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Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money (P.S.)
 
 
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Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money (P.S.) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: crack lady, hungry self, Caitlin Bug, Dirk Drew, Jacques Michaud (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Customers buy this book with Then We Came to the End: A Novel by Joshua Ferris

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  • This item: Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money (P.S.) by Rebecca Curtis

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mostly female loners, outsiders and have-nots populate this marvelous, bleak debut collection. A young woman extracts herself from an overly insistent blind date who violates her privacy in Big Bear, California, only to find her usual certainty shaken years later by the memory of his grasping, petulant behavior. In Summer, with Twins, a college-age woman waitressing during the break wavers in declining her greasy boss's indecent proposal, perpetuating a crisis of self-worth that reverberates through her tenuous summer friendships. Among the 13 pieces, surreal vignettes serve as a taut, dramatic counterpart to the more straightforward narratives: The Wolf at the Door in particular has a being-chased-in-your-dreams feel of danger and terror, as a woman battles to keep an anthropomorphic wolf from entering her house, until he asks her to open the door and her sister insists that she do so, saying, it's polite! Delving into extremes of monotonous oppression, Curtis describes a reality that must be endured: her characters cling fiercely to their rationalizations, but even the more avaricious are sympathetic. (July)
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Review

"A book as delightful as it is disturbing." -- Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan

"An instant classic. . . . Rebecca Curtis is a hugely talented writer." -- The Village Voice

"Gorgeous. . . . Vivid imagery suffused with longing: The stories in Rebecca Curtis’ Twenty Grand are satisfingly bittersweet." -- The Los Angeles Times

"Marvelous. . . . Delving into extremes of monotonous oppression, Curtis describes a reality that must be endured." -- Publishers Weekly

"Rebecca Curtis is one of the most exciting practitioners of this most difficult form in America today." -- George Saunders
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (July 3, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0061173096
  • ISBN-13: 978-0061173097
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #142,232 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Rebecca Curtis
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Rebecca Curtis Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
crack lady, hungry self
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Caitlin Bug, Dirk Drew, Jacques Michaud, Sno-Kone Cart, Amy Goldman, New Hampshire, Puerto Rican, Alpine Slide
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Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money (P.S.)
86% buy the item featured on this page:
Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money (P.S.) 4.6 out of 5 stars (8)
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, July 16, 2007
By A Reader (Lawrence, KS USA) - See all my reviews
These are some of the strangest and bravest stories I have read. They completely broke my heart. There is so much honesty, anger, and compassion here. The characters are very compelling and Curtis brings them to such dangerous places, I could not stop reading--in that way, the book felt more like a novel than stories. And the writing is fantastic--funny, surprising, sad.

Clearly a writer of exceptional talent.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Curtis Country, July 16, 2007
It's been some time since I've been this excited by a contemporary fiction writer. I found myself reading my favorite parts out loud to my wife, then reading them over myself. Years ago, there used to be an expression about Raymond Carver's fiction--"Carver Country." Curtis's characters are pickled in the same wonderfully bleak atmosphere (wonderful for the reader, that is, who doesn't have to be the one tortured by two blonde twins, or hit on by a coke-sniffing chef, or stalked by a would-be one night stand). Whether it's the heartbreaking ending of "Hungry Self" or the completely unexpected turn that "The Alpine Slide" takes, this is the kind of fiction that keeps you up reading at 1.a.m. I think Curtis is the best short story writer in America today, and hopefully this collection will give her the attention she deserves.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Favorite, July 8, 2007
By N. Connell (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Just get it. You will laugh. Maybe you will cry (if you do that sort of thing). Definitely you will be touched. And you will enjoy reading this fabulous collection. My faves: Wolf At the Door, The Witches, The Sno-Kone Cart. But you can pick your own - so get it and read and escape for a day.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars That After Thought Will Last
A really good movie leaves you with "emotional thought hangover." After you read short stories in Twenty Grand by Rebecca Curtis, you will have "readers emotional thought... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Andre Celeste Jones

3.0 out of 5 stars A Promising Debut
I first encountered Rebecca Curtis through her stories in New Yorker, "The Alpine Slide" and "Twenty Grand," coincidentally two of the strongest pieces in this collection. Read more
Published on July 28, 2007 by ATeacherFromFlorida

5.0 out of 5 stars So Real!
There's something so visceral, so utterly seductive about these stories, that you just can't look away, even when you know that the characters are headed for destruction. Read more
Published on July 16, 2007 by Ellen L.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Some of these characters are heartbreaking. The Sno Kone Kart protagonist and the stepfather in The Witches did a number on me.
Published on July 12, 2007 by New Hampshire expat

4.0 out of 5 stars Sublime.

One of my favorite short story writers. I just a read a glowing review in the Village Voice which called Ms. Read more
Published on July 5, 2007 by David W. Hsia

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