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Published Feb 2015
240 pages
Genre: Short Stories
Publication Information
These interrelated stories are arranged in two sections, one devoted to virtues ("Bravery," "Loyalty," "Chastity," "Charity," and "Forbearance") and the other to vices ("Lust," "Sloth," "Avarice," "Gluttony," and "Vanity"). They are cast with characters who appear and reappear throughout the collection, their actions equally divided between the praiseworthy and the loathsome. They take place in settings as various as Tuscany, San Francisco, Ethiopia, and New York, but their central stage is the North Loop of Minneapolis, alongside the Mississippi River, which flows through most of the tales. Each story has at its center a request or a demand, but each one plays out differently: in a hit-and-run, an assault or murder, a rescue, a startling love affair, or, of all things, a gesture of kindness and charity. Altogether incomparably crafted, consistently surprising, remarkably beautiful stories.
"Starred Review. The prose resonates with distinctive turns of phrase that capture human ambiguity and uncertainty: trouble waits patiently at home, irony is the new chastity, and a dying man lives in the house that pain designed for him." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Charles Baxter's stories proceed with steady grace, nimble humor, quiet authority, and thrilling ingeniousness. In this his latest collection, all is on display—as are his honoring of the mysteries of love and his dramatic explorations of American manners, mores, family, solitude, and art." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. Bare storylines can't convey the quickly captivating simple narratives…Nearly as organic as a novel, this is more intriguing, more fun in disclosing its connective tissues through tales that stand well on their own." - Kirkus
"Baxter's delightful stories will make readers hungry for more. Fortunately, there are more out there, and one hopes, more to come." - Lorrie Moore, author of Bark
"Charles Baxter is nothing short of a national literary treasure. To read these stories - hilarious, tragic, surprising, and indelibly human - is to receive revelation at the hands of a master." - Julie Orringer, author of How to Breathe Under Water
"With his latest collection, Charles Baxter has given us something altogether new in contemporary fiction: a series of moral tales that contain zero moralizing...A stunning and unique work from one of the living masters of the story form."- Jamie Quatro, author of I Want to Show You More
This information about There's Something I Want You to Do was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Charles Baxter is the author of the novels The Feast of Love (nominated for the National Book Award), The Soul Thief, Saul and Patsy, Shadow Play, and First Light, and the story collections Believers, A Relative Stranger, Through the Safety Net, Gryphon, and Harmony of the World. He lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
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