THE SHELL COLLECTOR - Hardcover
The showstopping debut from the author of the #1 Sunday Times bestseller ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEEA blind man spends his days roaming the beaches of Kenya collecting shells, classifying them by feeling their whorls, spines and folds in his fingers. A young woman discovers that she can explore the inner world of an animal's mind by touching its freshly dead body. A refugee from Liberia, who cannot escape the horrors that he has witnessed, finds salvation in the clandesitne act of burying the hearts of beached whales.In The Shell Collector Antony Doerr illuminates both the riotous dangers of the natural world and the rocky terrain of the human heart.
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Review:
The whorls, chambers, and ribs of the seashell are an elegance unto themselves, but if man-made beauty can come anywhere close to this, Anthony Doerr's short stories would be perfect candidates. His debut collection, The Shell Collector, sets such high standards, sentence to sentence, that it is more like the private architecture of shells than like the random borrowings, sexual details, and flashes of insight that make up the bulk of contemporary fiction. The title story is about a blind man of 58, a scholar of shells (malacology), who retires to an isolated beach-side hut in Kenya, but then accidentally discovers a cure for a major illness in the often-deadly stings of the cone snail. "The Hunter's Wife," a second small masterpiece, describes the marriage of a Montana hunter and his much younger, psychically gifted wife. There are more conventional pieces here; well-written, resonating stories that do not attempt the sweep or descriptive wealth of "The Shell Collector," although they are still at the level of the best realistic fiction that is being published now in America. --Regina Marler
About the Author:
Anthony Doerr has won numerous prizes for his fiction, including the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. His most recent novel, All the Light We Cannot See, was named a best book of 2014 by a number of publications, and was a #1 New York Times Bestseller and #1 Sunday Times Bestseller.
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- PublisherScribner
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0007146965
- ISBN 13 9780007146963
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Rating
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Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR002627282
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The Shell Collector
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Flamingo, London
(2002)
ISBN 10: 0007146965
ISBN 13: 9780007146963
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First UK printing. Light wear to extremities, pages unmarked. Jacket has light edge wear, light scratches to front, in protective plastic, unclipped. Seller Inventory # 002960
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THE SHELL COLLECTOR - Short Stories [First impression of the first UK edition]
Published by
Flamingo [An imprint of HarperCollins publishers], London
(2002)
ISBN 10: 0007146965
ISBN 13: 9780007146963
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Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 1
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First UK Edition. First impression of the true first UK edition with full number-string sequence including the no. "1" on the publisher's copyright prelims-page: 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2. The author's debut book of short stories, and the first book by the author of "All The Light We Cannot See", winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015 and a finalist for the National Book Award in 2014. ***Near fine in orange cloth-covered boards with white titles to the spine. Tail of spine just very slightly creased. Corners sharp. Boards clean and unmarked. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. Pages clean. Blue front and rear endpapers. Integral blue satin reading ribbon. Spine tight. ***In a near fine colour-illustrated dustwrapper, that has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £14.99. No tears. No creases. No fading. Dustwrapper bright. ***219 pages including acknowledgments to rear. 224 mm x 140 mm. ***Short Stories: The Shell Collector; The Hunter's Wife; So Many Chances; For a Long Time This Was Griselda's Story; July Fourth; The Caretaker; A Tangle by the Rapid River; Mkondo. ***'In this assured, exquisite debut, Anthony Doerr takes readers from the African coast to the suburbs of Ohio, from sideshow pageantry to harsh wilderness survival, conjuring nature in both its beautiful abundance and its crushing power. The blind hero of the title story spends his days roaming the beaches of Kenya, his fingers ploughing through sandy granules of grace and intrigue, his German shepherd at his side. And then there are whale-watchers and fishermen, hunters and mystics, living lives uncompleted or undone, caught, memorably, as they turn toward the reader. ***A natural and a scientific storyteller, Doerr explores the human dilemma in all its manifestations: longing, grief, indecision, heartbreak and slow, slow recuperation. Shimmering with elegance and invention, The Shell Collector is an enchanting and imaginative book---' [Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper] ***First impression of the first UK edition of the author's first book, in its original dustwrapper, in very nice bright condition. This collection of short stories won the Barnes and Noble Discover Young Writers Award, and is surprisingly hard to find. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # 7605x
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