Arvin, Nick In the Electric Eden: Stories ISBN 13: 9780142002568

In the Electric Eden: Stories - Softcover

9780142002568: In the Electric Eden: Stories
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Writer and former engineer Nick Arvin layers his knowledge of technology, mechanical design, and human character into a collection of emotionally riveting stories. With a subtle hand he transports readers through history and across America to ten poignant and utterly unforgettable places: a traffic accident in the middle of the heartland; the electrocution of Topsy the elephant at Coney Island at the turn of the century; the backyard of an old recluse; a Marine Corps practice invasion of the Florida beaches; a romantic tryst in a dismal corporate office; the launching of the first manned American hydrogen balloon in the eighteenth century; and more. Constantly aware of how technology shapes the way we interact with each other and experience the world, Arvin uses these original settings and compelling characters to create a moving collection of stories that, though seemingly unlinked, comes together to form a stunning, awe-inspiring whole.

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About the Author:
Nick Arvin was born and raised in Michigan, received a degree in engineering from Stanford, and spent three years in product development at the Ford Motor Company before leaving to earn his MFA in Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers Workshop. He has recently been awarded a Michener Grant, and his stories have been published in The Black Warrior Review.
From Publishers Weekly:
Machines, large and small-from an electric chair to a cell phone-are the inspiration for this cleverly conceived but uneven debut collection of 10 stories. Exploring the ways in which machines mediate human relationships, Arvin invests his stories' gadgets with heavy metaphorical significance. In "Electric Fence," the eponymous barrier serves as a symbol of alienation and greed, separating a woman from the woods she played in as a child. In "The Prototype," a man steals a new model SUV to impress an ex-girlfriend who likes trucks. The title story tells of the electrocution of Topsy, a man-killing elephant put to death at Coney Island in 1903, but is largely focused on the family of Topsy's final victim, a drunk who fed the elephant a lit cigarette, igniting the animal's rage. Here, as in many of the stories, Arvin paints his characters with broad strokes ("Fielding was a drinker, however, and when he drank his face became red"; "Despite Fielding's drinking binges, it was evident that Emma loved him very much"). In his strongest efforts, he links material objects and human emotions with a lighter touch. In the insightful and tender "Commemorating," a couple vacations on a beach in Florida that is stormed by marines in a routine but startling exercise. Shortly thereafter, the narrator's wife disappears. Ignorant of the abandonment, an ad man who was also on the beach annually sends the narrator commemorative junk-coffee mugs, T-shirts, bumper stickers-inadvertently marking the dissolution of his marriage. Arvin, a former engineer, strikes a rich cultural vein, but has yet to smoothly mesh machine lore and fluent storytelling.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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  • PublisherPenguin Books
  • Publication date2003
  • ISBN 10 0142002569
  • ISBN 13 9780142002568
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages224
  • Rating

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