K. L. Cook's debut collection of linked stories spans three generations in the life of one West Texas family. Events both tender and tragic lead to a strange and lovely vision of a world stitched together in tenuous ways as the characters struggle to make sense of their lives amid the shifting boundaries of marriage, family, class, and culture. A series of unusual incidents-a daughter's elopement, a sobering holiday trip, a vicious attack by the family dog, a lightning strike-provokes a mother of five to abandon her children. An oil rigger, inspired by sun-induced hallucinations, rescues his estranged wife, who doesn't appreciate his chivalry. In the wake of his father's and brother's deaths, a teenage boy finds a precarious solace working with his mother at a country-western bar. A cosmetics salesman schemes to buy Costa Rica and flirts dangerously with mobsters in Las Vegas. A woman fleeing her fourth marriage arrives at a complicated understanding of love and responsibility. Railroad worker and conman, grieving son and battered wife-these characters explore the limits of family fragility and resilience. Their stories-suggesting unlikely connections between comedy and pathos, cruelty and generosity-promise a hard-won dignity and hope. K. L. Cook's award-winning stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines, including American Short Fiction, Threepenny Review, and Harvard Review. Cook teaches creative writing and literature at Prescott College in Arizona.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
ISBN-13
9780803215405
eBay Product ID (ePID)
95822238
Product Key Features
Book Title
Last Call: Stories
Author
K. L. Cook
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Short Stories
Publication Year
2004
Number of Pages
253 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
229mm
Item Width
152mm
Item Weight
488g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
K. L. Cook
Series Title
The Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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