Wait till you see me dance stories

Available from OverDrive (1)

Something

Summary

"Deb Olin Unferth's stories are so smart, fast, full of heart, and distinctive in voice-each an intense little thought-system going out earnestly in search of strange new truths. What an important and exciting talent."-George Saunders For more than ten years, Deb Olin Unferth has been publishing startlingly askew, wickedly comic, cutting-edge fiction in magazines such as Granta, Harper's Magazine, McSweeney's, NOON, and The Paris Review. Her stories are revered by some of the best American writers of our day, but until now there has been no stand-alone collection of her short fiction. Wait Till You See Me Dance consists of several extraordinary longer stories as well as a selection of intoxicating very short stories. In the chilling "The First Full Thought of Her Life," a shooter gets in position while a young girl climbs a sand dune. In "Voltaire Night," students compete to tell a story about the worst thing that ever happened to them. In "Stay Where You Are," two oblivious travelers in Central America are kidnapped by a gunman they assume to be an insurgent-but the gunman has his own problems. An Unferth story lures you in with a voice that seems amiable and lighthearted, but it swerves in sudden and surprising ways that reveal, in terrifying clarity, the rage, despair, and profound mournfulness that have taken up residence at the heart of the American dream. These stories often take place in an exaggerated or heightened reality, a quality that is reminiscent of the work of Donald Barthelme, Lorrie Moore, and George Saunders, but in Unferth's unforgettable collection she carves out territory that is entirely her own.

Contents

1. Likable ; Pet ; Wait till you see me dance ; Stay where you are
2. To the ocean ; The vice president of pretzels ; Defects ; A crossroads ; An opera season ; How to dispel your illusions ; Granted ; My daughter Debbie ; Open water ; The applicant ; The walk ; Online ; Your character ; Fear of trees
3. Voltaire night ; Mr. Simmons takes a prisoner ; The first full thought of her life ; Bride
4. Husband ; The mothers ; Final days ; Decorate, decorate ; 37 seconds ; Interview ; Flaws ; The one fondly mentioned ; Draft ; Welcome ; Boulder ; The last composer ; Yesterday ; Abandon normal instruments ; The magicians ; Dirty joke (in translation)
Mr. Creativity.

Published Reviews

Booklist Review: "Unferth's (Revolution, 2011) forceful collection explores existential moments and assumptions. The 39 short stories and vignettes vary in voice, perspective, and setting. Voltaire Night portrays an alcoholic adjunct who lands a job teaching in an adult-education writing program. The final class ends with a night of drinking, during which the professor challenges the students to share the most traumatic thing that's happened in their lives, with the worst story deemed the winner. This soon becomes a tradition, despite the professor's growing unease, until the confessional competition is knocked off course. In Mr. Simmons Takes a Prisoner, a disaffected father and husband strikes up a one-sided connection with a female inmate as part of a prison-reform program. The brief but haunting A Crossroads captures the unexpected and fleeting contentment found within a small ranch house at the corner of a congested intersection. In Pets, a rescued turtle torments a harried single mother struggling to connect with her son. Unferth's tales expose life's underlying darkness, while offering hard-won moments of clarity that cut straight to the heart.--Strauss, Leah Copyright 2017 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "The title story of this collection of 39 short, odd, funny, disturbing stories features a burned-out ESL instructor who drives her co-worker, the office assistant, to a dance. When the assistant falls down a well during a pit stop, the instructor threatens to abandon her if she doesn't help one of the instructor's students-a gifted musician whose English is terrible-receive a passing grade on his end-of-semester standardized test. The instructor interrupts her narrative three times to discuss It's a Wonderful Life. In "Voltaire Night," students from adult education evening classes compete at telling the worst thing that ever happened to them. Travel tales include "Stay Where You Are," in which a lone rebel takes a tourist couple hostage, and "Welcome," about a foreigner who has outstayed her welcome. Unferth's (Minor Robberies) stories can be as short as one paragraph and often lack plot, names, or segues. One character is called simply "Vice President of Pretzels," which is all that's needed to understand that he won't be any help to his customer. "37 Seconds" consists of a list of fleeting impressions that add up to a man and a woman having an argument. Both traditionally told stories like "Pet" and ingeniously structured pieces like "An Opera Season" and "Abandon Normal Instruments" showcase Unferth's razor-sharp conversational prose and idiosyncratic blend of normal and weird, idealistic and disillusioned. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Additional Information

Subjects	Short stories, American Short stories Short Stories Fiction Electronic books. Short stories.
Publisher	[Place of publication not identified] :Graywolf Press,2017 Graywolf Press2017
Contributors	OverDrive, Inc.
Language	English
System Details	Mode of access: World Wide Web. Format: Adobe EPUB eBook Format: Kindle Book Format: OverDrive Read Requires Adobe Digital Editions or Amazon Kindle
Description	1 online resource
ISBN	9781555979621 9781555979621
Other	Classic View