In The Box Called Pleasure [Paperback]

Kim Addonizio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 1999

In the Box Called Pleasure is the first collection of short-fiction by prize-winning poet, Kim Addonizio. These gutsy and post-feminist stories will elicit the shock of recognition from readers, especially women, and may reveal to men something about the dark edges of a woman's psyche. By turns graphic and funny, these urban tales present characters who are teetering on the edge. Indifferent or absent lovers, too much alcohol, too many cigarettes, obsession, paranoia, a desire that is always fresh in spite of the facts-this is the macabre landscape of these very unusual and unrestrained works. In "Reading Sontag," Addonizio invades and recasts Susan Sontag's essay "The Pornographic Imagination" while describing a monumentally failed relationship. In "The Gift," a woman finds a dildo on the street and is magically transformed into a man. From the looming darkness of "The Fall of Saigon" to the meticulously realized phantasmagoria of "A Brief History of Condoms," Addonizio's imagination takes us where contemporary American writing rarely ventures. This book is the unique product of a poet with a gift for formal bravado, uncanny incident, and a strange but very human pathos. Her fictions prepare us for the real millennium.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eroticism fraught with danger, violence and a fragile redemptive possibility infuses poet Addonizio's (The Philosopher's Club) collection of short fiction. In 22 stories, slim hopes for sexual satisfaction and true love are overshadowed by the troubled pasts and messy entanglements that plague the characters' lives. Women seem to bear the brunt of their lovers' (and their own) addictions, loneliness, rage and obsessions, and even while many of these female characters are defined by an undeniable "survivor" instinct, they also exhibit a na?vet? and a desperate hope that sex will save them. Sexpot bartender Angel in "The Fall of Saigon" betrays seething, lovelorn thief Dennis with a guy who rides a Harley, never knowing how close she has come to provoking a homicide. Similarly, Fran, the narrator of three linked tales, prefers Sasha's rough, sadistic lovemaking to Loren's gentle ways, and winds up losing both men. In "The Gift," a woman finds a realistic dildo on the street and takes it home. She falls asleep and awakens transformed into a man feeling the raging lust of her new appendage, but she quickly discovers that enhanced power comes with unbearable vulnerability. Other tales feature two men dying of AIDS, a young mother unable to cope with her daughter, and myriad couplings involving liquor, hotel rooms and cruelty. While the characters' problems are varied (alcoholism, sexual obsessions and abuse, drug addiction, masochism, loneliness) their voices are disconcertingly similar. Addonizio's phrasing is provocative, and her settings range from seedy bars to surreal psychological escapes. She aptly susses her characters' paradoxical sexualities and passions: "I realize I've lived by definitions; now there aren't any and it's impossible to function." In the end, however, their erotic rewards seem barely worth the struggle. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The women in award-winning poet Kim Addonizio's debut story collection are all pining for sex. Some yearn for s/m, bondage and discipline, or other, less choreographed acts of erotic menace. Others long for men who have proven to be unmemorable, even execrable lays. [...] Addonizio braves Mary Gaitskill's stomping ground, sketching portraits of troubled women who mistake a semblance of sexual chemistry for love and pay a dear price for their error in judgment. [...] In "Have You Seen Me?," one of the more poignant and thoughtful pieces, a divorced community college teacher gets drunk with one of her male students, only to be cruelly rebuffed after making a pass at him. "Scores" is the second of three interconnecting stories about Fran, a rape and incest survivor involved in an obsessive s/m affair with her boyfriend's best friend. When her lover breaks off their liaison, he hurts Fran further by tattling to her live-in boyfriend, leaving her with nothing but the apartment [...] Addonizio raises the stakes with more experimental works, like "The Gift," [...] and "A Brief History of Condoms," [...] Addonizio is a talented writer, sure to go places [...] -- The Village Voice, Kera Bolonik, November 10 - 16, 1999

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Fiction Collective 2; 1st edition (October 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573660817
• ISBN-13: 978-1573660815
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #719,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kim Addonizio is a fiction writer, poet, and teacher. Her poetry collections include Tell Me, a finalist for the National Book Award, What Is This Thing Called Love, and Lucifer at the Starlite. She lives in Oakland, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Addonizio's fiction collection is good, May 18, 2002

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In The Box Called Pleasure (Paperback)

Kim Addonizio is known for her poetry, which is raw in emotion, sensual, and sexual. This collection of 22 stories, her first collection, very much fits in her literary world. None of the stories are very long, in fact a few would be termed 'flash-fiction', but all are well-written and deal with sex to some degree or another, though none are graphic enough to call these stories pornographic. The stories that stick out the most are those that deal with troubled women and their self-destructiveness (which I suppose is just about every story). But before you assume that all is grim, there are stories (such as "A Brief History of Condoms") that successfully use humor. Might even make you laugh out loud. I am a huge fan of Addonizio's poetry, so it makes me happy to say that as a fiction writer she is pretty good. I look forward to reading more stories (and novels if she chooses to write them) from her.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars K. Addonizio is HOT!!, June 30, 2005

By 

Dicky G "infantryman" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In The Box Called Pleasure (Paperback)

Edgy, sexy, imaginative, sometimes fun, her fiction is difficult to put down.
I was familiar with her poetry. Surely I'll be looking for more of her prose also.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely book, February 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In The Box Called Pleasure (Paperback)

This book is so powerful -- edgy and sensual simultaneously. She's as much of a stylist in fiction as she is in poetry. I love these stories -- they made me feel; they made me think; they made me laugh. Definitely -- if you love quality fiction -- buy this book.