These stories poke fun at college professors and religion, examine the complex mathematics of finding both love and the proverbial needle in a haystack, and deftly probe the boundary between imagination and reality. From a dying man who makes a blanket for himself from his favorite books to a young boy who discovers love in the unlikeliest form, the characters come wonderfully to life.
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DeMarco's 12 stories all feature memorable characters. For instance, a "too good," religiously raised boy mulls over Mary Ellen Bradford's promise that he may touch her breasts--as soon as they develop--but then a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher's sermon on sin (i.e., lust) reduces the boy to tears and sets him up for a tumultuous encounter with a looming presence. In another tale, his students condition boring Professor Niedelmeir into walking when and where they wish during his interminable lectures and even into removing his shirt. In yet another, widowed Mr. Allenby wakes substantially paralyzed from the neck down, a stroke victim longing for coffee and determined to pull himself into the bathroom and then to the kitchen to feed his cat; fueled by small victories, he drags himself to the den, where he covers his body with his favorite books in a final defiant yet acquiescent gesture in the face of mortality. DeMarco locates the universal in such tales of the particular. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startlingly Good,
This review is from: Lieutenant America and Miss Apple Pie (Paperback)
DeMarco writes with a delicate touch, a compassionate sense of humor, and a great sense of atmosphere. The places are real, the people complex and interesting, and the plotting full of surprises. At several times in reading this book I laughed out loud. There is much here to delight.
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