The stories of David Leavitt

by David Leavitt

This is a complete collection of moving, elegant and often witty short stories from one of America's most respected writers. Here, David Leavitt covers a range of challenging themes such as illness, grief and betrayal with his inimitable graceful touch. He takes the reader from Switzerland to San Francisco, and from a young man's attempt to contract the HIV virus to American tourists being startled by the local conventions in Italy. Bringing together "Family Dancing" (a finalist for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Prize), "A Place I've Never Been" and "The Marble Quilt", this edition affirms David Leavitt's mastery of the short-story form.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

529 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2005

About the author

Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University and a professor at the University of Florida, where he is the co-director of the creative writing program. He is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review.

Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a few years after it was published and it was my introduction to Mr. Leavitt and my tardiness in discovering Mr. Leavitt says everything about me and nothing about him. This is an excellent collection of stories by a really first rate writer - in fact though I have enjoyed many of his novels I find I prefer Leavitt in his short story mode - I believe his stories contain his best writing - but then I am a great aficionado of the short story form - I am always surprised how many short stories, in plot, character, images, etc. stay with me long after their source has disappeared.

If you like stories, and great writing, then I strongly suggest reading this book.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of short stories, some memorable, some not so much.

[DaveMate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

Dull, action free, and emotion free writing. I kept hoping the next story would be interesting and grab me …. Ok, not that one …. No, nor that …. the next one maybe.
Long passages of unrelieved description, lifeless dialogue.
Clearly not for me!!!

[Gerry Everaert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of short stories.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Containing David Leavitt’s short story collections “Family Dancing,” “ A Place I’ve Never Been” and “The Marble Quilt,” this book demonstrates the growth of Leavitt from a less-than-original scribe of the first collection into the true master of the short form he is today.

Stories of family, the perplexity of our Western lifestyle, everyday people, loss, longing, politics, life. Wonderous.