The Temporary Life [Paperback]

Eric Wasserman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2005

In this stunning collection, Eric Wasserman's beautifully crafted stories chart the experiences of charcters who, in various ways, must come to terms with the less-than-perfect realities of their lives. He writes with a rare mixture of ironic wit and compassionate perception, and the result is both captivating and luminous. --Frederick Reiken

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Wasserman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, where he earned his BA from Lewis & Clark College. He earned his MFA from Emerson College and now lives in Los Angeles where he is working on a novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: La Questa Pr (March 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964434857
• ISBN-13: 978-0964434851
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,003,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised amongst the puddles of Portland, Oregon, Eric Wasserman has traveled widely and has lived in many places near oceans and seas, including the great city of Los Angeles. An eternal West Coaster at heart, he is now permanently self-exiled to the beautifully landlocked Midwest. He is the author of a collection of short stories, The Temporary Life, and his fiction has won the David Dornstein Memorial Creative Writing Contest as well as the Červená Barva Press Fiction Chapbook Prize. He is an Assistant Professor of English at The University of Akron, where he is the founder and faculty advisor for Rubbertop Review: An Annual Journal of The University of Akron and Greater Ohio. He is also on the faculty of the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing (NEOMFA). A member of the Board of Trustees for Akron Film, he lives in Akron, Ohio with his amazing wife, Thea, their three cats, and a lovable and loyal, although regrettably stubborn and willful St. Bernard mix dog named Jor-El. Celluloid Strangers is his first novel. Learn more about him at www.ericwasserman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly vivid and engaging collection of short stories. A MUST read., February 26, 2006

By 

Jen G. (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Temporary Life (Paperback)

The Temporary Life draws you in and captures your attention right from the first page. After receiving this collection of short stories recommended to me by a colleague, I read the book cover to cover; it was not easy to put down. As a reader, I felt rewarded by Wasserman's extraordinary ability to illustrate the various dimensions of his character's personalities and the intricacies that exist within their relationships. This book took me on a journey through the characters' trials and triumphs within a multitude of diverse contexts. Pick this book up for a great read! I'll be keeping my eye out for the upcoming novel.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Temporary Life - You Need It On Your Bookshelf, March 23, 2005

By 

A.T. Wood "A.T. Wood" (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Temporary Life (Paperback)

Eric Wasserman is one of my favorite authors. I had the opportunity to write with him in a fiction workshop at Emerson College in Boston and the privilege to read some of these stories in their early stages. What he's done with this collection is amazing. You'll be overwelmed by his mature voice and insightful point-of-view (he's only 30) found in his characters. "Reunion" is my personal favorite, the tale of a couple coming back together in the years following their son's tragic death of bone marrow cancer. "Next Year in Kona" develops a wonderful and sad character of Gabe Allen who re-enters the world of his very Jewish family when he attends his nephew's bar mitzvah in Los Angeles. "He's No Sandy Koufax" and the final story that lends its name to the collection, "The Temporary Life" are both worthy of being published in such publications as Ploughshares, The New Yorker, or The Atlantic Monthly. Wasserman is an American writer who we will hear from in the future, most likely as a successful novelist. If you like Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Joyce as well as contemporary writers like Tim O'Brien, Jonathon Franzen, or Nick Hornby, you'll find shades of those prose writers in his work. This collection is a winner, some of the most interesting prose I've read in recent years.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING WORK! THIS IS A MUST BUY!!!, March 23, 2005

By 

Daniel Paletz "BOOK FAN" (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Temporary Life (Paperback)

The stories breathe life into fiction like never before. You feel the characters anticipation, anguish and mundane sense of reality. Wasserman is able to take a simple person and make them into a complex living breathing being. This is a real achievement for a new author. This collection will hopefully breathe life into this young writer's future. If you are thinking about buying this book...stop thinking and just purchase it!