We live in water - Kirjakasa

177 pages

English language

Published Dec. 30, 2013 by Harper Perennial.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-192662-4
OCLC Number:: 795757303

(1 review)

"We Live in Water, the first collection of short fiction from New York Times bestselling author Jess Walter, is a suite of diverse, often comic stories about personal struggle and diminished dreams, all of them marked by the wry wit and generosity of spirit that has made him one of our most talked-about writers. In "Thief," a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to find out which of his kids is stealing from the family vacation fund. In "We Live in Water," a lawyer returns to a corrupt North Idaho town to find the father who disappeared thirty years earlier. In "Anything Helps," a homeless man has to "go to cardboard" to raise enough money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book. In "Virgo," a local newspaper editor tries to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope. And the collection's final story transforms slyly from …

"We Live in Water, the first collection of short fiction from New York Times bestselling author Jess Walter, is a suite of diverse, often comic stories about personal struggle and diminished dreams, all of them marked by the wry wit and generosity of spirit that has made him one of our most talked-about writers. In "Thief," a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to find out which of his kids is stealing from the family vacation fund. In "We Live in Water," a lawyer returns to a corrupt North Idaho town to find the father who disappeared thirty years earlier. In "Anything Helps," a homeless man has to "go to cardboard" to raise enough money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book. In "Virgo," a local newspaper editor tries to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope. And the collection's final story transforms slyly from a portrait of Walter's hometown into a moving contemplation of our times."--from cover, p. [4]

1 edition

Thom reviewed We live in water by Jess Walter

Review of 'We live in water' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This collection of short stories are about men, mostly in poverty or crime or both, right here in the Pacific Northwest (mostly Spokane). Characters are created over a few paragraphs, completely different and yet with some dark similarities.

The closest comparison is [a:Sherman Alexie|4174|Sherman Alexie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1333515890p2/4174.jpg], whose stories have similar starting points. However, his stories often have hope or a greater purpose - Walter's stories are more vignettes of a time, often hopeless. The intolerance, prejudice and poverty leave the reader with weighty thoughts. Many for me were awfully close to home. I enjoyed most of "Don't Eat Cat" and all of "Statistical Abstract For My Home Town, Spokane, Washington".

Subjects

American Short stories