The Wrong Heaven
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کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
Starred review from March 1, 2018
At once goofy, poignant, and edged with the fantastic, the stories in Bonnaffons's debut collection initially surprise, then turn into one long, delicious rush--you just have to get into the author's frame of mind. For class, a floundering grade-school teacher buys two cheap plastic statues--an Electric Jesus and a Flashing Virgin--that when plugged in come alive and finally become overbearing. ("Said Mary, ...'You are loved. You are loved. You are loved.' 'Possibly, ' said Jesus.") A newly engaged lawyer hangs out at JoyfulSongTime, obsessively singing along to a song she cannot get out of her head and finally collapsing crying in the booth. A woman exhaustively queries a doctor about becoming a horse via a newly discovered procedure, finally finding "alert acceptance." Cancer-afflicted Doris obliges friend Katie by cutting her hair, but sobbing Katie won't let Doris cut her own. Throughout, Bonnaffons shows us absurdity and carefully managed pain. VERDICT Not just fun but full of smart ideas; as the woman-become-horse observes, "Would you rather transform your Core, or your entire being?"
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2018
At once goofy, poignant, and edged with the fantastic, the stories in Bonnaffons's debut collection initially surprise, then turn into one long, delicious rush--you just have to get into the author's frame of mind. For class, a floundering grade-school teacher buys two cheap plastic statues--an Electric Jesus and a Flashing Virgin--that when plugged in come alive and finally become overbearing. ("Said Mary, ...'You are loved. You are loved. You are loved.' 'Possibly, ' said Jesus.") A newly engaged lawyer hangs out at JoyfulSongTime, obsessively singing along to a song she cannot get out of her head and finally collapsing crying in the booth. A woman exhaustively queries a doctor about becoming a horse via a newly discovered procedure, finally finding "alert acceptance." Cancer-afflicted Doris obliges friend Katie by cutting her hair, but sobbing Katie won't let Doris cut her own. Throughout, Bonnaffons shows us absurdity and carefully managed pain. VERDICT Not just fun but full of smart ideas; as the woman-become-horse observes, "Would you rather transform your Core, or your entire being?"
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from May 14, 2018
In the stories of her imaginative and unsettling debut, Bonnaffons creates worlds much like ours, except for the parts that are askew. Sometimes noticeably askew, as in the title story, which features Jesus and Mary lawn statues that talk (and judge); sometimes almost unnoticeably, as in “The Cleas,” a tale of babysitting—and the deeply problematic relationships between men and women—told by a recent college grad. Except for the excellent “Doris and Katie,” about two old friends coming to terms with sex and death, the stories feature youngish women trying to figure out what they can legitimately expect from men, the world, and themselves. In the longest and strongest story, “Horse,” Bonnaffons imagines a world where women—only women—can become horses through injections; the story’s narrator injects herself with the horse hormones at the same time her best friend is injecting herself with hormones to help her get pregnant. Some feature magical realism—“Black Stones,” “Little Sister,” and “A Room to Live In”—but when Bonnaffons hits the sweet spot between the emotional and physical realities of this world and the odd, askew thing that lets readers see them, the collection is at its best. This is an outstanding, exciting debut.
May 15, 2018
In her first collection, Bonnaffons dazzles and cuts with 10 hilarious and cathartic short stories. Though the pieces vary in tone and format, they uniformly focus on a complex female protagonist. The author employs a modern magical realism, absurd, nihilistic, and playful all at once. In The Other One, a jet-setting lawyer experiences an existential crisis that manifests itself by playing Alanis Morissette's Hand in My Pocket in the lawyer's head on loop, the only cure to such a malady being to leave work in the middle of the day and have a private Alanis karaoke session. In Horse, a woman feeling foreign in her body decides to transition into a horse and move to a Florida farm to live as a wild beast. In A Room to Live In, a dollhouse designer reckons with her own home dynamics by learning from the actions of the tiny buildings' inhabitats, who've come to life. Resonant of Alissa Nutting's novels and George Saunders' Pastoralia (2000), Bonnaffon's first collection presents a powerful and fresh new voice.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
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