false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1257900668m/981367.jpg 981367 1 Bradfield (What's Wrong With America) is an acutely, sometimes painfully, unsentimental chronicler of our times in these inventive short stories. Only eight of these stories are new to publication, but all are startling and effective. Bradfield often uses animals in his fiction, sometimes as recurring metaphors, and sometimes as characters. For example, Larry Chambers keeps dreaming about wolves in "The Dream of the Wolf" while his domestic situation deteriorates. One of the high points of this collection is a biography of a depressed, somewhat superior dog named "Dazzle," who dislikes his owners ("The Canis familiaris utters a guttural diphthong, much like the Mandarin Chinese diphthong, only less enunciated," muses Dazzle when their six-year-old daughter insists, "The little doggy go woof.") and eventually runs away in order to breed a family of his own. Even the purely human interactions often have something chillingly bestial about them, as in "The Darling," in which Dolores Starr avenges herself on the men who abuse her by killing them. Bradfield takes chances with characters and points of view (delusional diaries appear in two stories, another is seen through the eyes of an apparently autistic child); but when he's at his cooly provocative best, the risk pays off. 966256 book 4 1996 Greetings from Earth: New and Collected Stories total:12|5:3|4:3|3:6| 12 45 14 0 5 0 false false Thu May 07 12:51:28 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 12:51:28 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Apr 11 11:19:18 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 11:19:18 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Apr 04 15:40:54 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 04 15:40:54 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Dec 31 03:22:44 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 03:22:44 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Thu Nov 27 11:54:52 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 11:54:52 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sat Oct 25 08:54:48 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 08:54:48 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Apr 14 13:48:17 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 13:48:17 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jan 31 11:03:48 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 11:03:48 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Wed Dec 19 17:02:08 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 19 17:02:08 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Sun Nov 18 11:20:59 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 18 11:20:59 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Thu Oct 18 14:28:06 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 18 14:28:06 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Thu Sep 06 06:53:12 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 06:53:12 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Mon Aug 20 20:15:48 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 20:15:48 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Wed May 23 19:55:59 -0700 2007 Wed May 23 19:55:59 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=981367