The White Man In The Tree

Oct 22, 2024 4:43 AM

Author:Mark Kurlansky

The White man in the Tree is a comedy of cultural misunderstanding set in the Caribbean, New York and Paris, a novella and eight stories about people who, because of their differences - between men and women, blacks and whites, Jews and Christians, rich and poor - misjudge each other. Celebrated for his non-fiction, Mark Kurlansky is equally at home with fiction: he has an ability to unmask our foibles and write about love with great wit and humour.Whether it is a sophisticated European filmmaker, an ambitious young black Haitian woman, a promising politician obsessed with women's feet, or a fish-out-of-water rabbi in search of a kosher chicken in Curacao, each of Kurlansky's characters engages us with impulses and interactions that are by turns comic, insightful and poignant. The White Man in the Tree is an affectionate portrait of a unique society, where Europe, America, Africa and Asia meet Latin America. Filled with surprises and delight as Kurlansky approaches each scene from a new and unexpected angle, The White Man in the Tree is a tender, wholly original and thoroughly entertaining fiction debut.

Reviews

Munro is a great realist, and her powers come from her sense of the way in which communities – especially small, socially anxious, limited ones – construct and guard their reality.

—— James Wood , London Review of Books

One of the most esteemed writers in the world... Few writers capture the moral ambiguities, murkiness, messiness - and joy - of relationships with as much empathy and grace as Munro... An outstanding showcase for Munro's scrupulous, humane, unnervingly perceptive vision

—— Guardian

Her work is practically perfect. Any writer has to gawk when reading her because her work is very subtle and precise

—— Jane Smiley

The best short story writer alive... Munro can pack more into one of her stories - more subtlety, more grace, more tender twists of the human heart - than many novelists do in a lifetime's oeuvre

—— Independent

One of the world's best living short-story writers... To say that she has made the short story her own and reinvigorated it somehow falls short - she has reinvented it

—— Observer

Alice Munro! Now that's writing

—— Margaret Atwood

That Munro is a great writer of short stories should go without saying. She is also one of the two or three best writers of fiction (of any length) now alive

—— Sunday Times

This superb collection...confirms Munro's place as the laureate of thwarted passion - and quite possibly the greatest short-story writer at work today

—— Daily Telegraph

Previous Article：The Hill Bachelors Next Article：Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.