Death Is Not an Option: Stories

ISBN: 0393339904

Author: Rivecca, Suzanne

Condition: New

Ruthlessly frank. . . . Recalls Holden Caulfield by way of John Hughes.-The New York Times Book Review (Editors Choice) In these stories, a teacher obsesses over a student who comes to class with scratch marks on his face; a Catholic girl graduating high school finds a warped kind of redemption in her schools contrived class rituals; and a woman looking to rent a house is sucked into a strangely inappropriate correspondence with one of the landlords. These are just a few of the powerful plotlines in Suzanne Riveccas gorgeously wrought collection. From a college student who adopts a false hippie persona to find love, to a young memoirist who bumps up against a sexually obsessed fan, the characters in these fiercely original tales grapple with what it means to be honest with themselves and the world.These stories explode with piercing insight . . . illuminating the dangerous dance between victims and saviors. [They] deliver us to the edge of grief, that precarious place where the moral compass spins-where codes of love and law and religion fail. Mercy here depends on a tigers sublime grace, our capacity to resist deeper harm, and the right of every broken being to remain silent (Melanie Rae Thon).