In the Balance (A Collection of Short Stories)

Every Joy Williams publication is a cause for celebration, and Ninety-Nine Stories of God shows Williams in her usual biting, insightful, and darkly humorous form. As the title implies, this is a collection of 99 flash fiction pieces. Some read like short stories, others like fables, aphorisms, or newspaper columns. But all of them are exquisitely written and thought-provoking. This is something many literary writers forget or even disdain: In addition to the narrator reporting on her own life, she also tells the stories of the people she meets.

You can also read our interview with Majka. Loosely connected, the stories create a web the reader walks into without realizing it: You can also read a story from the collection in Recommended Reading. Her characters are lonely, obsessive, and sometimes otherworldly. In the title story a high school student named Natalie molests a mentally handicapped boy.

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You can also read a short story from the collection in Recommended Reading. No literary mechanics or plot devices came into play; the writer, now magician, simply won you over and off you went. Books and stories are a form of escapism for many of us. One story focuses entirely on the shifting relationship between a group of bears and the humans living nearby; another story leaps ahead several decades at its conclusion to show how the aftereffects of its violent resolution are perceived in the decades to come by people with no knowledge of the events described.

Puberty rites, a child bride, a burning city, comically horrific families? Man and Wife hits the story collection trifecta of story, sentences, and book-ness. Each story is excellent; there are no duds or space-fillers. And the stories work together without feeling repetitive. Wealthy Perihan only visits Egypt during the summer, whereas Aisha lives there full-time and even then rarely ventures beyond the paths of her daily routine.

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On a trip to the beach, she compares Perihan to a soaring kite and herself to a novelty pet crab on a leash, an image that manages to be all at once weird, hilarious, melodramatic, gorgeous, and sincerely resonant. From a mother vacationing with a reluctant teenage son, to woman who is anti-wedding but throws a Couplehood Jubilee, to an over-zealous applicant for an HR job at a t-shirt manufacturing company, the characters we meet in the 13 stories will upset your expectations every time.

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The Complete Short Stories: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a product review. See all customer images. Showing of 23 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

One of the best writer of short stories ever. I got introduced to him in They end with a twist in the last line.

Legends like him don't need a certificate from me. I want to know if the stories are ok for 8 year olds..

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Who say's this guy is a children's author? There is no short story writer as good as Roald Dahl. This is a great collection of short stories by Dahl for adult readers. Amazon is my favourite shopping site specially books.



It was well packed and promptly delivered. Good print quality, paper quality and font size. See all 23 reviews. Would you like to see more reviews about this item?

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