Dark Roots
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- US$11.99
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- US$11.99
출판사 설명
"Heartbreakingly detailed . . . vibrant—and vital" prize-winning stories by an Australian contributor to The New Yorker (Entertainment Weekly).
In this "coolly exact . . . sharp, evocative and often poetic" collection of award-winning short fiction, Cate Kennedy daringly travels to the deepest depths of the human psyche to explore the collision between simmering inner lives, the cold outside world, and the hidden motivations that propel us all to act (The New York Times Book Review).
Kennedy captures entire lives, expertly documenting the risks and compromises made in both forging and escaping relationships. Her "17 standout stories" are populated by people on the brink: whether it's a woman floundering with her own loss and emotional immobility as her lover lies in a coma; a neglected wife who cannot convince her husband of the truth about his two brutish, shamelessly libidinous friends; or a married woman who comes to realize that her too-tight wedding ring isn't the only thing that's stuck in her relationship (Elle). Each character must make a choice and none is without consequence—even the smallest decisions have the power to destroy or renew, to recover and relinquish.
Devastating, evocative, richly comic, and "full of provocative messages, tantalizingly revealed", Dark Roots deftly unveils the traumas that incite us to desperate measures and the coincidences that drive our lives (O, The Oprah Magazine). "With an effortless talent for the comic and the chilling, Cate Kennedy has crafted stories that are sly, seductive, and surprising. A standout debut" (Alicia Erian, author of Towelhead).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Critically acclaimed in Australia, Kennedy made her first stateside splash last year in the New Yorker and now follows that up with this revelatory collection. Set mostly in unnamed Australian locales, the stories are particularly concerned with the plight of women in social arenas where they're expected to be less than stellar, often for the sake of male egos. "Seizure" chronicles a woman realizing her live-in boyfriend's emotional selfishness after she witnesses a kind stranger aid an epileptic man. "Wheelbarrow Thief" focuses on a beautiful, intelligent publicist who is reduced to a dinner party accessory by her professor boyfriend. And "The Testosterone Club" is a delicious revenge fantasy spearheaded by a wife who has had enough of her husband choosing his buddies over her. Other highlights include "Angel," in which a Vietnamese refugee dissects alienation in Australia while striving to take care of a child. The title story is a vivid dissection of the inner turmoil of a 39-year-old woman dating a 26-year-old-man. And the pi ce de r sistance? That would be "Soundtrack," an inspired, sublime take on family. Kennedy's prose walks the line between sparse and lush, and she trusts that her readers welcome well-articulated ideas balanced with reassuring doses of mystery.
