We Live in Water

Description

From the bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins comes a darkly funny, utterly compelling collection of stories about the American family We Live In Water is a world of lost fathers and redemptive con artists, of personal struggles and broken men. In 'Thief', a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to find out which of his kids is stealing from the family holiday fund. 'Anything Helps' sees a homeless man try to raise money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book; and in 'Virgo', a newspaper editor attempts to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope. We Live in Water is a wildly original, brilliantly realized contemplation of our times.

Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including The Financial Lives of the Poets and The Cold Millions. Beautiful Ruins was a New York Times bestseller, and We Live in Water was one of Barack Obama's books of 2019. Jess Walter lives in Spokane, Washington with his family.

These stories are very, very good. If you like to read, you'll like this book * Publishers Weekly * A witty and sobering snapshot of recession-era America * Kirkus Reviews * Wildly entertaining and thought-provoking * Booklist * A genius of the modern American movement * Philadelphia Inquirer * Jess Walter has impressive command of the short story...Since 13 stories should be plenty for a collection, maybe the best compliment we might pay the author is to object that this book is too short -- Lionel Shriver * Financial Times * A more expansive, wittier Raymond Carver * Metro * One for the hols * Sunday Times Style * Clever, original and a little dark * Grazia * There's no sudden resolution, but there's enough wit to help you get through the messy bits * Shortlist * A collection of punchy stories . . . Sold and sold * Esquire * Darkly amusing . . . Suffused with caustic wit, quirky descriptions and sharp details. We Live In Water never falls short of being highly engaging * Sunday Times *