Dinaw Mengestu’s gotten plenty of press lately due to the buzz around his new book How to Read The Air, and his concurrent appearance on the New Yorker’s 20 under 40 list. The new book, releasing in October, has been listed everywhere as one of the books to read for the fall.
I don’t know why I did it, but I sent Ben Greenman a story recently, and in return, someone from Harper Collins sent me his collection ( I had no idea this collection even existed, and I’m supposed to know about this stuff…right?). Perhaps I’m being told something without actually seeing the person who is telling me? I’ve heard of Mr. Greenman, and he works at The New Yorker, which has been in the news lately, it’s 20 under 40 list rippling out through a ravaged industry, bringing hope to a legion of wanna be writers everywhere.
There is a schism here between women’s fiction and guy reads, isn’t there? I know that Goodman is interested in pulverizing Amanda to the bone in order to see what she can make of this character. So there is storytelling sense in having Amanda both jilted and fired. But it’s harder for me to imagine a story where the guy gets jilted and tries to recover. Guys wouldn’t read a story like that. They don’t ever want to see themselves as victims. They want to commit the act, even if it involves wrongdoing. Anything rather than be the sufferer. But women, it seems to me, will eat up a story like La Vita Nuova alive.
Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich
When We Fell In Love – Helen Sedwick
When We Fell In Love – Helen Sedwick
The Delivery Cut Download
Our Frail Blood by Peter Nathaniel Malae