Author:Donald Ray Pollock
In 'Lard', Duane's virginity is getting to be a problem. Not so much for Duane as it is for his friends and his father-whose workmates rib him mercilessly about his son's frigidity. Deciding that his friends' regular outlets are not to his taste, Duane sets about fabricating an encounter.
In 'Schott's Bridge', Todd has 'too much sugar in him' for Knockemstiff. Even so, he ignores his grandmother's dying wish that he use the two thousand dollars she'd bequeathed him in a coffee jar to get himself out of town. Kicked out of the house by his uncle, he takes to living by the creek with Frankie Johnson and a daunting supply of hallucinogenic drugs.
Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.
Exquisite...these stories sparkle with the fire of real diamonds.
—— The TimesContemporary Indian fiction writers are among the finest in the world, and Desai at her best, as she is throughout this collection, has deservedly won her place alongside them.
—— Irish TimesUnsentimental, dazzling, funny and achingly sad.
—— Literary ReviewAll her stories are full of a confidence in human nature that is a rarity and a pleasure to encounter.
—— The SpectatorAnita Desai is one of the most brilliant and subtle writers ever to have described the meeting of eastern and western culture.
—— Alison LurieSpine-chilling twists and turns - Graham Greene eat your heart out
—— TatlerDarien Dogs is a bullishly confident and vivacious collection
—— Time OutBeautifully paced and pitched
—— IndependentThese stories are shored up with sentences and paragraphs that demand immediate re-reading for their cleverness and warmth…This party is well worth attending
—— IndependentThis collection shows a writer quietly growing in style, perception and grace. She conveys to the reader that rare ability to see completely into someone else’s head
—— SpectatorAccomplished ... confident
—— Sunday TimesThe ghost of Katherine Mansfield hovers lightly over these deceptively delicate snapshots which zero in on the much maligned territory of the domestic and make it new and vital again
—— Metro