Alex & Zee

Strube, Cornelia

ISBN 10: 0889105049 / ISBN 13: 9780889105041

Published by Coach House Press, Toronto, 1994

About this Item

| Small red star stamped on flyleaf, else fine -- self wraps.

Seller Inventory # 003200

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Alex & Zee
• Publisher: Coach House Press, Toronto
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0889105049
• ISBN 13: 9780889105041
• Binding: Original Wraps
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Books
  • CanLit

About this title

Synopsis

It maddens Alex that there has never been anyone in her life she has liked as much as Zee. Never been anyone who could make her laugh when she felt ready to put her fist through the wall. Never been anyone she's felt could withstand all forces of her personality, both negative and positive. Pushing through the turnstile, she thinks he'd probably be better off without her. He could smoke himself to death, drink himself to death, sit in the bath and never clean the ring; he could think about whatever he thinks about for hours. He wouldn't have her to remind him that the day is over, that it's meal time, bed time. He could just stay the same twenty-four hours a day, an amoeba; a simple microscopic organism. A blob.
When Daisy leaves to do her volunteer work at the hospital, Zee pulls down the blinds and unplugs the phone. Sitting in her pink bathtub, he thinks it's wonderful that he can unplug the phone and not answer the door; that he can disconnect. He couldn't disconnect with Alex around. Now he doesn't have to do anything, doesn't have to go to the park or a bar because he doesn't have to keep out of her way .... Leaning his head back against the rim, he tries to decide what to do with his day. He could go for a walk, or maybe a movie. He could do his laundry or go for a donut. He sets his feet on either side of the faucet, thinking that it's quite peaceful really. Without her. Maybe it's better this way....

From the Back Cover

“Vivid and fresh and finely crafted, this is a book that will strike a chord with anyone who has loved, lived, or wondered how we manage, in the face of our fragility, to carry on.” ― Nino Ricci

This is the story of Zee, an aimless ex-lawyer who has turned his inability to make a decision into a fine art, and his wife, Alex, a practical and hard-working social worker who feels her biological clock ticking loudly. Reverberating with the emotional crises of the urban adult, Alex & Zee is an offbeat portrait of contemporary relationships, full of wickedly astute observations of city life and its multifarious life forms. Grimly hilarious at every turn, this is a terrific debut novel.

Nominated for the 1995 W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the recipient of widespread critical acclaim, Alex & Zee is the long-awaited reissue of Cordelia Strube’s biting take on contemporary romance.