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  <title><![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]>
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    <![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[ <br/><br/>Review from Other Voices:<br/>[link:http://www.webdelsol.com/Other_Voices/Reviews45.htm#bann]<br/><br/><br/>&quot;The heart of Keith Banner’s America smells like cat piss and is littered with unpaid bills. At work, his characters wear humiliating uniforms with name tags that have ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2504651">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]>
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    <![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[I've read this collection twice since it came out. Banner is an outstanding talent, too little recognized. The stories are dark and funny, disturbing and moving, about people one rarely comes across in literary fiction.]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]>
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    <![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]>
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  <date_added>Fri May 09 11:01:37 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon May 12 12:17:30 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[A fantastic, honest and troubling description of the American nightmare. Life seems safe as long as you're not from that undefined middle part of America and not unloved or uneducated or somehow brain damaged, but as I read through these stories, I yearned for a shower and a scrubbing brush. I felt ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21934179">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]>
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  <average_rating>3.83</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]>
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  <date_added>Thu Nov 01 02:52:40 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 01 03:00:26 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[An extraordinary book that finds its truths and lyricism in lives that seem to offer almost nothing. The stories are peopled by the clinically obese, retards, workers in dead-end jobs, the lonely, the handicapped. What saves them is love, or the possibility of it, of crumbs from the table. Most of t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8510077">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8510077]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>1165693</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Molly]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]>
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  <average_rating>3.83</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]>
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  <published>2004</published>
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    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Readers of George Saunders]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri May 11 13:38:38 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 19:18:03 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Keith Banner's The Smallest People Alive conveys the yearning of the average Joe with subtlety, humor, and pathos.  A must-read. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1165693]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1165693]]></link>
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Natalie]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Smallest People Alive]]>
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    <![CDATA[&quot;In The Smallest People Alive, Keith Banner writes about people and situations many times ignored by other fiction writers. These are stories focused on lives outside the mainstream, and yet they are invested with precision, tenderness and artistry. The title story, awarded an O. Henry Prize, chronicles the lives of two boyhood friends, one who is recovering from a suicide attempt, the other trying to figure out how he can help. In their stumbling allegiance to each other, they find a sort of solace, and as the story reaches its conclusion the reader is given an intimate view of what it means to wake up from a nightmare and realize you have to go on living, even though life may not be worth it all of the time.&quot; Other stories in The Smallest People Alive involve two gentlemen with mental disabilities preparing for their wedding, a janitor working late hours dreaming of revenge, and a gay teenager taking the night off from Burger King to search for the body of his murdered cousin. All these characters and their stories, while unsettling, are revealed with a serious intent and a big heart. The smallest people alive can sometimes turn out to be the most interesting, and the most enlightening, people you will ever meet.]]>
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  <published>2004</published>
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  <date_added>Thu Sep 27 08:12:54 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 04 16:18:10 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I've come across Michael's excellent review of this book several times.  I'll be picking this one up next chance I get.]]></body>
    
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