Quite Contrary: The Mary and Newt Story

by Stephen Dixon

Mary and Newt meet (or are nudged towards each other) and fall in love in NYC. Dixon captures the joys of falling in love, the horrors of falling out and everything that happens in between with his standard ear for language and dialog.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Stephen Dixon was a novelist and short story author who published hundreds of stories in an incredible list of literary journals. Dixon was nominated for the National Book Award twice--in 1991 for Frog and in 1995 for Interstate--and his writing also earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Academy Institute of Arts and Letters Prize for Fiction, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize.

Reviews

[Cory Fosco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book personally from Stephen Dixon on the occasion of my 28th birthday. My wife sent him a copy of his novel, "Frog" to have him persoonally sign it for me. As an added bonus, he sent "Quite Contrary." This is early Dixon, but classic Dixon. I imagine it was early in his writing career and he was shaping his voice. Much of the voice in his early books is present today, but more intense. Dixon is sometimes hard to read because of his manic style (long sentences, infrequent paragraph breaks), but once you get into his rhythm, this book is very pleasing...