Touchy Subjects
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3.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A man finds God and finally wants to father a child—only his wife is now forty-three years old. A coach’s son discovers
his sexuality on the football field. A roommate’s bizarre secret liberates a repressed young woman. From the unforeseen consequences of a polite social lie to the turmoil caused by a single hair on a woman’s chin, Donoghue dramatizes the seemingly small acts upon which our lives often turn. Many of these stories involve animals and what they mean to us, or babies and whether to have them; some replay Biblical plots in modern contexts. With characters old, young, straight, gay and simply confused, Donoghue dazzles with her range and her ability to touch lightly but delve deeply into the human condition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In contrast to previous books focused on feminist retellings of fairy tales (Kissing the Witch) and revisionist imaginings of historical and folkloric female figures (The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits), Irish writer Donoghue's latest, a set of 19 witty tales, remains firmly planted in Ireland's present. Divided into five sections "Babies," "Domesticity," "Strangers," "Desire," "Death" the book has one unifying theme: the characters' constant need for revision of assumptions, perceptions and expectations in light of new information. In "Expecting," a woman re-evaluates her maternal instincts when a stranger misinterprets her condition. Elsewhere, a heartbroken young woman uses a trip abroad to indulge her fantasies of being Catherine Deneuve or Isadora Duncan, but discovers true healing in a more unlikely incarnation. In "The Sanctuary of Hands," a bitter, washed-up writer finds true genius during his yearlong residency, but not in the way he expected. Throughout, Donoghue offers deadpan asides about the trappings of the recent boom times in Ireland.
