A breathtaking debut, The Star Cafe heralds "an utterly original artist, already writing with something like mastery".--Robert Kelly.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Though uneven, this collection of three short stories and a novella nonetheless marks the arrival of a gifted writer. In the stories, which have appeared previously in a small press edition and in literary magazines, the author's ambition overmatches her craft: "Tales from the Next Village," cast as a delicate Chinese fable, is ultimately jejune and Western in its effects; the title story concerns the elaborate, tiresome seduction of a college girl by what seems to be her own over-heated imagination; and "Materia Prima" is a coming-of-age melodrama made arch by stage directions and stilted dialogue. However, the previously unpublished novella, "Sebastian," is a sharply focused psychological portrait of a self-possessed Englishman who, during the course of a day bedeviled by mishap, sees his life lurch toward chaos. The author convincingly renders the artsy concerns of both Sebastian and his mate, Sarah, without diminishing the reader's affection for them. The inventive wordplay that conveys the glib side of the characters' relationship gains in resonance as the story unfolds, and suggests the key to understanding the novella's quirky, fictional world.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enchanting,
By
This review is from: Star Cafe and Other Stories (Paperback)
I first read this wonderful collection maybe 5 years ago, and I still quote from it in conversation with friends. Caponegro has drawn such wonderfully immediate characters who inhabit a space of mind that resonates in dreamtime. A book to be experienced and savored. You will never be able to think of Jaguars (the car) quite the same way again!
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful piece of work,
This review is from: Star Cafe and Other Stories (Paperback)
I was exposed to Ms. Caponegro's work thanks to the wonderful book, "You've Got To Read This!", where writers share stories by other writers that inspired or moved them. The Star Cafe is a dazzling display of human mental interplay and inner mental workings. I greatly enjoyed it.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fiction of Irrealism,
By
This review is from: The Star Cafe (Paperback)
Caponegro's book contains a nice mixture of real and unreal, or perhaps 'irreal.' Especially effective are the title story and 'Sebastian.' Humorous and thoughtful: one of the best new voices in literature. (And this isn't just because she taught me in college...)
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Makes Me Think Of
Laura Riding, if she were a dude.
Published on January 24, 2003
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
THIS CIRCULAR GARLAND IS AS VISible, as subtle, as a ring around a planet, but you must develop the telescope within yourself, your own inner eye, to see the beauty of the chain it makes, its variegated texture of feather, skin, fur, slimy or smooth, wrapped tight to turn the earth with a motion too slow to measure on your most sophisticated instrument, not even eternity's second hand Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fan Tui T'a, Sea Bass, Mont Blanc New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THIS CIRCULAR GARLAND IS AS VISible, as subtle, as a ring around a planet, but you must develop the telescope within yourself, your own inner eye, to see the beauty of the chain it makes, its variegated texture of feather, skin, fur, slimy or smooth, wrapped tight to turn the earth with a motion too slow to measure on your most sophisticated instrument, not even eternity's second hand Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fan Tui T'a, Sea Bass, Mont Blanc New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 18
books:
See all 18 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- My First Loves by Ivan Klima in Front Matter
- Good Morning by Henry Ford in Front Matter
- The Voice of America: Stories by Rick Demarinis in Front Matter
- The Fisher King: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) by Anthony Powell in Front Matter
- Lovers And Tyrants by Francine du Plessix Gray in Front Matter
See all 18 books this book cites
- Gargoyle 41 (No.41) by Richard Peabody in Back Matter
- The Miracle Game by Josef Skvorecky in Front Matter
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