Honey in the Carcase
Stories
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
Both absurd and melancholy, Honey in the Carcase, the newest collection from award-winning Josip Novakovich, moves from scenes as familiar as a dinner party to the brutal landscapes of war-torn Southeast Europe. A man tends bees amid the bombed-out husks of his village. A young girl takes revenge for the loss of a precious life. A Yugoslav drifter finds himself at dead ends in the American heartland. A marriage splinters over a suspicious scent. A cat and a dog enact ancient enmity in the midst of a warzone. An old debt is repaid. And a boy and a juvenile hawk seem to be on a similar quest for freedom and adventure, though violence lurks in the wilds just beyond the window.
Novakovich, hailed as “one of the best short-story writers of the decade” (Kirkus Reviews), approaches each story with the signature insight, wit, and compassion that have brought him distinction as winner of the American Book Award and Whiting Writer’s Award, and a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novakovich's 14 remarkable stories explore the contemporary state of alienation, both physical and emotional. In "Lies," set in war-torn Croatia, a slightly older brother convinces his sibling that he possesses a squadron of miniature soldiers. A young man with a poetic soul and no lover bemoans the current age and its lack of romance in "A Variation on a Theme of Boccaccio." A hitchhiker from Yugoslavia experiences ignorance and racism as he travels across the Midwest in "Tumbleweed." In "Charity Deductions," a man identifying himself as "proud to be an American" gets so exasperated by the war in Bosnia he watches coverage of on CNN that he goes to help, in person, leading to unexpected consequences. In these stories, a straight-faced absurdity often simmers just below the surface. "My Hairs Stood Up" is narrated by a rodent, and in the title story, a young husband takes refuge from the madness of war by keeping bees bees that add a haunting coda to the tale's ending. Every story in this collection from Novakovich (April Fool's Day) begins with a straightforward statement of premise "At a Soho pub, David hosted a reunion of his friends from college" yet his prose is so balanced and apt, with not a superfluous clause or descriptor, that it always lands artfully. This is a haunting, accomplished collection.
