Nothing Right
Short Stories
By Antonya Nelson
February 2010
$14.00
304 pp
5.5 x 8.25 in
Paperback
ISBN-10: 1608190439
Nothing Right
Short Stories
By Antonya Nelson
February 2010
$14.00
304 pp
5.5 x 8.25 in
Paperback
By Antonya Nelson
A New York Times Notable Book of 2009
Unforgettable… Nelson, witty yet sympathetic, articulates our pains and troubles better than we do. Could it be that she knows us better than we know ourselves? -- San Francisco Chronicle
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Praise for Antonya Nelson
I scan the tables of contents of magazines, looking for Antonya Nelson's name, hoping that she has decided to bless us again. She's absolutely one of my favorites among story writers today, and I envy the reader who has yet to discover her work."—Michael Chabon "Nelson has a pitch-perfect ear for the rhythms and unspoken subtexts of domestic life, and especially for the ways a family balances old grudges with the need to practice forgiveness."—Francine Prose "Any lover of realistic narrative fiction about actual and unglamorous people will be greatly rewarded by the work of Antonya Nelson. Her voice is sure, her wit is quick, her observations continually resonate and her honesty is unwavering."—Dave Eggers "We see clearly what it is that the best young writers have to offer—a kind of pizzazz, the love of undercurrent, of voyeuristic intensity, a bewildered fascination with ritual as it has been undermined in our time, yet sustained, too, in an oddly moving way."—Raymond Carver "I've been a Toni fan ever since I read a story of hers called "The Salad" on my second or third day of graduate school. I read her newest collection so fast the pages are singed."—David Foster WallaceReviews for Nothing Right:
"Nothing Right is a wild ride, and one of the very best books of the year. Nelson's method is pure realism-no trendy experiments in form or postmodern hijinks here-and yet these 11 stories are deliriously, satisfyingly intricate.Nelson works the material like a conductor.Nelson's sentences are long and insight-studded, almost Jamesian in their complexity, but she's good for a quick punchline, too." — Taylor Antrim, Daily Beast."Nelson, an astute observer of everyday conflicts, has skillfully mapped out life in this unforgettable collection, and sooner or later a reader will run into herself in a story, the character's troubles as real as the reader's own. Still, even more wonder comes when one realizes that Nelson, witty yet sympathetic, articulates our pains and troubles better than we do. Could it be that she knows us better than we know ourselves?"—San Fransisco Chronicle
"(Antonya Nelson's) latest book, the collection "Nothing Right" is vintage Nelson: It's full of contrarian views of modern life, swift eviscerations of simpering morality, the complicated love betweenparents and children, brinkmanship with psychosis and everydaybreakdowns, a culture that makes adolescents of us all, a lot of alcohol and a smattering of infidelity."—Los Angeles Times.
"Nelson's insight and language are obviously and simply gorgeous. There is not a single thing wrong with Nothing Right."—Julie WittesSchlack, The Boston Globe.
"Antonya Nelson's NOTHING RIGHT [targets] the romantic poseurs in all of us."—Vogue
Mentions from the —Kansas City Star
Mentions from the —Wichita Eagle
"You have only to read Antonya Nelson's new story collection, Nothing Right, to appreciate her talent". Nelson, unlike so many writers today, is not serving up magic realism in her stories. Her magic, in fact, is their powerful realism: deeply understood, beautifully expressed."—Carol Goldberg, Hartford Courant.