Paper Products - Hardcover

Hall, James W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393028240 ISBN 13: 9780393028249

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1990

Synopsis

Nine stories deal with a cosmopolitan woman's return to her rural roots, a writers conference, summer camp, a husband's ghost, a young plumber, baldness, and small town life

About this title

About the Author:

James W. Hall is also the author of Body Language and, most recently, Rough Draft. He lives in southern Florida.

From Publishers Weekly:

Fans of Hall's novels ( Tropical Freeze ) and poetry ( False Statements ) will have mixed reactions to the stories in this uneven collection. Writing for the most part about the alienated--teenagers, writers, drifters, an aged widow--Hall displays a light, sure touch with characterization that preserves idiosyncrasy while stopping short of caricature. The best tales are about adolescent boys. In "Survival Week" 17-year-old Connors spends the ritual final week of his last summer at camp not by himself in the woods but with another camper and a family that includes two teenaged girls. "Miami Beach, Kentucky" tells of a boy's conflicts with a powerful father, a mayor who wants to change his town's name from Sinking Fork to Miami Beach, and a mother who is principal of the boy's high school. More heavy-handed (and bitter) are the stories about poets. In "The Electric Poet" the eponymous hero colludes with the Famous Director of the Famous Writers Conference; "Poetic Devices" is told by a naive emigre poet. Though evocative of place, these works don't reflect the power evident in Hall's novels.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0393028240
• ISBN 13: 9780393028249
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 172