num_pages: 192
description: In this eerily up-to-date collection, Highsmith's incisive prose chronicles a world gone slightly mad, its catastrophes precipitated by human folly and excess. From the White House under siege by the homeless to a 190-year-old woman perpetually near death and dimly glowing, each tale unfolds the illogical extremes of humanity in the late twentieth century. Highsmith transmogrifies the face of daily existence to lay bare its manifold dark motives. These stories leave us haunted with "afterimages that will tremble" but "stay in our minds" (The New Yorker).
language: English
title: Tales of the Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes
titlecomplete: Tales of the Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes
genres: 20th Century, Crime, Science Fiction, Noir, Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Humor, The United States Of America, Mystery
ratings_count: 438
publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press