Pillow Talk in Europe and Other Places (Lannan Selection) - Softcover

Levy, Deborah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564783332 ISBN 13: 9781564783332

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, 2003

Synopsis

From the author of Billy and Girl, this collection of stories explores the emptiness at the center of the characters' lives and their attempts to fill this lack. In "Cave Girl" Cass goes through a sex change, not to become a man, but rather to become "less of a real girl and more of a pretend woman." Her surgery transforms her into a woman desired by all men--including her brother. "Conversations with Famous Artists I Have Known" relates an afternoon discussion between two women, one who chose motherhood and a routine life at the expense of her creativity, the other a world famous, self-centered artist. In these stories about friendship, motherhood, and the search for enduring love, rules about decency and kindness are broken and repaired as men and women attempt to achieve an elusive sense of fulfillment.

About this title

About the Author

Levy was born in South Africa.

Reviews

Lively, sharp, remarkably evocative with very few words, Levy is the best kind of "modern" writer. Most of the short works, closer to scenes than stories, in this collection neatly present couples of all sorts at pivotal sexual, emotional, or familial points in their relationships. In "Conversations with Famous Artists," recording an unplanned meeting of two sisters with very different temperaments in the married sister's kitchen, one sister plays the staid, unfulfilled mommy, the other the free-spirited, glamorous artist, but with revealing internal as well as spoken dialogue, Levy gives a tart spin to a shopworn idea. In "Cave Girl," a baffled younger brother watches his snarly, morose sister transform into a "pretend woman" --blonde, kind, lighthearted --and realizes he is in love with her. Elsewhere, Levy effortlessly captures the ordinary neurosis of a man in a tentative new romance, who finds himself having breakfast with his ex-girlfriend and longing for reassurance that his new girlfriend genuinely likes him. A stimulating encounter with a gifted writer. Roberta Johnson
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Edition details

• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1564783332
• ISBN 13: 9781564783332
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 103