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Simon & Schuster
May 2008
On Sale: May 6, 2008
224 pages ISBN: 141656425X EAN: 9781416564256 Hardcover
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Fiction
When Julie Hecht's stories first appeared in The New
Yorker,
her unnamed photographer-narrator became an instant literary
icon.
Chronicles of her strategies for surviving civilization's
decline --
herbal remedies, macrobiotics, a bit of Xanax -- have
established her
as one of the most captivating and eagerly read voices in modern
literature. In this new collection of stories, Julie
Hecht
reclaims the darkly funny, existential territory for which
she is
known: "People say 'Good morning,' but don't believe them.
It's just
something to say." The uniquely eccentric narrator reappears
in Happy Trails to You
and recounts her perplexed engagements with our society and
the larger
world -- whether she's attempting to withdraw money from a bank
machine, worrying about Paul McCartney, or seeking a
nonexistent place
of calm on Nantucket, where nail guns and chain saws have
replaced the
sounds of birds singing. Appalled by life in our
times, the
narrator recounts innumerable artifacts from a now vanished
America
(civility, idealism, Elvis Presley, well-made appliances).
She is also
exquisitely attuned to the absurdities of our culture; her acute
observations illuminate every subject, from the dangers of
microwave
ovens to the disappearing ozone layer. With deadpan wit, the
author
reveals the truths of a new century. Happy Trails to
You is a radically distinctive work of American fiction.
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