Amazon.com: Paper Products (9780685463543): James W. Hall: Books

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1990

These are tales of people cursed and blessed by their powers and engaged in mythic struggles with the mundane realities of life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } These are tales of people cursed and blessed by their powers and engaged in mythic struggles with the mundane realities of life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Hall's novels ( Tropical Freeze ) and poetry ( False Statements ) will have mixed reactions to the stories in this uneven collection. Writing for the most part about the alienated--teenagers, writers, drifters, an aged widow--Hall displays a light, sure touch with characterization that preserves idiosyncrasy while stopping short of caricature. The best tales are about adolescent boys. In "Survival Week" 17-year-old Connors spends the ritual final week of his last summer at camp not by himself in the woods but with another camper and a family that includes two teenaged girls. "Miami Beach, Kentucky" tells of a boy's conflicts with a powerful father, a mayor who wants to change his town's name from Sinking Fork to Miami Beach, and a mother who is principal of the boy's high school. More heavy-handed (and bitter) are the stories about poets. In "The Electric Poet" the eponymous hero colludes with the Famous Director of the Famous Writers Conference; "Poetic Devices" is told by a naive emigre poet. Though evocative of place, these works don't reflect the power evident in Hall's novels.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.