Something Is Out There
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In these eleven unforgettable stories, Richard Bausch plumbs the depths of familial and marital estrangement, the gulfs between friends and lovers, the fragility and impermanence of love—and manages to find something quite surprising: human hope.
"A writer at the very top of his form. . . . So emotionally insightful, so masterful in subtle manipulation of plot and theme that the sheer beauty of the stories’ construction will move you almost as much as what happens in them.”—San Francisco Chronicle
With his signature grace, penetrating wit, and richly nuanced prose, Bausch explores the fragile bonds between husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and lovers—the gulfs that can open even in our most intimate connections, and the impermanence of love itself. Yet amid the estrangement and yearning, the miscommunications and betrayals, glimmers of resilient hope emerge. From the poignant unraveling of a long marriage to the bittersweet musings of a widower facing an uncertain future, these masterfully crafted tales showcase Bausch's unparalleled talent for illuminating our most profound human experiences.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fissures of familial and amorous transgressions erupt in the seemingly placid lives of everyday people in Bausch's eighth collection (after novel, Peace), where power outages, raging snow storms and the sweeping Mississippi River form a backdrop seething with looming menace for unhappy marriages and drowning dreams. In subtle but firm prose, Bausch allows his characters to stumble along a harrowing path that they hope will lead them to be, as the protagonist of "Blood" proclaims, "Free at last." But freedom is elusive for many characters, including the two women and two children of the title story who hide out in a house during a storm. Elsewhere, sacred ground be it the bed of a minister and his wife, a friend's marriage or a confessional booth forms the stage for the pursuit of pleasure, healing and escape. Throughout, Bausch takes the chaotic fallout from simple acts delaying a friend's husband so she can plan a surprise party, killing time on an errand, sleeping in and nearly missing an appointment to show how dangerously close we may be to encountering a predatory world eager to destroy our comforts, relationships and beliefs.
