Reminiscent of Aimee Bender and Karen Russellβan enthralling new collection that uses the world of the imagination to explore the heart of the human condition.
Major new literary talent Ramona Ausubel combines the otherworldly wisdom of her much-loved debut novel, No One Is Here Except All of Us, with the precision of the short-story form. A Guide toBeing Born is organized around the stages of lifeβlove, conception, gestation, birthβand the transformations that happen as people experience deeply altering life events, falling in love, becoming parents, looking toward the end of life. In each of these eleven stories Ausubelβs stunning imagination and humor are moving, entertaining, and provocative, leading readers to see the familiar world in a new way.
In βAtriaβ a pregnant teenager believes she will give birth to any number of strange animals rather than a human baby; in βCatch and Releaseβ a girl discovers the ghost of a Civil War hero living in the woods behind her house; and in βTributariesβ people grow a new arm each time they fall in love. Funny, surprising, and delightfully strangeβall the stories have a strong emotional core; Ausubelβs primary concern is always love, in all its manifestations.
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