Going Away Shoes - Hardcover

McCorkle, Jill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565126327 ISBN 13: 9781565126329

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 2009

Synopsis

The foibles of the people in Jill McCorkle’s world are so familiar that we want nothing so much as to watch them walk into—and then get out of—life’s inevitable traps. Here, in her first collection in eight years, McCorkle collects eleven brand-new stories bristling with her characteristic combination of wit and weight.

In honeymoon shoes, mud-covered hunting boots, or glass slippers, all of the women in these stories march to a place of new awareness, in one way or another, transforming their lives. They make mistakes, but they don’t waste time hiding behind them. They move on. They are strong. And they’re funny, even when they are sad.

These stories are the work of a great storyteller who knows exactly how—and why—to pair pain with laughter.

About this title

About the Author

Jill McCorkle is the author of nine previous books—four story collections and five novels—five of which have been selected as New York Times Notable Books. The recipient of the New England Book Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, and the North Carolina Prize for Literature, she teaches writing at North Carolina State University and lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Visit her online at www.jillmccorkle.com. 

Review

"McCorkle is an expert at engineering catharsis through good salty rants, but the best thing about these stories is the sense of romance and wonder in long-overdue journeys of self-discovery." --New York Times Book Review
(Los Angeles Times)

"[A] remarkable collection . . . Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find." --People
(Atlanta Journal Constitution)

"There are writers who seem to write it like it is--the quietness of their characters is not exaggerated, nor is their drama. They could live down the street or in the next apartment. Jayne Anne Phillips, Antonia Nelson--these are writers whose characters have no special aura, no golden ticket. Jill McCorkle's characters are like this." --Los Angeles Times
(Miami Herald)

"McCorkle's latest book gives us 11 reasons to smile . . . 11 cheerfully furious stories about women who have come to a screeching halt in their pursuit of happiness . . . The joy of reading and rereading each of these marvelous stories is to discover the truths encoded into each step of every hard-won journey--and to find ourselves along the way." --Atlanta Journal Constitution
(The New York Times Book Review)

"The stories are small tributes to tenacity and spirit and choice--even when that choice is simply to keep putting one foot in front of the other." --Miami Herald
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

“McCorkle is an expert at engineering catharsis through good salty rants, but the best thing about these stories is the sense of romance and wonder in long-overdue journeys of self-discovery.” (People)

“The joy of reading and rereading each of these marvelous sto- ries is to discover the truths encoded into each step of every hard-won journey—and to find ourselves along the way.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

"Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find.”
(The Boston Globe)

“Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find.”


“The joy of reading and rereading each of these marvelous stories is to discover the truths encoded into each step of every hard-won journey—and to find ourselves along the way.”

Edition details

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1565126327
• ISBN 13: 9781565126329
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272