Ladies And Gentlemen
Stories
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Ladies and Gentlemen -- the eagerly awaited collection of short stories by Adam Ross, whose stunning debut novel, Mr. Peanut, received wide international acclaim. In a New York Times Book Review cover story, Scott Turow called Ross an “author of prodigious talent,” while New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani dubbed him “a literary gymnast . . . [and] a sorcerer with words” with “David Foster Wallace–like descriptive powers.” Set in New York, Virginia and Nashville, Ladies and Gentlemen is about our constant struggle to resist the temptation of cruelty and the power of stories we tell to save or doom us, and it confirms the author’s wide-ranging talent, leaving no reader unimpressed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This competent if unspectacular collection from Mr. Peanut author Ross lacks a standout, with each tale only fitfully coming alive, usually when the plot turns cruel. In "Futures," an unemployed man goes for a series of progressively stranger job interviews while also coming to the aid of a neighbor, both to crushing results. In "The Rest of It," a maintenance man's story of a crazy night out leaves an academic with a moral quandary and an excuse to speak to his ex-wife. "When in Rome" is a mini-epic of betrayal, and "Ladies and Gentlemen" is the story of a married woman flying cross-country to meet a man "she'd kissed in college nearly two decades ago." "In the Basement," the most memorable of these dark pieces, is an existential horror story triggered by a Christmas card. There are crisp turns of phrase a character in "Futures" likens his walking around with a fat wad of cash in his pocket to "how a camel must feel about his hump" and some memorable images, but the stories tend to ramble and too often depend on long stretches of characters talking or reminiscing to advance plots. While Ross is clearly talented, the short story isn't his m tier.
