The Women Were Leaving the Men (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Made in Michigan Writers Series) [Paperback]

Andy Mozina (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814333621 | ISBN-13: 978-0814333624 | Publication Date: June 15, 2007

In The Women Were Leaving the Men, Andy Mozina draws readers into the everyday lives of characters who are instantly relatable but intriguingly flawed. Knocked beyond the brink by departed family members, curious obsessions, and unruly physical attributes, Mozina s characters climb and scrape their way toward intimacy, sanity, and redemption against the often-absurd odds of their lives in this unique, humorous, and poetic collection. 2008 GREAT LAKES COLLEGES ASSOCIATION NEW WRITERS AWARD WINNER FOR FICTION

Editorial Reviews

Review

Andy Mozina brings great innovation and energy to the short story. The Women Were Leaving the Men heralds a new and deeply original voice. --Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto

Like the stand-up comic and Harvard Law drop-out who narrates the final story in this brilliant collection, Andy Mozina is able to transport us from hilarity to pathos in a breathtaking, heartbreaking moment. A memorable and distinctive debut by a writer with an offbeat and beguiling vision. --Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl and Equal Love

About the Author

Andy Mozina is associate professor of English at Kalamazoo College and author of Joseph Conrad and the Art of Sacrifice. His short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines including Tin House, the Massachusetts Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fence, West Branch, Beloit Fiction Journal, and the Florida Review. This collection was a finalist for the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, and Mozina's short story "The Women Were Leaving the Men" received special mention in The Pushcart Prize (2006) and was named a distinguished story in The Best American Short Stories 2005.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wayne State Univ Pr (June 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814333621
• ISBN-13: 978-0814333624
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #802,581 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 small, tremendous worlds, October 9, 2008

By 

bethsol (ann arbor, mi usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women Were Leaving the Men (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Paperback)

I found this book by chance at work and started leafing through it, eventually finishing the whole thing by reading a few pages every day. Each of the stories is a microcosm, at the center of which is a vulnerable, well meaning but very deeply emotionally flawed person. The problems encountered by the characters are problems that everyone faces, like the realization that one's deepest desires might be hopelessly at odds with one another, or that behaving in a way consistent with one's values and morals might be really, really difficult. That said, the people in these stories are probably unusually beset with neuroses and more psychological issues than normal -- there's a Harvard law drop out whose frightening, ugly nervous breakdown annihilates his sense of worth and identity in one story and a young, kind, but self conscious priest who finds comfort and reprieve in a woman in another.

To read these stories is to get fascinating, first hand insight into what it feels like to struggle with uncertainty and hopefully come out with some semblance of dignity and self worth. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best and most original collection of short stories I've read in ages, May 28, 2009

By 

Arthur Voyant (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women Were Leaving the Men (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Paperback)

I was amazed at how good these stories were. I heard about Mozina from a friend who is more linked into the contemporary literature scene than I am, and ended up reading the stories over a greedy few days.

In overall tone, I think the writer Mozina most resembles is Mary Gaitskill. In fact, this book, Mozina's debut collection, reminds me a lot of Gaitskill's own debut, "Bad Behavior." There is the same focus on "edgy" (even occasionally creepy) characters, a fairly large amount of sex and sadness, intense psychological depth, and terrific writing throughout.

However, I have to say that Mozina has a better sense of humor than Gaitskill. As some of the other reviews point out, the opening story "Cowboy Pile" is hilarious, and yet it is poignant, too, in its bizarre way. But despite the sometimes bizarre and even raunchy themes of these stories, there are also passages where the writing is almost Nabokovian. For example, in the story "Arch," when two tortured lovers are on a road trip together across the flat Midwest, Mozina writes: "Overpasses, gentle reminders of the third dimension, arc briefly and subside." The only other recent book that caught me unawares with tight, pellucid observations like this was Eugenides' "Middlesex."

My only quibble with this collection was that I thought one story, "Beach," should have been left on the cutting-room floor. It was the only one that didn't really ring true for me, and at least shows that Mozina is fallible. But, overall, the other twelve stories really captured me and had someting truly unusual: the ability to surprise and delight. For example, in the last story, "Admit," which chronicles the wrenching psychological descent of a Harvard Law dropout, there is a description of the protagonist's girlfriend and touchstone: "She wore clogs and her fuzzy pink cape, which made her look like some third-tier superhero whose defining power was a staggering capacity for empathy." In the midst of reading about a harrowing breakdown, you can't help but smile.

Just be warned, this collection is not for anyone uptight about sex. Many (but not all) of these stories have sex as part of their subject. If you're not a prude, however, in the story "The Enormous Hand," you'll be rewarded by one of the most memorably weird sex scenes in contemporary literature; it is funny and moving at the same time (think Kafka-meets-Updike and you'll not be completely off the mark). It alone is worth the price of admission.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing writing, September 27, 2009

By 

C. Keibler "bookseller@heart" (Milltown, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Women Were Leaving the Men (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Made in Michigan Writers Series) (Paperback)

This collection of short stories is nothing short of amazing. This motley collection of characters may appear odd on the outside, but each of them in their own way speaks to some truth of the human condition. I look forward to hearing more from Mozina--hopefully soon!