The Dog of the Marriage

A quietly powerful presence in American fiction in during the past two decades, these collected stories show the true scale of Hempel's achievement. Her compact fictions, populated by smart neurotic somewhat damaged narrators, speak grandly to the longings and insecurities in all of us, and in a voice that is bracingly direct and sneakily profound.

These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With her trademark compassion and wit, Hempel takes readers into the marriages, minor disasters and moments of revelation in an uneasy America.

“The toughest party of reading The Dog of the Marriage is how much your jaw muscles ache from the effort it takes not to laugh and cry in front of strangers. Amy Hempel is my god among writers' Chuck Palahniuk.”

Chuck Palahniuk
Her work is an exemplar of the truth that the short story can be the briefest of affairs, but it can stay in the mind forever - Glasgow Herald. Glasgow Herald
These are astonishing stories, hilarious and surprising and insightful... if there's a funnier, smarter or richer book published this year, I will eat my shoes - Guardian. Guardian
Reaffirms her impressive mastery of fiction … Hempel's wit, insight and crisp writing make her work consistently powerful' Observer. Observer

Born in Chicago in 1951, now living in New York, Amy Hempel has published her acclaimed and prize winning short stories in magazines such as Harpers and Vanity Fair. She is the author of four volumes of short stories, collected here.

Hempel's compact fictions, populated by smart, neurotic, somewhat damaged narrators, speak grandly to the longings and insecurities in all of us. With her trademark compassion and wit, she takes readers into marriages, minor disasters and moments of revelation in a voice that is bracingly direct and sneakily profound.

A quietly powerful presence in American fiction in during the past two decades, these collected stories show the true scale of Hempel's achievement. Her compact fictions, populated by smart neurotic somewhat damaged narrators, speak grandly to the longings and insecurities in all of us, and in a voice that is bracingly direct and sneakily profound.These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With her trademark compassion and wit, Hempel takes readers into the marriages, minor disasters and moments of revelation in an uneasy America.

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