Paradise Road (Pitt Drue Heinz Lit Prize) (Hardcover)

by Kirk Nesset (Author)
Key Phrases: Laura Lee, Widow Fudge, Reverend Bob (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"What's most impressive about Nesset's fiction is his ability to explore how we don't know ourselves, or our intentions, not before we've done something, however heroic or awful, not even afterwards, and how it wouldn't make a difference even if we did." --Barn Owl Review

“The figures and voices that appear in Paradise Road are like ghosts from an ancient land that move toward their destinies with hope and defiance. Mr. Nesset conducts their journeys with a sure hand while making fiction of striking originality and beauty. Paradise Road may go through geography unfamiliar to some of us, but the route, once taken, is unforgettable.” --Hilary Masters

"Nessett displays his mastery of the short story form in twelve rich and well-developed stories. On the surface his stories appear to be simple tales about ordinary people, but the worlds he opens to us have several levels." --Rain Taxi

Product Description

Winner of the 2007 Drue Heinz Literature Prize

The stories in Kirk Nesset's Paradise Road vividly examine the various pitfalls, both physical and emotional, we encounter and suffer trying to find lasting meaning in love.  Stark and unsentimental, they feature the chiaroscuro of particular worlds and particular lives, infused with the yearning and muted desperation that comes after passion has bent us,  burned us, and cast us aside.  “Nothing comes and goes without a trace,” muses the narrator of “The Prince of Perch Fishing,” the collection's opening tale.  “In this world there are consequences for everything.”  Such stories speak to the fleeting yet monumental moments of our lives, which catch us off guard, unveiling and unsettling us, each leaving its indelible mark.  The stories also offer paths, paved or unpaved, leading out of the ashes, out of the wilds of upheaval and betrayal and pain.  Story by story, Paradise Road guides us deeply into ourselves--into new kinds of awareness, if not transformation.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1 edition (September 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822943158
• ISBN-13: 978-0822943150
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #622,620 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kirk Nesset's fiction cuts unnervingly to the bone, enchantingly, doggedly, chillingly, and honestly..., September 21, 2007

By	Domenic L. Ionta Jr. - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Passages like "nothing comes and goes without a trace," and "But what hurts is knowing you do it, and knowing you know, and knowing you haven't learned," poignantly and yet, cogently cajole us to reckon with life's intangible beauties, travesties, and uncertainties. They exigently whisper in our ear-urging us to divest ourselves of the trivial, temporal, transient nonsense with which we concern ourselves, and over which we lose sleep and sweat and blood and tears everyday-to focus on what matters, learn from our mistakes, and never give up hope. "Paradise Road" is a place everyone should journey through, truly, at least once, to really taste what it means to live, and know who you really ought to be...