RARE & ENDANGERED SPECIES

Bausch, Richard.

ISBN 10: 0395644933 / ISBN 13: 9780395644935

Published by Houghton Mifflin., Boston:, 1994

About this Item

HC in dust jacket. 1st Printing. Signed by Bausch. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Bookseller Inventory # 12849

Bibliographic Details

Title: RARE & ENDANGERED SPECIES

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin., Boston:

Publication Date: 1994

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

A collection of short stories reflects the shadowy workings of the human heart in the business of everyday life with titles such as Aren't You Happy for Me, High-Heeled Shoe, and The Natural Effects of Divorce.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Although Bausch (Rebel Powers, 1993, etc.) occasionally rests on his laurels here, this collection (some stories appeared previously in Harper's and other magazines) supports his reputation as a masterful short-fiction writer who fearlessly addresses love and its many permutations. One of Bausch's greatest talents is his ear for dialogue, and he has a way of replicating its rhythms while pointing up the ridiculousness of daily communication. ``Aren't You Happy For Me?'' consists mostly of a telephone call between a 23-year-old daughter and her father as she announces that she is getting married, that she is pregnant, and that her fianc‚ is 63. The discovery of a single ``High-Heeled Shoe'' in a field causes a man to contemplate the first and only affair during his 25-year marriage, and in speaking to his wife he is never quite sure whether he has revealed his secret. ``Tandolfo the Great'' is a part-time clown who drives to perform at a birthday party with a wedding cake in the back of his car, having intended to use it to propose marriage only to discover that the woman he secretly loves has reconciled with a former boyfriend. He takes out his sadness on the birthday boy and is tossed out of the party, almost losing his rabbit in the process. The title novella is a finely nuanced look at the aftermath of a suicide. A woman and her husband are forced to sell their farm, and before moving day she goes to a motel and swallows a bottle of pills without leaving a note. The narrative peels back layers and reveals shards of information about her and her family- -she had almost left her husband for another man 15 years earlier; her daughter Maizie has come tantalizingly close to an affair with a co-worker--and deals with the big question by letting it hang unanswered. Pauses and crossed signals that echo loudly. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.