The Complete Stories (Vintage International) [Paperback]

David Malouf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2008 | Series: Vintage International

In this stunning collection, internationally acclaimed writer David Malouf gives us bookish boys and taciturn men, strong women and wayward sons, fathers and daughters, lovers and husbands, a composer and his muse. These are their stories, whole lives brought dramatically into focus and powerfully rooted in the vividly rendered landscape of the vast Australian continent. Malouf writes about men and women looking for something they seem to have missed, or missed out on, puzzling over not only their own lives but also the place they have come to occupy in the lives of others. This single volume gathers both a new collection of Malouf's short fiction, Every Move You Make, and all of his previously published stories.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Malouf, who won the Commonwealth Prize for his novel The Great World, is a master storyteller whose imagination inhabits shocking violence, quick humor, appealing warmth and harsh cruelty with equal intensity. Three previous collections (Dream Stuff, etc.) and a section of new work comprise this engrossing compilation of the Australian writer's shorter work. Several stories are rooted in that continent's hardscrabble interior and coastal enclaves; others are set in Australia's past. The youthful dreams, physical desires and psychic despair of Malouf's richly varied characters, however, are wholly universal. Older standouts include The Prowler, about suburban hysteria in the wake of an omnipresent rapist's ability to evade capture, and Lone Pine, among the collection's shortest stories but packing a horrific punch, in which a carefree holiday couple is murdered by a crazed young man. New stories include The Valley of Lagoons, about a young man's searing coming-of-age when he's allowed to join his peers on a tradition-rich hunt, and Elsewhere, which follows a sad rural father who ventures from the country to Sydney for his estranged daughter's funeral. Readers won't want to skim a single page of the 31 stories in this epic collection, a few of which are novella length. Together, they represent a quarter-century of a formidable craftsman's career.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

A "complete stories" volume is an honor, which this Australian writer well deserves. Malouf's contribution to the short story form has been significant and not simply an incidental exercise to his work in the novel form (which was also done exceptionally well). Born in 1934, he often uses his Australian background as a boy growing up during and after World War II, with a father off to war, as material for his stories. His rich, precise style is a carryover from his early career as a poet. Readers will find him a traditional—old-fashioned, if you will—short story writer, in that his stories are not simply brief glimpses of characters embedded in their peculiar circumstances but, instead, more developed pictures of the how's and why's of those particular circumstances. That is not to say Malouf lacks creativity in form and structure; in fact, he treats the spacial proscriptions of the form as a challenge to find the best way to elucidate his exploration of character. His insight into psychology is acute and expressed in beautiful metaphors. This compilation is to be savored over time. Hooper, Brad --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307386031
• ISBN-13: 978-0307386038
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,382,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yes, a master writer, but often just plain boring., December 28, 2008

By 

Patrick Alexander (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Stories (Hardcover)

There's an assurance to Malouf's writing. He knows he's good. It's not in question. He knows he's got profound insight into the human condition. Also not in question. There's so much to applaud about this great Australian writer, but the assurance means the writing also lacks the desperation to impel a story along, or the hunger that could give it a cutting edge. He's the kind of writer that knows how to produce flawless pieces, but doesn't know when he's being boring. As an Australian I love his Australianess, and for those of you wanting to know more about this paradise down here (I'm being only half ironic) there's no place better to go. I just wish 'he' didn't think he was so good. Read his Novella 'An Imaginary Life', if you want to see him at his best. A masterpiece, pure and simple. These stories just make me want to read that again.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So moving only read one at a time, January 17, 2008

By 

K. Dwyer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Stories (Hardcover)

Malouf's stories are so quietly intense you can be breathless at any ending. Savor each with a long pause in between. I used the library but need my own copy!