Tender, precise,
comic and chilling by turn, the stories in A.L.Kennedy's new collection
confirm her reputation as one of the most exciting new writers to have
appeared in the last decade.
Exposing and exploring the sinuous undercurrents of violence anguish
and love, she examines the nature of the individual, both in isolation
and
society, as characters define and deny their chosen identities. While
showing us the unlikeliness of intimacy and the impossibility of communication,
Kennedy also reveals the subversive liberation of impotence, the humour
of discomfort as human beings chafe together, the crazed claustrophobia
of the family and the wildly funny results of an eccentricity unleashed
- t
he guru who recommends his disciples follow the example of the penguin,
or the mordant and brilliant "Mouseboks Family Dictionary" where
Life is cross-referenced to Bad Joke and What You Deserve.
Told with economy, dramatic insight and tremendous empathy, these stories
demonstrate a radiant and versatile talent: a writer who has the rare
gift of understanding, in equal parts, elation and despair.
Reviews
Good:
..the
metaphysical complexities underlying Kennedy's themes are simply beyond
the grasp of most of her contemporaries.
Gavin Wallace - The Scotsman
She
is never better than when she is being truly comic.
Katherine Bergen - The Times
Kennedy
can be funny, deadpan, angry, tender and despairing. This book of short
stories is a showcase for her wildly versatile gifts.
Elle
A.L.Kennedy
is worth waiting for.
Kate Kelloway - The Observer
ALK: If only more people thought that way.
A.L.Kennedy
has a gift for getting inside people's heads.
Andrea Ashworth - TLS
Bad:
When
character is reduced to feeling the result is not grown-up stories but melodrama
and fairy tales..
Julian Evans - The Guardian
..the
collection as a whole is vitiated by a wilful obscurity which borders on
arrogance.
David Robson - The Telegraph
ALK: Lovely word, vitiated.
Silly:
I
found myself distractedly wondering why so many writers whose first names
begin with "A" hide behind initials... what's their problem
?
Mike Petty - Literary Review
Salvaging
these broken lives from history's scrapheap, Kennedy deliberately discards
the tidy wrappings of conventinal literary genres.
Julian Loose - Sunday Times
