Total Immersion
Stories
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In "The Succession," the members of a prosperous Hawaii synagogue agree on almost nothing. But when the president of the synagogue absconds with a small fortune, far deeper—and more troubling—rifts emerge...In "The Closet," Evelyn's sister flees her family to take up residence in the attic—while the shunned Evelyn finds herself slipping into the waters of her sister's soul....In "Wish List," an expert on terrorism, vacationing at an academic retreat in England,receives a late-night phone call from National Public Radio. Asked for commentary on a hostage situation of which he is ignorant, Ed can whisper only: "It's unspeakable."
Total Immersion
In these and other exquisite stories, Allegra Goodman fills rooms with laughter and voices, captures dinner parties, seaside picnics, academic grudges, shul politics, and the kind of hurts that only families and lovers can know. Featuring two new stories previously published in The New Yorker, Total Immersion is Allegra Goodman's first collection of short fiction—a masterful work from one of the most powerful and eloquent voices on the American literary landscape.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This exhilarating collection of 11 short stories marks the debut of a precocious 21-year-old Radcliffe College student. Most of Goodman's characters are observant Jews living in a believably rendered Oxford, England or Honolulu, Hawaii. While committed to fixed principles, these people must adapt to a shifting, alien and seductive world. Without ridicule, Goodman satirizes characters whose predicaments she, and most readers, share. In one story, a brilliant scholar must return to her roots not because she suddenly perceives the value of her culture but because her parents squander her tuition on a sister's wedding. In others, by turns grim and hilarious, reality and ideas clash in timeless fashion. But there is hope: ``Improvement counts . . . you can all redeem yourself on the final,'' says French professor Sandra Lefkowitz in the title story; like her students, she is trying to find her place in an alien college community. Yet Goodman does not hinge her narratives on a single epiphany. She has an insight into human nature well beyond her chronological years, and, as evidenced here, a concise but resonant writing style that more mature writers might strive to emulate.
