Ugliest House in the World [Paperback]

Peter Ho Davies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 1999

Ranging from the Welsh valleys to the Malaysian jungle, from Coventry to Natal, the eight stories in this original and elegant collection are filled with unlikely characters and striking juxtapositions. In one story two infamous American bandits herd ostriches in Patagonia, while in another, a self-styled John Wayne leads a band of local revolutionaries, the Silver Screen Platoon, in Southeast Asia. In England, a couple of unemployed men wait for Lady Godiva to appear and the pubs to open, while, on the other side of the world, a young Chinese man searches for underwater demons. Alongside a quirky, pointed humour, these pieces reveal a deep humanity. In the understated title story, the accidental death of a child forces a father and son to confront deeper questions of guilt and responsibility; in 'A Union', a prolonged strike at a Welsh slate quarry is the backdrop for an acutely sensitive portrayal of a marriage; and in 'I Don't Know, What Do You Think?', a man working for a crisis phone-line learns that redemption is far from simple. Peter Ho Davies' eccentric, heartbreaking stories of small lives affected by consequential events, herald the arrival of an engaging and powerful new voice in fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A debut collection of short fictions, ingenious, moving, and exasperating in turn. At his best, as in the title story about the way in which a child's death polarizes a Welsh village, Davies exhibits a sharp, unblinking, persuasive view of human nature, as well as a deft hand at plotting: The deceptively quiet tale, somewhat distanced in its effect by the rather prissy voice of the narrator, builds to a moving climax and a haunting final image. Davies often demonstrates an uncanny ability for suggesting the outlines of character in speech: The narrator of the story, a physician and the son of the man blamed for the child's accidental death, is very convincing precisely because he seems so wilfully insensitive to the events that he's describing. The reader has to work to puzzle out what really has happened, and the labor is well rewarded. ``A Union,'' a novella tracing the course of a strike in Welsh village in 1899, rings some unusual changes on a subject often reserved for melodramas. Davies is particularly good at catching the mingled affection and resentment shaping village life, and at suggesting the ways in which events can overtake even the most cannily arranged plans. Davies also has a clear affection for these characters, a quality not noticeable in some of the other stories, including the aggressively postmodern ``Relief'' and ``Safe.'' The first deals with the survivors of the battle of Rorke's Drift, in which a Welsh company repulsed the attack of a Zulu army in South Africa. It dwells largely on flatulence, in what is meant to be a send-up of colonial icons, but the irony falls rather flat. ``Safe,'' about the hapless adventures of an aging Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, has little new to suggest about the pair and seems rather wearily referential, more concerned with the duo as hazy icons than as actual characters. Still, overall, there's sufficient energy and originality here to suggest that Davies is a writer well worth watching. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The eight stories in this first collection from British-born Oregonian Davies promise to keep you on your toes. They start benignly, often comically, but inevitably there comes a moment when, with the briefest of phrases, Davies startles the reader with a sudden turn down some melancholy and treacherous path." (Publishers Weekly )

"Rarely have ordinary mortals been so affectionately portrayed as they stumble into the jaws of history and cultural collision. Davies is a writer to behold with real pleasure." - Gish Jen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Granta Books (December 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862073422
• ISBN-13: 978-1862073425
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,288,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tell me a story, March 4, 2001

By 

Martyn Richard Jones "Martyn Richard Jones" (Cordoba, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ugliest House in the World: Stories (Paperback)

********** 10 Stars

I loved to listen to short-stories as a child in Wales, well that's what I like to think, and this collection of beautifully sculpted, humoress and enchanting tales will keep you spellbound long enough to forget about everything else around you.

Peter Ho Davies has written a remarkable book which indicates a brilliant ability to observe, interpret and create images, ideas and stories.

regards,

Martyn R Jones

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent in variety and delightful in style, March 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ugliest House in the World: Stories (Paperback)

Davies' collection of short stories is a wonderful amalgam of short stories that are both memorable and unique. Although the subjects vary, from an elite officers' dinner party during the Boer War to a quarry workers' strike in Wales, Davies is consistent throughout with his insightfulness and a wonderful sense of humor. More specifically, the stories are not written in any atypical or outrageous manner; rather, Davies simply tells his stories in voices that are confident and direct, and each is perfectly suitable for the story he has to tell.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant, bracing debut, October 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ugliest House in the World: Stories (Hardcover)

To read this delightful collection of stories is like taking a balloon trip around the world with an acute spyglass to your eye; you see diverse moments in history and across cultures with tremendous specificity and clarity. But Davies' best accomplishment is the tenderness with which he presents his odd characters--the chinese painter pressganged by a group of violent communist buffoons, the striking Welsh miner who must choose between pride and love. Even a buttoned-up group of colonialist Brits striving to oppress the Zulu come in for their share of quiet sympathy--a story that begins by lampooning an officer's embarassment as he farts in the presence of his superiors ends with the suggestion that both Brit and Zulu share a deep corporeal response to the prospect of death. The stories in this book are wide-ranging and unpredictable, but so satisfying. I loved the book. This writer is here to stay.