Description
This is the first collection to appear in twenty years from one of America's best short story writers. His thirteen stories are marvelous—funny, heartbreaking, and wise by turns, and on occasion all three at once.
Praise for Max Apple:
"Apple may not be as well known a humorist as Russell Baker, Calvin Trillin, or Garrison Keillor. But he should be. He belongs in the same crowd."—Newsday, reviewing Free Agents
"Apple is an amiable, good-hearted, sweet-tempered writer whose short pieces occupy an agreeable territory somewhere between fact and fiction."—Washington Post Book World, reviewing Free Agents
"A tender, tough, and totally compelling account."—USA Today, reviewing Roommates
"The slim, sweet slices of this particular Apple pie are always served warm and contain generous amounts of humor, off-the-wall inventiveness, and down-to-earth intelligence."—Cleveland Plain Dealer, reviewing Free AgentsReviews
"This is Apple's art."—Paul Maliszewski, Bookforum"Apple's stories move easily from the funny to the heartbreaking—always with a strain of wisdom lurking just behind the bushes."—Sanford Pinsker, Philadelphia Inquirer "Apple is still capable of dialing into emotions that ring of truth."—Tod Goldberg, Los Angeles Times "Delightful, utterly cynicism-free stories collected here . . . celebrate serendipity . . . If a lot of contemporary short fiction falls into the category dubbed 'Kmart realism,' Apple needs his own category. Call it Kmart magical realism."—Lisa Zeidner, Washington Post Book World "One of America's best short-story writers . . . his first collection of stories in 20 years. He writes with the same playful imagination and comic intelligence as in his earlier stories, layered with irony and an infallible sense of detail."—Sandee Brawarsky, Jewish Week "Thank you, Mr. Apple! There's an art to writing a sad story that's also fun to read. . . Many of Apple's stories are heartbreaking, but there's hardly a page that doesn't yield a smile at one line or another."—Ann Hodgman, New York Times Book Review "This new book of short stories once again demonstrates Apple's ability to write spare prose with a minimum of adjectives and adverbs that, nevertheless, mixes humor and satire with a wry comment on the human condition . . . testifying to the quiet power of Apple's writing."—Morton Teicher, Jewish Journal "When it comes to Max Apple, what's not to like? . . . Apple is never ferocious, never crabby and rarely sentimental. He does not dislike his characters, and he refuses to condescent to them."—David Kaufmann, Foreword "Each story in the book is unique and well-crafted. Apple has not lost his touch."—Morton I. Teicher, New Jersey Jewish News "He writes with the same playful imagination and comic intelligence as in his earlier stories, layered with irony and an infallible sense of detail."—Sandee Brawarsky, Brooklyn Jewish Week "This collection of poignant, very human stories leaves the reader wishing for even more of them . . . a worthwhile addition to the story collection shelf."—Jewish Book World "If you remember Apple from 20 years ago . . . this book will reacquaint you with an old friend, too long gone."—Neil Steinberg, Sunday Sun-Times "This collection of charming short stories is populated by offbeat characters . . . held together by Apple's big-hearted warmth, understated wit, and completely believable plot twists . . . [Apple] also manages to resolve his short stories in ways that are both unexpected and satisfying, yet another sign of his mastery of the form."—John Lewis, Baltimore Magazine
Author Information
Max Apple has published two collections of stories, The Oranging of America and Free Agents, two novels, Zip and Propheteers, and two books of nonfiction, Roommates and I Love Gootie. Five of his books have been New York Times Notable Books. Apple lives near Philadelphia and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
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