Fresh Complaint
Stories
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Proudly presenting the widely anticipated new work of fiction from the multi-award winning bestselling author of Middlesex--a #1 major bestseller in Canada--and The Marriage Plot--also an acclaimed national bestseller--and the beloved The Virgin Suicides.
Featuring unseen stories from one of the most eclectic, dynamic fiction writers working today, Fresh Complaint brings together works both new and previously published--including the crème de la crème of Eugenides's beloved New Yorker stories, never before collected between two covers.
Jeffrey Eugenides's bestselling novels have shown that he is an astute observer of the crises of adolescence, sexual identity, self-discovery, family love and what it means to be an American in our times. The stories in Fresh Complaint continue that tradition. Ranging from the reproductive antics of "Baster" to the wry, moving account of a young traveller's search for enlightenment in "Air Mail" (selected by Annie Proulx for The Best American Short Stories 1997), this collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national crises. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other people's wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art collapse under the obligations of marriage and fatherhood; and, in "Bronze," a sexually confused college freshman whose encounter with a stranger on a train leads to a revelation about his past and his future. Narratively compelling, beautifully written and packed with a density of ideas that belie their fluid grace, Fresh Complaint proves Eugenides to be a master of the short form as well as the long.
Showcasing stories from as far back as the 1980s and as recently as 2017, Fresh Complaint is the career-spanning collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Best known for the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Middlesex, Eugenides here collects the stories he has been steadily producing through the years. The earliest story, "Capricious Gardens," originates from Eugenides's M.F.A. thesis. In it, two American backpackers spend the night at the home of a recently divorced Irishman. Its plot (the host desires one of the travelers, but her companion has other plans) is of less importance than the structural experimentation. In the humorous "The Oracular Vulva," "the famous sexologist" Dr. Peter Luce (also featured in Middlesex) makes one last, uncomfortable attempt to salvage his theory of intersexuality and his prestige by journeying into a remote jungle village to do field work. "Airmail" is an epistolary account of a young man's journey towards enlightenment and gastric peace in India. "Baster" is a tale of a woman taking her fertility into her own hands with a marvelous O. Henry ending. The title story is an adroit and moving exploration of an Indian-American teenager's desperate attempts to avoid an arranged marriage. "The Great Experiment" is the collection's highlight: working for a small press called Great Experiment run by Jimmy Boyko, an elderly former pornographer turned free speech advocate Kendall spends his days collecting quotes from de Tocqueville's Democracy in America for a slim volume to be entitled The Pocket Democracy. When Jimmy's accountant tells Kendall over drinks, "If you and I weren't so honest we could make a lot of money" by embezzling from Jimmy's publishing venture, Kendall must weigh the price of his integrity against taking his slice of the American Dream. The collection is uneven, but even the weakest story is never boring, and Eugenides's prodigious abilities are showcased throughout.
