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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9781590511664
ISBN number: 1590511662
Label: Handsel Books
Manufacturer: Handsel Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: July 26, 2005
Publishing house: Handsel Books
Release Date: July 17, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 1700124
Studio: Handsel Books
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Product Description:
Their Magician is the long-awaited collection of stories by a writer admired by writers from coast to coast. In these fourteen stories, Broder introduces characters and situations that readers will find hard to put out of their minds. In 'The Insult,' Arnold Isaiah Hepplemeyer, an orthodontist, undergoes a crisis when he sees 'Hepplemeyer is an ass' scrawled on a kiosk. In 'Hospitality,' four young women sharing an apartment in Cambridge compete with one another to see who can bring home the most interesting guest, a competition that Penelope assumes she has won when she invites a notorious murderer to dinner. In 'Elena, Unfaithful,' Alexei Sazevitch, a womanizer for decades, causes his wife's death by announcing his retirement, and then must deal with his children's outrage when he informs them that she has not died, but run off with a lover. And in 'The Roofers,' two workers repairing a roof rush to save a man they observe trying to asphyxiate himself in his car. With a combination of comic lightness and gravitas that may remind the reader of Chagall as much as of Chekhov and Cheever, Gloria Kurian Broder shows us what it is like to live in America's cities and suburbs, creating characters who, in the face of loss, loneliness, self-doubt, and others' skepticism and hostility, strive to keep alive the spirit within them.
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Rated by buyers -
If one has an extraordinary vocabulary, an impeccable command of English grammar, an extensive background of literature and perhaps a degree in creative writing----it does not necessarily produce a good story teller. Despite the vast number of fiction publications annually, only a small percent have that undefinable quality of grabbing and holding your interest. Gloria Broder is part of that small percentage. The Calvani review is complete and accurate. Added details are unnecessary. Broder is a good story teller. Her resolves are unexpected, but still satisfying. You will wish that she was reading aloud to you as you lay your head on your bed pillow at days end.
Rated by buyers -
Gloria Kurian Broder's fiction has been compared to Chekhov's and Cheever's and, after reading this collection of short stories, I can easily see why.
Though all the short stories are excellently written and spark with originality and human insight, several truly stand out. In "Elena, Unfaithful," which was anthologized in Great American Love Stories, a man who has been unfaithful to his wife for decades is unable to cope with her sudden death and falls in a state of denial by "believing" she has left him for another man. Told with dark humour and keen yet gentle perception, this story evokes melancholy and sadness and makes you wonder about the fatalism of life. In "Careers and Marriages" a woman desperate for freedom is in for a big surprise when her four children finally leave her. The tragic irony lies in the inability of the character to realize what she's done. In "The Intruder," a moving, totally engrossing story sure to bring tears to many readers, a woman tries to cope with her son's death and is eventually able to find hope in the most unexpected way. In "The Insult" a man's life turns upside down momentarily when he believes someone in his town has insulted him, until his young son, with much simplicity and grace, "solves" the mystery. In "The Thursday Men's Club" the author offers us a glimpse into the grim reality of old age. Set in a home for the elderly, this is an unforgettable story of alienation and loneliness.
Beautiful prose combine with a simple and unembellished style to create snapshots of life so real and powerful as to be unforgettable. The magic and gift of Broder lies in what she doesn't write, in what she merely suggests and leaves to the reader to imagine. Her writing is one of those perfect examples of "show, don't tell." Sometimes funny, sometimes grim, but always memorable, Broder's stories sparkle like newly polished gems.
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