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The Safety of Objects
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The Safety of Objects Paperback - 2013

by A. M. Homes


Summary

The breakthrough story collection that established A. M. Homes as one of the most daring writers of her generation
 
Originally published in 1990 to wide critical acclaim, this extraordinary first collection of stories by A. M. Homes confronts the real and the surreal on even terms to create a disturbing and sometimes hilarious vision of the American dream. Included here are "Adults Alone," in which a couple drops their kids off at Grandma's and gives themselves over to ten days of Nintendo, porn videos, and crack; "A Real Doll," in which a girl's blond Barbie doll seduces her teenaged brother; and "Looking for Johnny," in which a kidnapped boy, having failed to meet his abductor's expectations, is returned home. These stories, by turns satirical, perverse, unsettling, and utterly believable, expose the dangers of ordinary life even as their characters stay hidden behind the disguises they have so carefully created.

From the publisher

The breakthrough story collection that established A. M. Homes as one of the most daring writers of her generation

Originally published in 1990 to wide critical acclaim, this extraordinary first collection of stories by A. M. Homes confronts the real and the surreal on even terms to create a disturbing and sometimes hilarious vision of the American dream. Included here are "Adults Alone," in which a couple drops their kids off at Grandma's and gives themselves over to ten days of Nintendo, porn videos, and crack; "A Real Doll," in which a girl's blond Barbie doll seduces her teenaged brother; and "Looking for Johnny," in which a kidnapped boy, having failed to meet his abductor's expectations, is returned home. These stories, by turns satirical, perverse, unsettling, and utterly believable, expose the dangers of ordinary life even as their characters stay hidden behind the disguises they have so carefully created.

Details

  • Title The Safety of Objects
  • Author A. M. Homes
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 208
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books
  • Date 2013-01-29
  • ISBN 9780143122708 / 0143122703
  • Weight 0.35 lbs (0.16 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6 in (19.30 x 12.95 x 1.52 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Praise for The Safety of Objects:

“Enthralling . . . full of subversive humor and truth . . . original and stiletto sharp.”  —The Washington Post
 
“Wonderfully skewed stories . . . sharp, funny, and playful . . . Homes is confident and consistent in her odd departures from life as we know it, sustaining credibility by getting details right. A fully engaged imagination [is] at work—and play.” —Amy Hempel, The Los Angeles Times
 
“Alarmingly good . . . It is hard to say exactly who Homes’s predecessors are—Roald Dahl, Rachel Ingalls, and J.D. Salinger all come to mind—but in many ways she is not unlike Cheever.” —The Village Voice
 
“A.M. Homes’ provocative and funny and sometimes very sad takes on contemporary suburban life impressed me enormously. The more bizarre things get, the more impressed one is by A.M. Homes’ skills as a realist, a portraitist of contemporary life at its more perverse.” —David Leavitt
 
“These stories are remarkable. They are awesomely well-written. In the sense of arousing fear and wonder in the reader they entertain, but what they principally bring us is a sense of recognition . . . Here are all the things that even today, even in our frank outspoken times, we don’t talk about. We think of them punishingly in sleepless nights.” —Ruth Rendell
 

“An unnerving glimpse through the windows of other people’s lives. A.M. Homes is a provocative and eloquent writer, and her vision of the way we live now is anything but safe.” —Meg Wolitzer
 

“Set in a world filled with edges to topple from, [The Safety of Objects] is permeated by the bizarre. . . . The unexpected emerges from the story itself, startling and unexpectedly right.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer

About the author

A.M. Homes was born in Washington D.C. graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Iowa, lives in New York City and teaches at Princeton University. Her work appears in ArtForum, Granta, The Guardian, McSweeney's, Modern Painters, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Electric Literature, Playboy, and Zoetrope. She works in television, most recently as as Co-Executive Producer of Falling Water and Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes, and is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. She is the recipient of awards including the Guggenheim, NEA, and NYFA fellowships. Her most recent novel, May We Be Forgiven, won the Women's Prize for Fiction, 2013, and has been optioned for film by Unanimous Entertainment.
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The Safety of Objects: Stories
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The Safety of Objects: Stories

by Homes, A.M.

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ISBN 13
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The Safety of Objects: Stories
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The Safety of Objects: Stories

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The Safety of Objects

The Safety of Objects

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The Safety of Objects: Stories [Paperback] Homes, A. M
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The Safety of Objects: Stories [Paperback] Homes, A. M

by Homes, A. M

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The Safety of Objects: Stories

The Safety of Objects: Stories

by A. M. Homes

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ISBN 13
9780143122708
ISBN 10
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New York: Penguin, January 2013. Trade Paperback. Full number line. Very Good. A few notes on first page, but text is unmarked. Spine straight, tight and uncreased. Covers clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. 171+21 pages. The breakthrough story collection that established A. M. Homes as one of the most daring writers of her generation. This extraordinary first collection of stories confronts the real and the surreal on even terms to create a disturbing and sometimes hilarious vision of the American dream. Included here are "Adults Alone," in which a couple drops their kids off at Grandma's and gives themselves over to ten days of Nintendo, porn videos, and crack; "A Real Doll," in which a girl's blond Barbie doll seduces her teenaged brother; and "Looking for Johnny," in which a kidnapped boy, having failed to meet his abductor's expectations, is returned home. These stories, by turns satirical, perverse, unsettling, and utterly believable, expose the dangers of ordinary life even… Read More
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The Safety of Objects: Stories
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The Safety of Objects: Stories

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The Safety of Objects: Stories
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The Safety of Objects: Stories

by Homes, A. M

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The Safety of Objects: Stories
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ISBN 10
0143122703
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