Sweet and Low
Stories
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF SUMMER 2018 BY O Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post, The Millions, Southern Living, POPSUGAR, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Review of Books
Praised by the Washington Post as "Tennessee Williams . . . transposed to the twenty-first-century South," Nick White returns with a stunning short-story collection that tackles issues of masculinity, identity, and place, with a sharp eye for social commentary and a singular handling of character.
At first glance, the stories in Sweet and Low seem grounded in the everyday: they paint pictures of idyllic Southern landscapes, characters fulfilling their roles as students, wives, boyfriends, sons. But they are not what they seem. In these stories, Nick White deconstructs the core qualities of Southern fiction, exposing deeply flawed and fascinating characters--promiscuous academics, aging podcasters, woodpecker assassins, and lawnmower enthusiasts, among others--all on wildly compelling quests. From finding an elusive bear to locating a prized timepiece to making love on the grave of an iconic writer, each story is a thrilling adventure with unexpected turns. White's honest and provocative prose will jolt readers awake with its urgency.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
White's brilliant first story collection (following the novel How to Survive a Summer) peels back the curtain on masculinity and identity in the Deep South. The stories are split into two parts the first features misfits reeling from death, disillusionment, and trauma, while the second captures angles of aspiring writer Forney Culpepper's life. Each illuminates sympathetic characters who feel painfully out of place, throwing the strangeness of their circumstances into sharp relief. In "Gaitlinburg," a couple's vacation in the Smoky Mountains is shadowed by the threat of a bear wandering the area plus something more sinister which exposes the relationship's fault lines. "Lady Tigers" finds high school aged Rusty serving as bus driver for a girls' softball team formerly coached by his deceased father, until an accident reveals secrets linking him to one of the players. And in the title story, a young Forney watches his mother pursue a long dreamed-of singing career with irritation, until her performance at a cigarette smoke choked club opens his eyes to her in a novel and terrifying way. White's stirring stories probe the inextricable ways people's identities are bound to and shaped by their environments, and what happens when they attempt to rise above. This is an atmospheric and expertly crafted collection.
