American Estrangement: Stories
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- 8,49 €
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- 8,49 €
Publisher Description
Finalist for the 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 Story Prize
A New York Times Editors' Choice pick
One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021
Stories that capture our times by “a young author who has already established himself as a unique American voice” (Elle).
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as "a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain." His new collection of stories—some of which have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, and the Best American Short Stories—is set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to readers of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles—a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction—even as they are battered by larger, often invisible, economic, political, and racial forces of American society.
Searing, intimate, often slyly funny, and always marked by a deep imaginative sympathy, American Estrangement is a testament to our addled times. It will cement Sayrafiezadeh’s reputation as one of the essential twenty-first-century American writers.
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Sayrafiezadeh's rich collection (after Brief Encounters with the Enemy) features poignant stories of characters reflecting on their parents and navigating mismatched jobs. "Audition" features an unnamed wannabe actor who "never breaks character" while working construction for his father. The actor's confident narration masks his insecurity as he experiences "the meaning of hard work up close and personal." Later, he takes to smoking crack with a coworker. The last entry, "A Beginner's Guide to Estrangement," is reminiscent of Cheever as it depicts a son trying to find common ground when he reunites with his father after 15 years. In between are more gems. "Last Meal at Whole Foods" recounts a son, whose mother is dying, wistfully observing, "Her beauty is a vexing and unresolved public issue for me." In "A, S, D, F," a gallery receptionist who sees "everything through the prism of the abstract expressionist's paintbrush," tries to stave off boredom. But the futuristic "Fairground," about a man taking his preteen stepson to see an execution, feels out of place among the realist entries. Nevertheless, Sayrafiezadeh vividly captures his characters' misplaced optimism, which is what makes these stories so moving.
