Listening for Ghosts
A Novella and Four Stories
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In these disquieting tales of confronting the past, the author and playwright showcases his "keen ear for how people talk, think, and behave" (Publishers Weekly).
Listening for Ghosts collects some of David Rabe's most compelling short fiction of the past few years, including three stories that appeared in the New Yorker. In "Things We Worried About When I Was Ten," a group of seemingly carefree Midwestern boys are revealed to be egregiously uncared for by their parents. "The Longer Grief" is a slow-motion explosion, as one moment in time propels shards of reckoning through the shared history of a brother and sister. In "Uncle Jim Called," a man cooking stir fry answers a phone call from the dead . "Suffocation Theory" slyly depicts our off-kilter and increasingly apocalyptic world.
In the novella, I Have to Tell You, the elderly tenants of a Midwestern apartment complex seek fairness from a conniving landlord. When an emergency stay in the hospital brings a near-octogenarian named Emma face-to-face with looming injustice, she finds herself burdened with two mysteries to solve. She may never get to the bottom of them, but she is determined to do all she can.
Also included are "Things We Worried About When I Was Ten," which won the 2021 O. Henry Prize, and "The Longer Grief," which won first prize in the 2019 Narrative Story Contest.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this skillful if uneven collection from playwright and novelist Rabe (Hurlyburly), characters contend with their pasts amid uneasy situations. The strong opener, "Things We Worried About When I Was Ten," follows two young boys in their efforts to avoid bullying or getting caught peeping on the neighbors. An explosive scene involves a woman losing her thumb in a meat grinder. In "The Longer Grief," a recent widower and his sister deal with their feelings over their father's new marriage. Absurdist situations feature in two of the weaker stories. There's "Uncle Jim Called," in which a man gets a phone call from his two dead uncles; and "Suffocation Theory," in which a man is surprised by the possibility that his partner could be having an affair. The best entry is the novella "I Have to Tell You," about Emma Skayhill, an octogenarian who in her loneliness feels detached from the world. During an unexpected hospital stay, Emma witnesses the abuse of her roommate by a nurse and is troubled by the subsequent investigation. Rabe's characters all suffer uneasy torments, and his keen ear for how people talk, think, and behave makes these stories resonate. Not everything works, but there's plenty here to earn the price of admission.
