A Relative Stranger (Contemporary American Fiction) - Softcover

Baxter, Charles

3.96

551 ratings by Goodreads

9780140156287: A Relative Stranger (Contemporary American Fiction)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140156283 ISBN 13: 9780140156287

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1991

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In this masterful collection, the author's wise and subtle stories often find lonely, restless characters embarking on unexpected courses of action that evolve in puzzling, yet oddly logical ways. "Baxter's strength as a writer derives from his mysterious, haunting tone . . . and the slightly surreal quality to his characters' conversation. . . ."--Chicago Tribune.

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About the Author:

Charles Baxter lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota.

From Publishers Weekly:

Most of the protagonists in these 13 wonderfully varied, often funny stories set by Baxter ( Harmony of the World ) in Michigan are complex men reaching for answers that elude them. On the other hand their women, anchored in a simple and peaceful pragmatism, more wisely accept their mates' odd hungers and lunatic streaks. Stephen in "Lake Stephen" feels dissatisfied with Jan, his lover--she always seems to know in advance what he will do and say. When he importunes her to throw caution to the wind for once, she complies, but less than innocently: "Unless she broke the rules now," Jan realizes, "he would not follow the rules later." In "Westland" Warren turns in a teenage runaway and, as a result, is drawn with his family into the lives of strangers, much as Cooper in "Shelter" terrifies his wife and child with his quixotic gesture of inviting derelicts into their home. In Baxter's best and final story, "Saul and Patsy Are Pregnant," the characters from preceding stories come together, and their collective longing is resolved. Saul learns what the women have always known: happiness, if such a thing can exist, is love.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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