Certain People

By Roberta Allen

Roberta Allen presents characters who are never at home in the world, who find in their surroundings "the strangeness" they feel inside themselves.

The thirty-three stories in Certain People are set in Australia and other exotic locales. The first story, "House Hunting," tells of a successful gentleman who is having a life crisis. His lover has left him for a cook. "The man whose lover left him for a cook" reappears throughout the book, his life slowly crumbling as he recognizes his inability to connect with himself and others. In "The Whore," a young, beautiful wife is ignored by her husband, who is enthralled by the life stories of a middle-aged prostitute.

Written in a tactile and painterly manner, the author questions the way we perceive our world and self. In these stories, the world is a place of shifting relations where truths are relative. What one person sees is not the same as another. One's perceptions may change in a flash or not at all. One may cling to people or things long out of sight.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566890527
• ISBN13: 9781566890526
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.5" x 7.5"