The Paris Review Book of People with Problems
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ISBN10: 0312422415
ISBN13: 9780312422417
Trade Paperback
384 Pages
$27.00
CA$29.99
Problems manifest themselves in every setting, with every person, and of course in every story. How these dilemmas emerge and are dealt with, and by whom, make up the irresistible conceit of The Paris Review's newest fiction anthology. Throughout these pages you will find men plagued with guilt, women burdened by history, scientists bound by passion, mothers fogged with delusion, and lovers vexed with jealously. In the theme that encompassed every life, no protagonist—or reader!—is exempt.
With a hilarious introduction by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephen Merritt, The Paris Review Book of People with Problems is sure to be one of the most sought-after and discussed collections of the year.
This volume includes the work of Annie Proulx, Mary Robison, Norman Rush, Joanna Scott, Elizabeth Gilbert, Rick Bass, Charles Baxter, Wells Tower, Julie Orringer, Ben Okri, Malinda McCollum, James Lasdun, Charles Smith, Denis Johnson, Miranda July, Richard Stern, and Frederick Busch.
Reviews
Praise for The Paris Review Book of People with Problems
"All fiction concerns people with problems—without them, after all, where's the plot?—but the characters in these 17 stories, originally published in the Paris Review between 1974 and 2004, have been dealt particularly bad hands. Some, like the junkie mother in Malinda McCollum's 'The Fifth Wall,' have screwed up their lives pretty thoroughly, while others appear to be merely drifting along, like the therapist in Charles Baxter's 'Westland.' The tone shifts from story to story: Joanna Scott traces the beginnings of a psychoanalyst's obsession with a patient in the neutral language of a case history, while Elizabeth Gilbert continually ups the farcical stakes as she spins a yarn about a violent nightclub owner, his magician daughter and their rabbit. Other contributors include Denis Johnson, Mary Robison, Rick Bass and Norman Rush . . . A strong anthology of tales of trouble."—Publishers Weekly
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