Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories

By Doris Betts

Book Overview

Back in print at last, the nine beautifully crafted tales in Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories display Doris Betts at the top of her form: compassionate, witty, and unforgettable.
"The Ugliest Pilgrim" takes you into the adventures and into the heart of a disfigured young woman who has run away from her life in search of a better one. This award-winning story is the basis for the musical Violet, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. In "Hitchhiker," a wary secretary hitches a ride in a boat with a man hell-bent on saving fish; instead he saves her from the river -- and herself. And in the title story, Betts brilliantly captures the inner life of a teacher and writer struggling to control her classroom, her household, and her life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684838052
• ISBN13: 9780684838052
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Great Surprise

I bought this book on a whim and it ranks right at the top of my favorite book of short stories. I was so moved by her observations of life, that can be so hard and cruel. I found the characters well formed and incredibly engaging. I have read her novel Heading West and found moments in it very rich, but I prefer her short stories, she can really pack it in to a few short pages. She takes you where ever she wants you to go and you feel and see it through her eyes which are not nesecesarily 20-20.