From “an eerily original, powerfully moving distinctive voice” (Time Out) comes a collection of funny, disturbing suburban tales that invite comparisons to Raymond Carver and Flannery O’Connor. Winner of Canada’s Governor-General’s Literary Award.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Erudite yet immediate, the dozen stories that make up this collection from Canadian writer Greg Hollingshead are set in the familiar urban and suburban worlds of everyday life. With a deceptively simple prose, a sharp ear for dialogue and the telling moments of existence, and a skewed sense of humor, Hollingshead peels back the surface to reveal the psychological terrors and injuries that inform his characters. The Roaring Girl, the author's first book to be published in the United States, was a bestseller in Canada, where it won the prestigious Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 1995, putting him in the company of Canadian writers such as Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The stories in Canadian writer Hollingshead's (Spin Dry, Mosaic, 1992) collection are all delightful, shimmering jewels whose easy, natural pacing; syncopated rhythm; quirkiness; and slightly absurdist qualities will make readers savor them immensely. Reading them is a little like sailing down a dangerous river on a tiny raft; suddenly, you find yourself in white water looking for refuge. In "The People of the Sudan," for instance, a couple who agree to transport a huge box intended for relief find out that they have accidentally stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone. The hapless Alex, who has rented a cottage on a grand estate in "Rose Cottage," is thrown out into the cold when he tries to stop Nurse Cheam from physically abusing Lady Cooper, her charge and owner of the estate. But even when bad things happen to innocent folks, they have the uncanny ability to rise above it all with a homespun philosophy that is mercifully lacking in New Age mumbo-jumbo. Truly worth buying.?Lisa S. Nussbaum, Euclid P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great read!,
By
This review is from: The Roaring Girl: Stories (Paperback)
Hollingshead has a hand of mixing different levels of weirdness together in a way that fascinate me but are even to an extent retraceable. Notice for instance how the protagonist of one of the short stories is under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms and then tries to leave his front door. This scene is brilliantly described. These different levels of weirdness create a very strong atmosphere that is defining the unfolding story. I very much liked the mood of the gas station in "The Roaring Girl" or the strange people who come and show some slides to the protagonist family. Hollingshead is almost unique - the only other writer, and also a short story writer at that, is Rick Bass ("The Watch").
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Surprise Blast!,
By futuret@teleport.com (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Roaring Girl: Stories (Paperback)
Greg Hollingshead writes with the same measured and crafty precision of Raymond Carver, but with a great blindsiding sense of humour that is patently Canadian. The first two stories especially blew me away and had me laughing out loud because they were so good. Get on the bandwagon for Hollingshead now. He's a good one.
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