First published 2009
A comedian climbs toward stardom by telling uncomfortable truths to audiences who both love and hate him for it. A graduate student retreats to a remote cabin to write her dissertation but grows certain someone watches her from the surrounding forest. A young writer grapples with personal tragedy, wondering whether his pain can fuel great art or if real life will never match the stories he imagines. Three sisters receive unexpected visitors who reveal hidden truths about their parents that the children had never understood. A woman studies three cows in the pasture across from her home, recording their daily behaviors with scientific precision. These five stories examine what happens when people confront the gap between what they want and what they find, between solitude and connection, between the stories we tell ourselves and the reality we must face.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
120 pages · Paperback · Electric Literature