Overview

Set in the vanished world of the New York City of the 1970s and '80s, these stories convey a sense of the enchantment that lurks on the flip side of every moment, as if the meaning of life were hidden within the static being blasted out of the loudspeakers on a subway platform, or a scrap of newspaper preserved under ice on a cold winter's day. A girl tries to save the boy she loves from his crippling love for his uncle. A champion of social justice talks herself into believing that the man she finds sexually repulsive is a perfect fit for her perfectly ordered life. A man kneels on the sidewalk before a memorial he constructed for his girlfriend as a crowd of curious onlookers gather around him. Rosaler deals out the fates of a vivid array of complex characters with unflagging energy, wit and a delight in the details of city life.

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9781953002556

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Reviews

“Maxine Rosaler’s stories are both hard-edged and comic, both laced with despair and hopeful against all expectation. New York City is the setting, a struggle to prosper in the face of bad choices and deeply ingrained perversity is the theme. Constant, however, is a narrative voice that proves irresistible, and a craftsman’s approach to the construction of these contemporary parables.”—C. Michael Curtis, Fiction Editor, The Atlantic “An engrossing and compassionate collection showing motherhood in its most unrelenting form.”—Kirkus Reviews “Rosaler writes of Mimi’s ongoing struggle from firsthand experience and instills in her protagonist such fierce resolve to do all she can for her son while simultaneously limning awkward episodes with ironic humor; the reader becomes immersed in all that the diagnosis of autism in one’s child must entail.”—Booklist

"""Maxine Rosaler's stories are both hard-edged and comic, both laced with despair and hopeful against all expectation. New York City is the setting, a struggle to prosper in the face of bad choices and deeply ingrained perversity is the theme. Constant, however, is a narrative voice that proves irresistible, and a craftsman's approach to the construction of these contemporary parables."" C. Michael Curtis, Fiction Editor, The Atlantic ""An engrossing and compassionate collection showing motherhood in its most unrelenting form.""--Kirkus Reviews ""Rosaler writes of Mimi's ongoing struggle from firsthand experience and instills in her protagonist such fierce resolve to do all she can for her son while simultaneously limning awkward episodes with ironic humor; the reader becomes immersed in all that the diagnosis of autism in one's child must entail.""--Booklist"

“Maxine Rosaler’s stories are both hard-edged and comic, both laced with despair and hopeful against all expectation. New York City is the setting, a struggle to prosper in the face of bad choices and deeply ingrained perversity is the theme. Constant, however, is a narrative voice that proves irresistible, and a craftsman’s approach to the construction of these contemporary parables.” C. Michael Curtis, Fiction Editor, The Atlantic  “An engrossing and compassionate collection showing motherhood in its most unrelenting form.”—Kirkus Reviews “Rosaler writes of Mimi’s ongoing struggle from firsthand experience and instills in her protagonist such fierce resolve to do all she can for her son while simultaneously limning awkward episodes with ironic humor; the reader becomes immersed in all that the diagnosis of autism in one’s child must entail.”—Booklist  

Author Information

Maxine Rosaler's novelQueen for a Daywas nominated for The Kirkus Prize. The Jewish Book Council chose it to be one of ten fiction books included in its 2021 list of recommended books. She is a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Fellowship. Stories of hers have appeared inPrairie Schooner,Tikkun,The Southern Review,Glimmer Train,Witness,Fifth Wednesday,storySouth,Green Mountains Review,and other literary magazines and cited in editions ofBest American Short StoriesandBest American Nonfiction. One was a finalist for the Nelson Algren Awards.

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