Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Fiction from a National Book Award-winning author and "short-story writer of substantial gifts and reputation" (The New York Times).
From National Book Award Winner Ellen Gilchrist, a pillar of Southern literature hailed by the Washington Post as "a national treasure," comes a colorful collection of short stories integrating favorite characters with captivating newcomers. Rhoda's reveling in her childhood and infinite possibility in "The Tree Fort" and "The Time Capsule" is juxtaposed with her darker adulthood in "Mexico." Nora Jane returns alongside Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who predicts the birth of her twins. Fans of Gilchrist won't want to miss the author's exploration of the many stages of life—and the lightness and darkness each can bring.
"Several stories in Gilchrist's latest collection are distinguished by her old magic—they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer of knowledge beneath their nostalgic tone."—Publishers Weekly
"A validation of the author's skill and versatility. Gilchrist creates new experiences for characters from earlier stories and … creates new characters who reveal her skill in portraying character and place."—Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although several stories in Gilchrist's ( The Anna Papers ) latest collection are distinguished by her old magic--they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer of knowledge beneath their nostalgiac tone--too many of them seem self-indulgent and self-referential, as though Gilchrist is writing only for readers familiar with her established characters. So although we are glad to read the three tales that harken back to the shared childhoods of Rhoda, Dudley and Saint John, the fourth, ``Mexico,'' in which they are jaded adults, is a disappointment. (Much married and divorced, Rhoda, who once was so fascinating, seems tasteless and self-absorbed.) Nora Jane returns in the title story and two others, and these are vivified by the debut of a new character, Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who has analyzed Nora's amniocentesis, and predicts the futures of her unborn twins; in one of the stories, Nora gives birth to the twins in gory detail. In two other tales, unfortunately histrionic and foolishly sentimental, Barrett Clare discovers her real mother. Gilchrist's stylistic ticks--several of her characters quote Matthew Arnold, and nearly all are obsessed with the color yellow--become somewhat exasperating in a writer with talent to burn.
