Homesick for Another World Stories Ottessa Moshfegh 9780399562884 Books
Download As PDF : Homesick for Another World Stories Ottessa Moshfegh 9780399562884 Books
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017
An electrifying first collection from one of the most exciting short story writers of our time
"I can’t recall the last time I laughed this hard at a book. Simultaneously, I’m shocked and scandalized. She’s brilliant, this young woman."—David Sedaris
Ottessa Moshfegh's debut novel Eileen was one of the literary events of 2015. Garlanded with critical acclaim, it was named a book of the year by The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction. But as many critics noted, Moshfegh is particularly held in awe for her short stories. Homesick for Another World is the rare case where an author's short story collection is if anything more anticipated than her novel.
And for good reason. There's something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh's stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful, and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities. Homesick for Another World is a master class in the varieties of self-deception across the gamut of individuals representing the human condition. But part of the unique quality of her voice, the echt Moshfeghian experience, is the way the grotesque and the outrageous are infused with tenderness and compassion. Moshfegh is our Flannery O'Connor, and Homesick for Another World is her Everything That Rises Must Converge or A Good Man is Hard to Find. The flesh is weak; the timber is crooked; people are cruel to each other, and stupid, and hurtful. But beauty comes from strange sources. And the dark energy surging through these stories is powerfully invigorating. We're in the hands of an author with a big mind, a big heart, blazing chops, and a political acuity that is needle-sharp. The needle hits the vein before we even feel the prick.
Homesick for Another World Stories Ottessa Moshfegh 9780399562884 Books
I enjoyed getting glimpses into the lives of these sick people. Moshfegh describes several gross physical acts with elegance, if that's at all possible. I mean, how would other writers fare if presented with such a challenge? It's difficult to not have a lapse in taste when describing trichotillomania, rashes, bulimia, fingers inserted into nether-orifices ... This author has talent, she has a voice, and she does what she wants, and all I can do is thank her for sticking to her guns--for refusing to whitewash and sanitize her work with color-safe bleach in order to appeal to vanilla-minded sensibilities. She takes a stand, corners a niche all her own, and dares to be different.My favorite story was "The Beach Boy." It's perfect for those who want to avoid the icky stuff, but it's definitely a gut punch and I still think about it now, months later.
The scenarios presented here are alternately risible and outright disgusting; they are more of anti-climactic slices of life and vignettes than traditional stories with predictable arcs. I've been making an effort to read more female authors and I'm proud to have this hardcover on my shelf.
Product details
|
Tags : Homesick for Another World: Stories [Ottessa Moshfegh] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>A New York Times Book Review </i>Notable Book of 2017</b> <b>An electrifying first collection from one of the most exciting short story writers of our time</b> <b> I can’t recall the last time I laughed this hard at a book. Simultaneously,Ottessa Moshfegh,Homesick for Another World: Stories,Penguin Press,0399562885,Literary,Psychological,Short Stories (Single Author),FICTION Literary.,FICTION Short Stories (single author).,Interpersonal relations,Psychological fiction,Short stories,Short stories, American,Short stories.,AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY FICTION,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,FICTION Literary,FICTION Psychological,FICTION Short Stories (single author),Fiction,Fiction-Short Stories (single author),FictionLiterary,GENERAL,General Adult,ReadingsAnthologiesCollected Works,United States,psychological thrillers books;literary fiction;shorts;book club recommendations;short story collections;short stories;fiction;martians;booker prize;denis johnson;lorrie moore;new yorker;paris review;danger;sex;collection;debut;human weakness;human behavior;psychological fiction;women's fiction;novels;fiction books;literature;long story short;books fiction;short stories collections;realistic fiction books;short story anthology;fiction psychological;family;love;marriage;relationships;writing,short stories; fiction; martians; booker prize; denis johnson; lorrie moore; new yorker; paris review; danger; sex; collection; debut; human weakness; human behavior; psychological fiction; women's fiction; short story collections; literary fiction; contemporary fiction; literary; shorts; psychological thrillers books; book club recommendations; fiction books; long story short; literature; short stories collections; short story anthology; fiction psychological; family; love; relationships; book club; family life; writing,FICTION Literary,FICTION Psychological,FICTION Short Stories (single author),FictionLiterary,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,Fiction
Homesick for Another World Stories Ottessa Moshfegh 9780399562884 Books Reviews
I read it all and I didn't like any of the characters . It was very well written and I truly felt terrible for everyone's story but I didn't want to know any of them.
As with any story collection, there are only a few that resonate. Some stories were enchanting, but most were crude and pointless. I do like the author's fearlessness toward subject matter and her descriptive style, so I don't regret having read the book.
This short story compilation was hard to put down! Moshfegh's characters are lewd, raunchy, imperfect and out there. I enjoy her writing style. I was shocked at times, dismayed, disgusted and also thrilled. She is a great writer. You may not like her characters, but you won't forget them.
This is a neatly written collection of 14 short stories. One thing that tied them together for me was the idea of friction, a word Moshfegh never uses, but one that came to mind over and over as I read the stories.
No one is without friction, and life in Moshfegh’s stories is so often about trying to overcome it or just accept it and deal with it the best you can. I’ll talk about two of the stories to show more of what I mean.
Mr. Wu, in the second story, is a lonely man who falls in love with the woman working at a game arcade. He watches her, he’s afraid of rejection. The life that he wants and the life that he has are out of sync, as they are for most of us. He finds ways to ease the friction — drinking, visiting prostitutes. The woman at the arcade is also lonely, with the same distance between what she has and what she wants. A match. And you can imagine the fear as misplaced, as a too typical story of fear being the only thing in the way of the life you want. But the story ends with friction re-asserting itself. Real life isn’t made of matches made in heaven.
The story behind the book’s title is the final one, “A Better Place”, in which a girl, Urszula, and her brother share a belief that they come from another place, not Earth. The only ways to return where they belong, and where they will be happy, are either to die, or to find the right person on Earth to kill. She finds the man she must kill, Jarek Jaskolka. Actually she dreams him up, but he is real, a “bad man.” If she kills him, her struggles in this life, in this place, will be over.
Urszula can’t believe that this is the world she was meant for. And maybe removing a "bad man" from it would actually help. But the remedy is magical more than it is real.
Seemingly all the stories here share this unavoidable element of friction, friction between the lives we have and the lives we want or expect, friction between our lives and the lives of others. Sometimes the friction can’t be overcome, maybe sometimes it can, but it’s always there — it’s a feature of life, not an exception. Life just might be a matter of learning to live with it in the best ways we can.
I am ok with a pretty heavy dose of weirdness. I think we are beyond the point of wondering if it is gratuitous or integral to the plot. It's nonstop weird. I dislike that stories just come to an end without some resolution or ironic twist or surprise. Even in short fiction I think stories should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I do not know why this book was recommended to me over and over by the algorithms that be, but they are sorely confused if you think this is in the same category as the rest of my reading material. I gave it a go because it was different, but all it really is is nothing. A big fat nothing. It isn't clever or interesting or well written. It is middle school level writing. I can not for the world imagine what the fuss is about. Another 30 year old living with their parents writes a book. Well gee, I'd hope you could do something from the never ending security blanket that is your life. Good thing your parents got off their ass, or you'd be living in your car. Ridiculous generation of people.
Moshfegh has, if possible, topped her debut novel, “Eileen,” in frank and unsentimental character dissection. Her characters are honest, at times grotesque, and presented in multi-dimensional and startling honesty. You won’t like them all, but you won’t forget them. The pining isolation of our crowded planet forms the homesickness referred to in the title. The writing is impeccable. There is not a single misstep on any page of this brilliant collection.
I enjoyed getting glimpses into the lives of these sick people. Moshfegh describes several gross physical acts with elegance, if that's at all possible. I mean, how would other writers fare if presented with such a challenge? It's difficult to not have a lapse in taste when describing trichotillomania, rashes, bulimia, fingers inserted into nether-orifices ... This author has talent, she has a voice, and she does what she wants, and all I can do is thank her for sticking to her guns--for refusing to whitewash and sanitize her work with color-safe bleach in order to appeal to vanilla-minded sensibilities. She takes a stand, corners a niche all her own, and dares to be different.
My favorite story was "The Beach Boy." It's perfect for those who want to avoid the icky stuff, but it's definitely a gut punch and I still think about it now, months later.
The scenarios presented here are alternately risible and outright disgusting; they are more of anti-climactic slices of life and vignettes than traditional stories with predictable arcs. I've been making an effort to read more female authors and I'm proud to have this hardcover on my shelf.
0 Response to "⇒ Read Homesick for Another World Stories Ottessa Moshfegh 9780399562884 Books"
Post a Comment