The Curse of the Appropriate Man -- Lynn Freed, Paperback

These fourteen short stories, written over the past ten years but never before collected, deal with the struggles between mothers and their wayward daughters, the often preposterous bonds that tie men and women together, and the complex games masters and servants play with one another. In spare, elegant prose, Freed delivers surprise after surprise as she shakes the truth from life. Whether it's her portrayal of a mother mired in senile dementia in "Ma," a young girl experiencing her first sexual encounter with an itinerant knife-sharpener in "Under the House," or a young woman incapable of loving conventionally in "An Error of Desire," Freed portrays the absurdity, the delusions, the dramas, and the dignity of her characters' lives. These masterful stories reinforce her reputation as one of our most fearless and sophisticated explorers of sexual and filial love.


Author: Lynn Freed
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 09/01/2004
Pages: 188
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.06h x 5.42w x 0.58d
ISBN: 9780156029940

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2004 pg. 704
Publishers Weekly 08/09/2004 pg. 228
Booklist 08/01/2004 pg. 1898
New York Times 10/03/2004 pg. 38
New York Times 12/05/2004 pg. 39

About the Author
Lynn Freed is the author of five novels. She is the winner of numerous grants and the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Born in South Africa, she lives in Sonoma, California.