Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories - Rilegato

Fountain, Ben

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0060885580 ISBN 13: 9780060885588

Casa editrice: Ecco Pr, 2006

Riassunto

The well-intentioned protagonists of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara are caught -- to both disastrous and hilarious effect -- in the maelstrom of political and social upheaval surrounding them. In "Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," an ornithologist being held hostage in the Colombian rain forest finds that he respects his captors for their commitment to a cause, until he realizes that the Revolution looks a lot like big business. In "The Good Ones Are Already Taken," the wife of a Special Forces officer battles a Haitian voodoo goddess with whom her husband is carrying on a not-entirely-spiritual relationship. And in "The Lion's Mouth," a disillusioned aid worker makes a Faustian bargain to become a diamond smuggler for the greater good. With masterful pacing and a robust sense of the absurd, each story in Brief Encounters with Che Guevara is a self-contained adventure, steeped in the heady mix of tragedy and danger, excitement and hope, that characterizes countries in transition.

Through Fountain's rounded and novelistic prose, these intelligent and keenly observed stories are painted in provocative and vibrant detail across a global canvas. Brief Encounters with Che Guevara marks the arrival of a striking and resonant new voice that speaks adeptly to the intimate connection between the foreign, the familiar, and the inescapably human.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

“...exceptional story collection...” (New York Times Book Review)

“In this first collection the author brings the virtuosity of Greene and le Carre to tales of foreign adventures.” (Boston Globe)

“Brilliant...” (Seattle Times)

“An impressive and entertaining book of short stories...” (Newsday)

“An impeccable debut collection; if Fountain can keep it up, he’s an heir to Paul Theroux.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Exhilarating first story collection.” (New York Newsday)

“...exceptional story collection...” (Raleigh News & Observer)

“Ben Fountain writes deftly about fear and disorientation abroad in his first story collection.” (Outside magazine)

“[Fountain] is a gifted storyteller and his collection will blow your literary socks off.” (Tucson Citizen)

“Wildly plotted, astutely observed, and beautifully rendered.” (Daivd Means, author of Assorted Fire Events and The Secret Goldfish)

L'autore:

Ben Fountain was born in Chapel Hill and grew up in the tobacco country of eastern North Carolina. A former practicing attorney, he is the author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, and the novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award and a finalist for the National Book Award. Billy Lynn was adapted into a feature film directed by three-time Oscar winner Ang Lee, and his work has been translated into over twenty languages. His series of essays published in The Guardian on the 2016 U.S. presidential election was subsequently nominated by the editors of The Guardian for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife of 32 years, Sharon Fountain.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Ecco Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0060885580
• ISBN 13: 9780060885588
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 229