Flying Leap [Hardcover]

Judy Budnitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998

Twenty-three stories introduce a startling, shimmering new voice in fiction. From a man persuaded to donate his own heart to his dying mother to the arc of a love affair conducted solely on a park bench to a brief history of women in the form of a fashion catalog, these stories provide short, sharp shocks as provocative as they are entertaining.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Budnitz's debut collection drops the reader onto familiar terrain and then twists the expected like a fun-house mirror. Whether set in a hospital waiting room, in a strange new city, or around a family dinner table, the 23 stories radiate with hidden truths and unanticipated revelations. In "Train," for example, we are made privy to the lives of several people on a crowded New York City subway. "We're sitting in a car full of stories," the 26-year-old-Budnitz writes, and one after another, we marvel as snippets of everyday life are explicated and pondered. "Herschel" takes us back, way back, to the "Old Country" and a time when an aged bread maker molded babies out of dough. "Yellville" places Russell, a teenager from rural Arkansas, into a middle-class family who have no idea how to deal with someone from the lower strata. Both humorous and politically pointed, these often surreal stories are explicitly feminist and pro-working class. A yearning for human connection and a reverence for the offbeat makes them both entertaining and touching. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Eleanor J. Bader, New Sch. for Social Research, New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The title is apt; this nimble debut collection of 23 stories takes a variety of chances, impressing by its audacity and originality. Budnitz, a Village Voice cartoonist whose fiction has appeared in literary quarterlies, seems a kind of homegrown surrealist, launching expeditions into strange terrain from such disarmingly mundane settings as back porches, hospital waiting rooms, and crowded city streets. ``Dog Days'' has to do with a man in a dog suit who takes up residence on the porch of a Middle American family, this after an unexplained disaster that has led to the gradual dissolution of society. In weird yet convincing fashion, the family--and particularly the young daughter--begin to treat the man, who offers a remarkable impersonation of a canine, as a dog. This leads to a ghastly ending when, pressed by hunger, the other members of the family suddenly realize that, in some parts of the world, people view dog as a delectable dish. ``Guilt'' offers a grimly funny take on family guilt, carrying filial neurosis to new levels of absurdity as a healthy young man is browbeaten by his two harridan aunts into donating his heart to his dying mother--having been assured by the doctors that he can live some time without one. In ``Directions,'' a variety of figures--a middle-aged couple going to the theater, a man who's been told that he has a fatal disease, a young woman apparently haunted by a collapsed affair, two tough- talking hustlers planning a score--get lost in the city and end up seeking guidance in a dusty shop where maps are sold and, apparently, the deity works behind the counter. Each of the characters gets the help he or she deserves. In ``Burned,'' a young couple are, quite literally, consumed by their passion. Throughout, Budnitz's wry, conversational tone is nicely leavened by precise lyrical passages. A good mix, overall, of the fantastic and mordantly funny. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Picador USA; 1st edition (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312180977
• ISBN-13: 978-0312180973
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars World Gone Weird (or was it always...), January 2, 1999

By 

Will Brennan (Salem, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flying Leap (Hardcover)

I saw Judy Budnitz do a reading at the Breadloaf writing conference this summer, (she read 'Skin Care' from Flying Leap) and I was pretty knocked out. Then I bought the book when I got back, and I'm just stunned. 'Yellville' is as amazing a story as I could imagine. (if I only could have imagined it) These stories are unlike almost anything else I've read by a contemporary writer - their startling invention, the sly depth of their wisdom, the humor and playfulness, the dead on dissection of the diseased body of society - yet for the caustic and sometimes grim wit, there's plenty of room for redemption - they're grounded in a firm sense of humanity. And man oh man, I can't remember laughing so much reading a book, and laughing so well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unusual and Interesting, January 10, 2000

By 

Megan (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flying Leap: Stories (Paperback)

I think that the stories in Flying Leap are very interesting. Some may think they are a bit twisted but I think being a teenager I can relate to some of the stories. Budnitz is a very good writer and I think her stories definitly have deeper meaning than what is written, I think of it as poetry rather than a book. I look forward to the next one!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her stories are gems!, October 20, 1999

By 

Angie You - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flying Leap: Stories (Paperback)

Judy's stories are creative and clever in unexpected ways. I had to pace myself so I wouldn't finish the book too fast, each story was a treat that I looked forward to reading. Some of the stories are truly astonishing and disturbing. There is a wicked streak in stories like the cheerleader story and the first story was one of my favorites. It's definitely a book of stories you'll want to read again.