How to pronounce knife : stories / Souvankham Thammavongsa.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Little, Brown and Company, [2020]Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First editionDescription: 181 pages ; 22 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780316422130
- 0316422134
- Short stories. Selections
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Dr. James Carlson Library | Fiction | THAMMAVO SOUVANKH | Available | 33111009820230 | ||||
|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | Fiction | THAMMAVO SOUVANKH | Available | 33111009637824 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and winner of the 2020 Giller Prize, this revelatory story collection honors characters struggling to find their bearings far from home, even as they do the necessary "grunt work of the world." A failed boxer painting nails at the local salon. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant. A housewife learning English from daytime soap operas. A mother teaching her daughter the art of worm harvesting. In her stunning debut story collection, O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong. In spare, intimate prose charged with emotional power and a sly wit, she paints an indelible portrait of watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values. As one of Thammavongsa's characters says, "All we wanted was to live." And in these stories, they do--brightly, ferociously, unforgettably.
Unsentimental yet tender, taut and visceral, How to Pronounce Knife announces Souvankham Thammavongsa as one of the most striking voices of her generation.
"As the daughter of refugees, I'm able to finally see myself in stories." --Angela So, Electric Literature
How to pronounce knife -- Paris -- Slingshot -- Randy Travis -- Mani pedi -- Chick-a-chee! -- The universe would be so cruel -- Edge of the world -- The school bus driver -- You are so embarrassing -- Ewwrrkk -- The gas station -- A far distant thing -- Picking worms.
"In her stunning debut, Souvankham Thammavongsa captures the day-to-day lives of immigrants and refugees in a nameless city, illuminating hopes, disappointments, love affairs, and above all, the pursuit of a place to belong. An ex-boxer turned nail salon worker falls for a pair of immaculate hands; a mother and daughter harvest earthworms in the middle of the night; a country music-obsessed housewife abandons her family for fantasy; and a young girl's love for her father transcends language. Uncannily and intimately observed, written with prose of exceptional precision, the stories in How to Pronounce Knife speak of modern location and dislocation, revealing lives lived in the embrace of isolation and severed history - but not without joy, humour, resilience, and constant wonder at the workings of the world."--Provided by publisher.