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Winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction 2007 |
Wonderful GirlAimee LaBrie
This extraordinary first collection of short stories covers the
landscape of dysfunctional childhood, urban angst, and human
disconnection with a wit and insight that keep you riveted to the
page. The characters here have rich and imaginative interior lives,
but grave difficulty relating to the outside world. The beginning
story, "Ducklings," introduces the over-weight and over-
enthusiastic Marjorie, the last twelve-year-old you would want
babysitting your toddler. In "Wanted" we meet Eleanor, a single
girl living in Chicago who may or may not be dating a serial killer.
"Another Cancer Story" is an unsentimental account of two sisters
whose beloved mother just won't seem to die, and "The Last Dead
Boyfriend" gives us a recovering addict who keeps encountering
her recently deceased boyfriend, an unpleasant man she wished
she'd broken up with before he died. Always funny, often dark,
and wholly satisfying, these stories explore the longing for
connection among characters who are frequently stricken with
anxiety. Each story is rendered in a way that is surreal, vivid, and
entirely convincing.
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AIMEE LA BRIE received her MFA in fiction from Pennsylvania
State University in 2003. The short story "Ducklings" was nominated
for a Pushcart Prize. Aimee lives in Philadelphia and works at
Temple University.
Number Six: Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction
What people are saying about this book
"Wonderful Girl is a smart, funny collection, by turns poignant,
mysterious, terrifying, sexy, often just plain nuts (in a good way!).
The characters in these stories are deliciously confused but always
in control, if not of their fates, at least of their pets and boyfriends.
What strong voices these women have! Contemporary American
life has never seemed so threatening and yet so warm, so full of
possibility, yet so harrowing. Reading Wonderful Girl is like
meeting a dozen new friends, people you instantly fret over, want
to know better, want to call and give advice, bring home to meet
your folks, people you ultimately love."—Bill Roorbach, judge
and author of The Smallest Color, Big Bend, and Temple Stream
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