Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2013
200 pages
Genre: Short Stories
Publication Information
A graceful, moving new collection by the author of The Report
How close can we come to love, success, happiness, forgiveness?
An older woman, irritated with her wealthy young neighbor's yard "improvements," offers a corner of her lawn to a Croatian immigrant who wants a vegetable garden. A recent college graduate living in New York City finds himself in a strangely entangled friendship with his dry cleaner and her son. A daughter accompanies her father to Israel, where, seeing a new side of him away from her mother, she makes an unusual bargain.
Through thirteen stories, some stand-alone, others woven with linked characters, Kane questions the tensions between friendship and neighborliness, home and travel, family and ambition. In writing filled with wit and humor and incredible poignancy, she deftly reveals the everyday patterns that, over time, can swerve a life off course.
"Kane's second collection of stories (after The Report) is steeped in family and community anxiety and often dazzle...Kane inhabits the psyche of those at risk, with terrific results." - Publishers Weekly
"Intriguing, delicate, graceful, and deeply moving, this is a collection to be read and pondered over. It will draw readers into worlds both foreign and familiar while turning the everyday into something extraordinary." - Booklist
"Kane's second collection shows the author's talent for dissecting the subtle dynamics of family life...The stories in [This Close] have an appeal reminiscent of Chekhov's plays." - Library Journal
"The stories are quiet - Kane has little interest in stylistic pyrotechnics, flashy plots or formal play - but they are subtle, persuasive and psychologically complex. Another worthy book from a fine writer." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about This Close was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jessica Francis Kane's first novel, The Report, was a Barnes & Noble Discover selection and a finalist for both the Center for Fiction's 2010 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize and the Indie Booksellers' Choice Award. She is a contributor to The Morning News and lives in New York City.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
