 11 arresting, comic, and moving stories by Parker testify to the driving force of love, the lengths to which people will go to claim it and pursue it, the delusions they will float to keep it going, the torment that goes part and parcel with it, and despite all of the above, the absolute necessity of it.
Description
These eleven arresting, comic, and moving stories by acclaimed writer Michael Parker testify to the driving force of love, the lengths to which we ll go to claim it and pursue it, the delusions we ll float to keep it going, the torment that goes part and parcel with it. And despite all of the above, the absolute necessity of it, no matter its consequences. Whether it s a college student undone by the boy who leaves her, or the boyfriend intent on leveling old scores from high school for his lover, or the husband who discovers in the grocery store the woman he should have been with all along, every character, no matter how off track, wants to believe in debt and credit and payback and making the messy world and the messy world of love turn out neatly.
Critic Reviews
“"What makes Mr. Parker so satisfying a writer: his bone-deep affection for his characters; his love of clear, crisp, pungent language; . . . his confidence in the possibility of redemption." -- "The New York Times Book Review"”
"In prose that is languid and mysterious . . . Parker writes descriptions as precise as line engravings, more revealing than recordings or photographs." --The Washington Post
About the Author
The author of seven novels and three collections of stories, Michael Parker has been awarded four career-achievement awards: the Hobson Award for Arts and Letters, the North Carolina Award for Literature, the R. Hunt Parker Award, and the 2020 Thomas Wolfe Prize. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Oxford American, Runner s World, Men's Journal, and others. He is a three-time winner of the O. Henry Prize for his short fiction and his work has appeared in dozens of magazines and several anthologies. He taught for twenty-seven years in the MFA Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and since 2009 he has been on the faculty of the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Back Cover
In these funny, heartbreaking, and frighteningly perceptive stories, Michael Parker shows us, for better or worse, the mechanics of the male mind. The men here--no matter how culpable, deceptive, idealistic, dangerous, flirtatious, gullible, undecided, obsessed, callous, or illogically logical--trust in the power of love and in the women who reel them in or do their best to leave them behind.
These eleven arresting, comic, and moving stories by acclaimed writer Michael Parker testify to the driving force of love, the lengths to which we'll go to claim it and pursue it, the delusions we'll float to keep it going, the torment that goes part and parcel with it. And despite all of the above, the absolute necessity of it, no matter its consequences. Whether it's a college student undone by the boy who leaves her, or the boyfriend intent on leveling old scores from high school for his lover, or the husband who discovers--in the grocery store--the woman he should have been with all along, every character, no matter how off track, wants to believe in debt and credit and payback and making the messy world--and the messy world of love--turn out neatly.
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