We Live in Water: Stories
The first collection of short fiction from Jess Walter, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins, We Live in Water is a diverse suite of stories marked by the wry wit and generosity of spirit that has made him one of America’s most talked-about writers.Stories in We Live in Water...
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The first collection of short fiction from Jess Walter, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins, We Live in Water is a diverse suite of stories marked by the wry wit and generosity of spirit that has made him one of America’s most talked-about writers.Stories in We Live in Water range from comic tales of love to social satire and suspenseful crime fiction. Traveling from hip Portland to once-hip Seattle to never-hip Spokane, to a condemned casino in Las Vegas and a bottomless lake in the dark woods of Idaho, this is a world of lost fathers and redemptive con men, of personal struggles and diminished dreams.In title story “We Live in Water”, a lawyer returns to his corrupt hometown to find his father, who disappeared 30 years earlier. In “Thief,” a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to find out which of his kids is stealing from the family fund.“Anything Helps” sees a homeless man try to raise money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book; and in “Virgo,” a newspaper editor attempts to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope.Also included are “Don’t Eat Cat” and “Statistical Abstract of My Hometown, Spokane, Washington,” both of which achieved cult status after their first publication online.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780061926624 (0061926620)
ASIN: 0061926620
Publish date: 2013-02-12
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Pages no: 192
Edition language: English
Now…you know what we know.” Her voice went even lower. That nobody chooses. That we’re all sick. We’re all here.” There are various forms of sickness in Jess Walter’s baker’s-dozen collection of bleak stories. Alcoholism, drug addiction, obsession, greed, dishonesty, some zombification, or the most...
Thirteen short stories, almost all of them edgy and riveting. Jess Walter's narrative skill is a rare find. He balances the horrid, the heartfelt, and the humorous within each story. Sometimes it's the story that holds me spellbound, and other times it's the writing itself, independent of the story....
I won this book in a goodreads first reads giveaway.While I do think Walter is at his best in novel form, there are some really great stories in this collection. Standout favorites include Virgo, Don't Eat Cat, and Statistical Abstract for My Hometown of Spokane, Washington. Not everyone is going to...
Five stars. With a bullet. And a syringe. And some helpless, hopeless wailing.I met Walter at ALA and he signed his book for me. To tell the stark truth, I was wandering around, saw him signing books in the Harper Collins booth and thought, "Hey, that's a short line...", and even though I'd never he...
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