Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2016
240 pages
Genre: Short Stories
Publication Information
For fans of Alice Munro and Edith Pearlman, a stunning debut collection of short stories about aging, relationships, and intimacy.
Scary Old Sex was written and rewritten over a period of thirty years. In her youth, Arlene Heyman had been a promising writer, studying with Bernard Malamud at Bennington College, earning an M.A. from the Syracuse University writing program, teaching literature, publishing stories. But her life changed course once she entered medical school; although she always wrote in quiet moments, she went on to work as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst while raising her sons. Now Bloomsbury is bringing to light these mature and accomplished stories, the fruit of a lifetime.
In this taboo-breaking debut, Heyman gives us what really goes on in people's minds and relationships - those things left unspoken in much of society, about sex between older people, or about sex and love when one person is very ill, or when the age difference makes the relationship practically illegal. Love and sex in these stories are sometimes seen through the wide-open eyes of women, with women often in dominant roles in relationships. Looking behind the curtain at the intimacies we usually keep to ourselves, a few of the stories are raw, many are unsettling, but all are insightful and at times comical.
Not intended to be titillating, Heyman's stories give us the lives we all live: shocking, sloppy, human.
"Starred Review. The stories in this keenly observed collection lay bare truths - some comforting, others uncomfortable - about love and sex, aging and acceptance." - Kirkus
"A joyful, joyous debut." - Paul Bailey, Literary Review
"What an astonishing collection! I absolutely loved these stories, so stylish, earthy, and funny - and underneath them, thrumming away, a sense of our own mortality. They've been haunting me ever since I read them." - Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
"Gutsy and unsentimental, [Heyman] introduces you to some unforgettable characters - and also, perhaps, to some unexplored parts of yourself." - Judith Viorst, author of Necessary Losses
This information about Scary Old Sex 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.
Arlene Heyman is the recipient of Woodrow Wilson, Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Robert Wood Johnson fellowships. She published in the New American Review and other journals, won Epoch magazine's novella contest, and has been listed twice in the honor rolls of The Best American Short Stories. Heyman is a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst practicing in New York City, where she lives with her husband. She is currently at work on a novel.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
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.
