Author(s): Nicole Krauss

Short Stories | Fiction Reductions

Deftly weaving from one end of life to another o from ageing parents to newborn babies, from a young girl's coming-of-age to an old woman's unexpected delivery of a strange new second youth, from mystery and wonder at a life at its close or at a future waiting to unfold, Nicole Krauss's stories illuminate the moments in the lives of women in which the forces of sex, power and violence collide. With sons and lovers, seducers and friends, husbands lost and regained, or husbands who were never husbands at all, how many men does can a woman's lifetime hold? What does it mean to be a man and a woman together; or a man and a woman, once together and now apart? Beautiful, taut and dark, spinning across the world, from Switzerland, Japan and New York to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles and South America, To Be a Man delves with originality and timeliness into questions of masculinity and violence, regret and regeneration, control and desire; and shines a fierce, unwavering light onto men and women, and into the uncharted gulfs that lie between them.  

Review: A supremely intelligent collection ... The question of who we are at different times and places, and with different people, comes masterfully to the fore -- Aminatta Forna * Guardian *
Through her beautifully detailed and immersive portrayals, novelist Nicole Krauss explores gender, power and ageing ... Together, the ten stories reflect on what does - or doesn't - make men and women different * Time, Books of the Year *
Dazzling ... Themes of power, desire and familial crisis are probed unflinchingly and, at times, with eerie prescience * Financial Times, Books of the Year *
The acclaimed novelist's first short story collection is a marvel * Mail on Sunday *

An intoxicating blend that plumbs the depths of the human condition ... As a calling card for the novels, this collection delivers a strong indication of how electrifying her writing can be. It also holds its own, however, as a powerful literary body in its own right - a nuanced, provocative exploration on what it means to be human * Irish Times *
These ten stories - which focus on the relationships between daughters and their fathers, teenage girls and their older lovers, dancers and choreographers - show us that authority and control are subtle, slippery things, not permanently possessed by one gender * Stylist *
A sustained shot of brilliance. By turns tight and exuberant, disciplined and expansive, the collection shimmers with insight and moments of perfectly realized beauty. It provokes unabashed laughter, it inspires profound thinking, it delights and disturbs in equal measure * Boston Globe *

Author Biography: Nicole Krauss is the author of the novels Forest Dark, Great House, The History of Love, and Man Walks Into a Room. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, and The Best American Short Stories, and her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. She is currently the inaugural writer in residence at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. nicolekrauss.com