Wives & Lovers: Three Short Novels

by Richard Bausch

Book Overview

"A first-rate collection of novellas that will break your heart and fill you with hope at the same time." --Denver Rocky Mountain NewsIn the tradition of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060571837
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.5" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Remarkable

This was a truly remarkable group of three separate and unrelated, yet equally compelling stories. Each one touched on something magical about the human spirit, all while exposing some of our deepest emotional idiosyncrasies and disconnections. In each he captures something of the wonder of human relationships, particularly marriage, with its conflict of happiness and disappointments; expectations and resignation; resolute faithfulness versus emotional wanderings. Where some might see the stories as melancholy or depressing, I saw a certain triumph in each one. All were written with a great sense of humanity and realism, highlighting ordinariness, even mundaneness, within multi-dimensional characters who are fully human yet beautiful in their failures and inconsistencies. A great collection and a very worthwhile read.

A wonderful study of human emotions...

Rarely do I ever rate books 5 stars, but I simply had to in the case of this book. The novellas are wonderfully composed. Bausch manages to weave very detailed stories in what is seemingly a brief and fleeting moment in the characters lives. The expressive use of emotions was quite overpowering. For the most part these were real situations that people encounter: the death of a parent, the birth of a child, alcoholism, suicide, media frenzy, etc... Even if you yourself had not actually experienced these life events, chances are you know someone who has (except probably the serial killer situation but I found that to be more about society's fascination with the macabre). Artfully and intuitively written, this book is well worth the read.

Great Novellas Should Not be overlooked!

this book is wonderful. It was given to me for my birthday and i read it soon after. I was unable to put it down and deeply moved by it. People should read this book (and other books by this author)and then tell everyone they know about them. Subtle in it's drama and global in it's love and understanding of how people feel!

Breathtaking

This collection of novellas is breathtaking. No other living author today writes with such beauty about the silences and yearning between individuals and those they love, hate, and forever long for. Bausch carefully crafts the pulse points of pain in each of his characters as they strive for even the thinnest threads of hope and redemption. What makes Bausch such a courageous writer is his willingness to risk tenderness in his stories. These aren't cynical diatribes on the futility of postmodern man--these are flesh and blood characters, yourself and people you know, who struggle each day for a glimpse of kindness and generosity, even though they may have failed a dozen times. After reading this collection, you feel your soul shimmer just a little bit brighter, because love, however flawed, is still possible.

Great summer reading!!

This is one of those books that you simply must read! So good!