Farewell Navigator: Stories

by Leni Zumas

Book Overview

In this dazzling premier collection, Leni Zumas shines a bright light into the far corners of a dark, dreamlike America populated by a cast of characters on the brink of survival. With the Gothic style of Flannery O'Connor, the urgent lyricism of Jayne Anne Phillips, and the quirky humor of Sam Lipsyte and George Saunders, Zumas blends a lyrical, poetic voice with remarkably original storytelling. A teenage boy finds his blind mother making a pass...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890447498
• ISBN13: 9781890447496
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Open City Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Simply Magical

This book is simply magical. From the prose to the characters, everything about these stories is both dark and otherworldly yet realistic and relatable. Leni Zumas captures something universal about the human existence while enchanting readers with her magical way with words. I've had this collection of short stories for over a year, yet it continues to amaze me, and shows me something new everytime I read it. It is definitely on my top ten list of favorite books. What a gift she has.

Discerning and violently beautiful prose.

A terrifically intelligent and wonderfully eccentric book of short stories. They are dark, unforgiving, and strangely hopeful. Sentence by sentence, the prose is extraordinarily crafted, with an ear (especially uncanny for a fiction writer) for the lyrical. Some of these stories take as their impetus certain myths (such as the tale of Bluebeard) yet never in an obvious or trite fashion-- rather, the presence of the myth becomes apparent well into the story, and serves primarily to accent the narrative arc. I'm picky about the fiction I read. I like language that takes risks, and sentences in which every word counts . Think Barthleme. Not an imitation of. No. As original as.

Awesome first book of short stories

Travel into the minds and hearts of people living in ways and places you never imagined could exist... a great way to have a summer vacation without travelling anywhere! The characters you will meet will stick with you. You'll want to hug them, smack them, talk to them. Perhaps I date myself, but the feel of this book reminds me of Faulkner, at his best.