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Title details for Fresh Complaint by Jeffrey Eugenides - Available

Fresh Complaint

by Jeffrey Eugenides
Ari Fliakos
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 'What was it about complaining that felt so good? You and your fellow sufferer emerging from a thorough session as if from a spa bath, refreshed and tingling?' The first-ever collection of short stories from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides presents characters in the midst of personal and national emergencies. We meet Kendall, a failed poet who, envious of other people's wealth during the real estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; and Mitchell, a lovelorn liberal arts graduate on a search for enlightenment; and Prakrti, a high school student whose wish to escape the strictures of her family leads to a drastic decision that upends the life of a middle-aged academic. Jeffrey Eugenides's bestselling novels Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides and The Marriage Plot have shown him to be an astute observer of the crises of adolescence, self-discovery and family love. These stories, from one of our greatest authors, explore equally rich and intriguing territory. Narratively compelling and beautifully written, Fresh Complaint shows all of Eugenides's trademark humour, compassion and complex understanding of what it is to be human.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 5, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780008243814
      • File size: 231916 KB
      • Duration: 08:03:09

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The theme of complaint extends beyond the title story, but for listeners the key takeaway is the word "fresh." Jeffrey Eugenides's fresh writing merges the mundane with the meaningful. "Airmail," with a plot that fuses amoebic dysentery with spiritual enlightenment, showcases his originality and--since he also narrates it--his ability to navigate multiple accents and personalities. The audio production does have flaws, though. Cynthia Nixon appears miscast in "The Baster," a story with a male first-person narrator. Still, her performances of it and her other story, "Complainers," are stellar. Ari Fliakos narrates the remaining stories with good instincts and character interplay, but a wavering Irish accent injures his efforts. These complaints should not deter listeners from hearing the more profound stories in this collection. K.W. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 7, 2017
      Best known for the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Middlesex, Eugenides here collects the stories he has been steadily producing through the years. The earliest story, “Capricious Gardens,” originates from Eugenides’s M.F.A. thesis. In it, two American backpackers spend the night at the home of a recently divorced Irishman. Its plot (the host desires one of the travelers, but her companion has other plans) is of less importance than the structural experimentation. In the humorous “The Oracular Vulva,” “the famous sexologist” Dr. Peter Luce (also featured in Middlesex) makes one last, uncomfortable attempt to salvage his theory of intersexuality and his prestige by journeying into a remote jungle village to do field work. “Airmail” is an epistolary account of a young man’s journey towards enlightenment—and gastric peace—in India. “Baster” is a tale of a woman taking her fertility into her own hands with a marvelous O. Henry ending. The title story is an adroit and moving exploration of an Indian-American teenager’s desperate attempts to avoid an arranged marriage. “The Great Experiment” is the collection’s highlight: working for a small press called Great Experiment—run by Jimmy Boyko, an elderly former pornographer turned free speech advocate—Kendall spends his days collecting quotes from de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America for a slim volume to be entitled The Pocket Democracy. When Jimmy’s accountant tells Kendall over drinks, “If you and I weren’t so honest we could make a lot of money” by embezzling from Jimmy’s publishing venture, Kendall must weigh the price of his integrity against taking his slice of the American Dream. The collection is uneven, but even the weakest story is never boring, and Eugenides’s prodigious abilities are showcased throughout.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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