Scheherazade. The lonliest creature on earth -- The long haul -- The meteor -- Your second left fielder -- Great white -- Eat a peach -- I'm such a slut and I don't give a fuck -- The company of strangers -- The bowling story -- The piano -- The goodbye party -- The club of the missing -- Are you ready to be heartbroken? -- Scheherazade.
Summary:
The stories in Jen Michalski's new collection reveal an America in which ideas of genuine community ring false and the spiritual backbone of family life is damaged, perhaps beyond repair. Characters, many of them queer Gen-Xers of a certain age, find themselves looking--often desperately--for a way to understand the lives they've lived and a way to move forward with at least the possibility of future happiness. In "Long Haul," a gay man visits his estranged uncle to lay to rest the unresolved guilt they both feel over the childhood disappearance of his sister. In "Great White" a gay man who was the sperm donor to a lesbian friend's pregnancy, is confronted with the possibility of genuine parenthood when the friend's partner dies and she is laid-low by grief. And in the title story, a young woman affirms her sexuality by having an affair with her brother's wife; the fallout leading her to regain her footing only when she befriends an elderly gay couple vacationing in the area. In stories that relentlessly demonstrate the tensions of the 21st century, Michalski's The Company Of Strangers provides a sometimes comical, sometimes touching portrait of what is perhaps our most pressing question: How do we make a life?
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.