Autocorrect
Stories
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From one of the preeminent literary voices in Israel comes a darkly funny collection of surrealist stories exploring the increasingly complex relationship between humans and technology.
Set in our world, alternate realities, distant futures, and the immortal realm, the stories in Autocorrect traverse the wide range of human experience. With wit and creativity, Keret blends the absurd and the profound, juxtaposing life's smallest details with weighty existential questions. A man names an asteroid after his wife only to find that it's on a collision course with Earth in "For the Woman Who Has Everything." In "Squirrels," a widower's husband reincarnates as a rodent, and "Eating Olives at the End of the World" considers proper social etiquette in the face of destruction.
Keret's collection speaks to the uncertainty and fragility of our time, expertly capturing its misunderstandings and miscommunications. His stories probe society's uncomfortable truths, searching for meaning in our ever-changing world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 33 pieces in this entertaining collection from Keret (Fly Already) lay bare the absurdities, anxieties, and ironies of contemporary existence. In the Cinderella story "Soulo," a neuroscientist who cofounded the Faculty of Loneliness Studies of the Berlin Free University designs a robotic companion who fits her every need. The bickering childless couple in "Chinese Singles Day" buy a bargain-priced dining set complete with a free baby seat, which forces them to discuss whether they plan to have children. The fatalistic "Genesis, Chapter 0" chronicles a man's existential frustrations, beginning with the boredom he feels after recovering from chronic pain following an accident and continuing through his difficult marriage (their couple's therapist views their relationship as "an incurable disease") and his worries about his son's military service. War's terror and absurdity permeate several of the entries, such as the breathtaking "Cherry Garcia Memories with M&Ms on Top," which begins with the line, "Sometimes I wonder how many of the people I know have ever killed someone," before describing a nightmarish face-off between two opposing soldiers whose rifles have jammed. Taken together, these vignettes form a vibrant tapestry of surprising depth.
