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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2005, 256 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2006, 256 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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Powerfully and affectingly examines the complex, intricate network of experiences that binds us to one another. These stories are tender, raw, lovely, and fine - and they reaffirm Roxana Robinson's place at the forefront of modern literature.
In Roxana Robinson's lucid and elegant prose, her characters' inner worlds
open up to us, revealing private emotional cores that are familiar in their
needs, their secrets, and their longings. These people tell us the truth–not
only about themselves, their relationships, and their lives, but about ourselves
as well.
In "Family Christmas," a young girl takes a holiday trip to her grandparents',
where the formal atmosphere is shattered by a mysterious and chaotic event that
she knows she's too young to understand but struggles to comprehend.
In "Blind Man," a college professor copes with the onslaught of grief after
his daughter's death. In "The Face Lift," two college friends renew their bond
across a great cultural divide. The sad and hilarious "Assistance" flawlessly
details the tragicomic aspects of ageing–seen through the eyes of a
daughter-turned-caretaker. The terrors of illness are explored in "The
Treatment," and in "Assez," a trip to Provence reveals the true volatility of
love–and reminds us that we often don't realize that what we have is enough
until it's gone.
A Perfect Stranger powerfully and affectingly examines the complex, intricate
network of experiences that binds us to one another. These stories are tender,
raw, lovely, and fine - and they reaffirm Roxana Robinson's place at the forefront
of modern literature.
Family Christmas
At Christmas, we went to my grandparents'.
My grandparents lived outside New York in a private park, a strange
nineteenth-century hybrid between a club and a housing development. The
Park was enclosed by a thick stone wall, and at the entrance was a pair
of stone gateposts, and a gatehouse. As we approached the gate, a man
appeared in the doorway of the gatehouse, sternly watching our car. Our
father, who knew the gatekeeper, would roll down his window and say
hello, or sometimes he would just smile and wave, cocking his hand
casually backward and forward. The gatekeeper would recognize my father
then and nod, dropping his chin slowly, deeply, in confirmation of an
unspoken agreement, and we would drive through the gates into the Park.
One year there was a gatekeeper who did not know my father. The new man
...
Short stories are often overlooked in favor of novels, but why when they're just the thing for so many occasions? Short stories are just the right length for the bath, subway ride or just those few minutes of downtime that we all need; they also make great "beach reads" because it's easy to close the book every few dozen pages and actually notice you're on the beach!..continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Alice Munro
Start in on any sentence, and I'm absolutely sure you'll read to the end of the story, and of the book, and you'll come out of it feeling grateful, deeply stirred, seriously happy. Joyce Carol Oates
Roxana Robinson's beautifully rendered prose captures moments of domestic drama - sometimes painful, sometimes ecstatic, always heartrending and illuminating.Roxana Robinson is the author of two novels, Sweetwater and This Is My Daughter; a biography of Georgia O'Keeffe; and two previous short-story collections, A Glimpse of Scarlet and Asking for Love. Most, if not all, of her works have been named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony. Her fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper's, Daedalus, and Vogue. She lives in New York City and Westchester County, New York.
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