This Is Not Your City [Paperback]

Caitlin Horrocks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2011

Best Books of 2011, San Francisco Chronicle
The Millions' A Year in Reading pick

Eleven women confront dramas both everyday and outlandish in Caitlin Horrocks' This Is Not Your City. In stories as darkly comic as they are unflinching, people isolated by geography, emotion, or circumstance cut imperfect paths to peace—they have no other choice. A Russian mail-order bride in Finland is rendered silent by her dislocation and loss of language, the mother of a severely disabled boy writes him postcards he'll never read on a cruise ship held hostage by pirates, and an Iowa actuary wanders among the reincarnations of those she's known in her 127 lives. Horrocks' women find no simple escapes, and their acts of faith and acts of imagination in making do are as shrewd as they are surprising.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . .impressively sharp" and "appealingly rugged-hearted"
—Robin Romm, The New York Times

"Horrocks’s stories, many of which take place in frozen climates—from Finland to upstate Michigan, where she now lives—have the slightly muffled quality of a landscape beneath snow: Their emotional payoff comes gradually. I was moved to tears more than once reading this collection."
—Ruth Franklin, The New Republic

"This Is Not Your City offers much more than bold plotlines. These are delicate, character-driven stories whose distinct narrators demonstrate the hand of a remarkably versatile writer . . . Caitlin Horrocks is writing well beyond her years, not only raising our expectations of what a story can do but also setting a high standard for any debut fiction author."
—Wayne Harrison, San Francisco Chronicle

"In the 11 stories of her debut collection, Caitlin Horrocks shows inventiveness and linguistic dexterity. There are refreshing takes on old themes: childhood meanness, the effects of devastating illness, the desire for a better life, misunderstandings between parents and their children, looking for love in all the wrong places."
—Kathryn Lang, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"What many of the stories have in common is startlingly ingenious writing and a note of what could be called sprightly heartbreak. There is an offhand jauntiness in telling terrible things."
—Richard Eder, The Boston Globe

"Horrocks writes 11 accomplished short stories, each achingly observant and witty. . . . A bravura debut."
—Vikas Turakhia, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Plimpton Prize–winner Horrocks effortlessly navigates the comedy and bewilderment of being middle class without an ounce of condescension, martyrdom, or sensationalism. In “Going to Estonia,” a daughter of Lapland reindeer farmers escapes her fruitless future by attending university in southern Finland, while the American couple on a restorative vacation away from their handicapped son in “In the Gulf of Aden, Past the Cape of Guardafui” is held hostage by a crew of Somali pirates and forced to face their true feelings about the future. In “At the Zoo,” as a mother ponders her tenuous relationship to her father and his to her young son while on an afternoon outing to the zoo, Horrocks inhabits the child, mother, and grandfather with an even hand, rounding out each character’s fears and desires. Describing the blue-collar grandfather, she writes, “He is proud to not be vain, although he knows that is its own kind of vanity,” and the boy has a terrible realization: “He’d begged for the zoo, and the zoo is a terrible place.” It’s a standout story in a stellar collection, the perfect example of Horrocks’s ability to create an authentic and thoughtful narrative of honesty and hurt and hope."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This debut collection moves from the Midwest to Russia, Greece, Estonia, and a cruise ship off the coast of Africa. Most of the main characters are women, mostly young and naive, who find themselves in situations they can’t comprehend. Many, like the woman in the title story and another on vacation at a Greek seaside resort (“The Lion Gate”), have entered into a foreign culture or an unfamiliar situation, leading to misunderstanding, alienation, and a deepening sense of psychological confusion. The woman in the story “Embodied” has an absolute belief in her sense of reincarnation and in identifying past lives of others, which leads to a tragic occurrence. In “Zolaria,” a woman recalls her childhood and a close friendship with a neighbor who contracted cancer and died. VERDICT The author has a fine eye for detail in description and scene setting and moves the story lines along jaggedly so the reader is caught off guard and disoriented like the characters. Many of the stories are bleak, painfully and realistically detailing lives gone awry, to sometimes disturbing effect. Recommended for savvy fiction readers."
—Jim Coan, Library Journal

"Ultimately, what is so impressive about This Is Not Your City, in addition to the rare wisdom and precisely observed behavior, is the thematic unity on par with a great concept album, or a novel-in-stories. . . . As satisfying as each piece is by itself, they become more so amid layers of thematic connections. The author explores alienation and uncertainty with consistent nuance. The stories echo one another while moving forward into new territory, echoes that, in a different form, might sound more like repetition."
—J.T. Hill, Bookslut

"How can a first book arrive with such advanced understanding of all the beautiful and sometimes shaded echelons of hope in which we live our lives? Caitlin Horrocks is a stunning writer and these stories mark a brilliant debut. She knows language and she knows people and I am grateful for this book."
–Ron Carlson

"This is Not Your City is a spooky, lovely book by an almost unbelievably versatile, self-assured, and talented young writer. Caitlin Horrocks is a writer to remember; This is Not Your City is a book impossible to forget."
—Brock Clarke, author of Exley and An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England


"The world of This Is Not Your City is a place of graceful extremes. Ravenous for love, for connection, for family, characters race into one another's arms, only to find more sorrow and more joy than they had imagined possible. Humor and grief braid tightly through these searching stories, and Caitlin Horrocks' vision is always lovely, often wrenching, and always surprising."
—Erin McGraw

Caitlin Horrocks is that literary phenomenon: a master storyteller. This Is Not Your City is smart, entertaining, and emotionally mesmerizing—a superb, daredevil immersion steeped in grace.
—Melissa Pritchard, author of Disappearing Ingenue and Late Bloomer

About the Author

Caitlin Horrocks lives in Michigan, by way of Ohio, Arizona, England, Finland, and the Czech Republic. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2011, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009, The Pushcart Prize XXXV, The Paris Review, Tin House, and The Southern Review. Recently, she won the $10,000 Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review. She teaches at Grand Valley State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Sarabande Books; 1 edition (June 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932511911
• ISBN-13: 978-1932511918
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caitlin Horrocks lives in Michigan, by way of Ohio, Arizona, England, Finland, and the Czech Republic. Her stories have appeared in The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009, The Pushcart Prize XXXV, The Paris Review, Tin House, and The Southern Review. Recently, she won the $10,000 Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review. She teaches at Grand Valley State University.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful stories, powerfully told August 3, 2011

By N. B. Kennedy TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Typically, when I read in a review that the situations or plots an author has created are outlandish or outrageous, I turn the page. Not interested! Next!

But something in the The New York Times Book Review made me want to give these stories a chance. Was it mention of the story from the point of view of a woman who has been reincarnated 127 times? Or the couple who is being held hostage on their cruise ship by Somalian pirates? Maybe it was the middle-aged American woman who shacks up in Greece with an addled teen by the name of Tick? Or the Montessori teacher who forces an annoying student to touch a tumor on the belly of the classroom rat? These are the types of situations that normally have me running the other way. But... I happen to love short stories.

And, to my surprise, I found that these stories by Caitlin Horrocks are peopled by very un-outrageous people. Very normal people whose thoughts -- though perhaps not their actions -- are very normal. That's why I could hang my hat here. (Or, if not normal, so dryly amusing that you can't help but laugh: "Dear Joan," writes the wife of the couple held by pirates, "The trip has been amazing. We're currently being held hostage by pirates, but if you receive this, it means the situation's sorted itself out just fine.")

The women in these 11 stories are all living with cruelty, illness, harsh reality or simply diminished expectations. In addition, many of the narrators are of the classically unreliable type. Is that innocent midwestern actuary really in her 127th life? Or is she just crazy?

Ms. Horrocks is a fantastic writer whose stories linger in your mind long after you've closed the book. In this information-saturated world in which thoughts thread through our heads every millisecond or so, that's a powerful achievement.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars flawless, gorgeous. Jealous ;-( December 6, 2011

By traci foust

Format:Paperback

Horrock is one of those writers where my entire career is and will continue to be just one big moment of trying to catch up to these perfect stories. There are writers I read because I want to BE that writer. Caitlin Horrocks is one of them. She is brilliant, masterful and genuine. There is no way I can read this book without a highlighter so I can go back to these beautiful sentences when I need to be reminded about why I love words.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The apex of beautiful literature and thought-provoking entertainment August 3, 2011

By Greg Schumaker

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

'This Is Not Your City' is an amazing collection of short stories that are all wondrously unique and written in Horrocks's effortless, dreamy voice. Most importantly, all the stories are drenched with emotion, life, and humor. You might cry, you'll certainly laugh, and you'll definitely find yourself ruminating over these stories long after you've finished reading them.