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A City in Stories
by Barry Pearce
An Irish painting contractor in a changing neighborhood struggles with the complications of befriending a Black worker.
The edgy enclave he fled haunts a South Side exile, upending his life. A boy who helps his father fake accidents for insurance claims reaches a turning point. A woman from a rough patch of South Shore remembers her first girlfriend. And a Census taker learns empathy as she counts people. Their lives weave through colorful, gritty streets in The Plan of Chicago, Barry Pearce's absorbing debut of heartbreaking division, unexpected intersections, and dim but possible dreams.
"Voices from all over the map of the city's neighborhoods combine for a chorus that is singularly Chicago's. With deep empathy and granular detail, these stories take the measure of a city on the make." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Pearce illuminates the soul of Chicago and the perplexities of human nature with exquisite sensitivity, authenticity, and artistry." ―Booklist (starred review)
"Trenchant ... an accomplished and assured first outing." ―Publishers Weekly
"Wonderful ... a love letter to a recognizable Chicago." ―Chicago Tribune
"Compelling and haunting ... like Algren, Brooks, Bellow, Terkel, Cisneros, and Kotlowitz." ―Stuart Dybek, author of The Coast of Chicago
"Pearce renders contemporary Chicago in loving and brutal complexity." ―Antonya Nelson, author of Funny Once
This information about The Plan of Chicago 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.
Barry Pearce won the Nelson Algren Award for fiction in 2019. His stories have been published in Colorado Review, Cimarron Review, Cagibi, the Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere. He lives in Chicago.
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