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18th out of 93 books
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Elephants in Our Bedroom
The debut short story collection from the editor of the Mid-American Review. Michael Czyzniejewski’s writing is both poignant and playful. The collection includes fl ash and longer fiction and is the antithesis of those collections complained about for having every story too similar to each other.Michael Czyzniejewski was born in Chicago and grew up in its south suburbs. H...more
Paperback, 197 pages
Published
February 1st 2009
by Dzanc Books
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41 books for 2009.
This author is actually coming to talk to our creative writing class tomorrow. So I picked up the book and read it in two sittings, loving it.
The short stories may have a touch of the fantastical (such as literal elephants in a bedroom) but are in no way unrealistic. Quirky and occasionally just fun, however I found several of the stories to be brutally realistic and uncomfortably familiar.
And most delightfully, the author has an incredible gift of voice rang...more
This author is actually coming to talk to our creative writing class tomorrow. So I picked up the book and read it in two sittings, loving it.
The short stories may have a touch of the fantastical (such as literal elephants in a bedroom) but are in no way unrealistic. Quirky and occasionally just fun, however I found several of the stories to be brutally realistic and uncomfortably familiar.
And most delightfully, the author has an incredible gift of voice rang...more
The stories in this collection are marvelously entertaining in their use of absurdist elements. Inventive and imaginative, the absurd is used to examine (with impressive insight) aspects of human life and what it means to be human. Czyzniejewski manages to write his characters with a voice that seems truly his own, different from the other absurdist fiction that I have read. I think that is extremely important in this kind of fiction. It conveys a sense of importance along with the ridiculou...more
I learned that if you rate your own book on MyReads, and you give it five stars, your average rating goes up slightly.
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This writer does more with metaphor than anybody I've read lately. I liked it a lot.
While I recognize and respect Czyzniejewski's talent, he is at times a bit crass & sadistic, and his women characters (many of whom are referred to only as "my wife") a bit shallow and/or shrill, for my personal taste.
Michael
marked it as to-read
You can listen to audio of me reading the first story of this collection right here: http://www.wingchairbooks.com/2012/01/au...
7,75/10
My old College teacher in creative writing!! Not bad, there are a few stories I loved and a few that were ok.
I have a fondness for short stories. This collection was a pretty good read, though I wouldn't recommend it if you have a dislike for the bizzare. My favorites were "Sleepmurder," "Victor," "Cool," "The Magic of Oil Painting," and "The Death of Purple."
February 1, 2009. Can't wait.
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