A Circle Is a Balloon and a Compass Both: Stories About Human Love [Hardcover]

Ben Greenman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2007

From the author of Superbad and Superworse, a new collection of stories about giving, wanting, and the wonders of love. A Circle Is a Compass and a Balloon Both is a collection of stories about love, the most elusive and problematic of all phenomena. With a mix of traditional, literary prose and bold some might even say irresponsible experimentation, Ben Greenman explores the ins and outs of modern romance. Expect tears, nudity, and recrimination. Both familiar in their humanness and wholly original, these imaginative stories take us all over the map in time, place, and circumstance. From the halfhearted summer affair between a part-time bartender and a married doctor in a Miami hotel to the cryptic pseudo-erotic love letters to a friend who is more than a friend, we experience the love of pop songs, the love of cohabitation in Chicago, and love that is so transporting it takes us to the moon literally.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Like Green Day did for punk rock and 'The Matrix' for kung-fu flicks, this new collection from New Yorker editor Greenman could well become an advocate for the short story with those who haven't been interested in the form. Amusing, palatable and featuring some safe innovations, it's precisely the sort of thing that can gain a new audience for a genre." --Time Out Chicago

"Wildly inventive, sometimes surreal, but tenderly told, these stories give a glimpse of what Phillip K. Dick might have written if he'd allowed himself a sincere broken heart." --Paste Magazine

"...love in all its complexities, disappointments and reversals... memorable." --Chicago Tribune

"Wildly inventive, sometimes surreal, but tenderly told, these stories give a glimpse of what Phillip K. Dick might have written if he'd allowed himself a sincere broken heart." --Paste Magazine

"...love in all its complexities, disappointments and reversals... memorable." --Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Ben Greenman is an editor at The New Yorker. His short fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, Zoetrope: All Story, McSweeney s, Opium Magazine, the Mississippi Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (April 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596922079
• ISBN-13: 978-1596922075
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,717,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ben Greenman is an editor at The New Yorker and the author of the underground indie hits Please Step Back, Superbad, and A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both. His short fiction and music criticism has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Paris Review, and he writes a regular comedy column for McSweeney's. He lives in Brooklyn.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and brilliant, April 16, 2007

By 

Elyse Littenberg (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Circle Is a Balloon and a Compass Both: Stories About Human Love (Hardcover)

Once again Ben Greenman shows his wit and exposes his sensitivity. What a pleasure to read his new works. I long for his next book. Perhaps he will suprise us with a novel.