A.L. Kennedy, the author of The Blue Book and Day, writes like a force of nature. Claire Messud says sheβs βone of Britainβs most iconoclastic and fiercely independent talents.β Richard Ford calls her βa profound writer,β and Ali Smith dubbed her βthe laureate of good hurt.β
All the Rage is Kennedyβs riveting new collection, a luscious feast of language that encompasses real estate and forlorn pets, adolescents and sixtysomethings, weekly liaisons and obsessive affairs, βcertain types of threat and the odder edges of sweet things.β The women and men in these dozen stories search for love, solace, and a clear glimpse of what their lives have become. Anything can set them off thinkingβthe sad homogeneity of hotel breakfasts, a sex shop operated under Canadian values (whatever those are), an army of joggers dressed as Santa.
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