Fresh Complaint: Stories - Hardcover

Eugenides, Jeffrey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374203067 ISBN 13: 9780374203061

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017

Synopsis

The first collection of short fiction from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffrey Eugenides’s bestselling novels have shown him to be an astute observer of the crises of adolescence, self-discovery, family love, and what it means to be American in our times. The stories in Fresh Complaint explore equally rich­­―and intriguing―territory. Ranging from the bitingly reproductive antics of “Baster” to the dreamy, moving account of a young traveler’s search for enlightenment in “Air Mail” (selected by Annie Proulx for Best American Short Stories), this collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national emergencies. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other people’s wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art founder under the obligations of marriage and fatherhood; and, in “Fresh Complaint,” a high school student whose wish to escape the strictures of her immigrant family lead her to a drastic decision that upends the life of a middle-aged British physicist.

Narratively compelling, beautifully written, and packed with a density of ideas despite their fluid grace, these stories chart the development and maturation of a major American writer.

About this title

About the Author

Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published by FSG to great acclaim in 1993, and he has received numerous awards for his work. In 2003, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex (FSG, 2002), which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. The Marriage Plot (FSG, 2011) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won both the Prix Fitzgerald and the Madame Figaro Literary Prize. Eugenides is a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton.

Review

Editor's Pick - AudioFile

"It’s not a surprise that actress Cynthia Nixon would be a good audiobook reader. It’s surprising that she isn’t hired to read every audiobook. She completely owns the 2 stories she reads...[Ari] Fliakos is endlessly entertaining while never letting theatrics outshine the characters on the page." -Booklist

"The theme of complaint extends beyond the title story, but for listeners the key takeaway is the word "fresh." Jeffrey Eugenides's fresh writing merges the mundane with the meaningful. "Airmail," with a plot that fuses amoebic dysentery with spiritual enlightenment, showcases his originality and--since he also narrates it--his ability to navigate multiple accents and personalities. ...Cynthia Nixon..performances of ["The Baster"] and her other story, "Complainers," are stellar" - AudioFile

"I'd listen to Fliakos read the phone book. You don't get him or Nixon to sign on for short stories unless you have something choice in the way of material. And Eugenides certainly delivers that." - NJ.com

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0374203067
• ISBN 13: 9780374203061
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304