Housebroken
By: Barbara Leith
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 423
ISBN-13: 9781440166341
Subjects: American Short stories; Nouvelles américaines
Other titles: House broken
Description: "The gnarly enigma of sustained love, the nightmares of loss or betrayal-these are the problems examined thematically in Housebroken, instantly pulling us into the complexities of intimacy-intimacy which paradoxically repels and attracts. In richly detailed settings ranging from Aegean islands to Australian beaches, these stories deal with conflicted characters, many of whom see themselves as disconnected outsiders, emotionally landlocked or alienated like Molly, a young American expatriate-in her heart she's Spanish-but where and what is "home"? Or the lovesick New England professor out of his depth in a seedy Southern steel town. Others flee danger from within. A Victorian scholar facing unnamed horrors coming after him From Below. Or Roberto, the poetry-quoting drug dealer never able to outrun his sexual obsession. A patriarch who's escaped the Nazis but not his punitive conscience. Life-lessons are learned & unlearned as these lovers and loners weave between hope and disenchantment, isolation and communion. Ultimately, after groping through confusing rituals, contradictory ground rules, each arrives at a revelation which illuminates (if not resolves) the passionate connections & disconnects all of us encounter in our lifelong pilgrimage of the heart."--Page 4 of cover
Table of contents: title: Housebroken; title: Pieta; title: Surface tension; title: Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea; title: Free fall; title: Down under; title: Cranked up; title: Tough apples; title: Killing the steel; title: Double printing; title: Morning ablutions; title: Spanish moss; title: Boxes; title: Wasted; title: Close to the seed; title: Game, set & match; title: Salvage; title: Cold stone and water; title: From below; title: the properties of glass; title: Inside out; title: Hopscotch; title: Suddenly; title: Riding the wheel; title: He walks with me; title: Beyond the clearing; title: Languor; title: Down by the pool; title: One down, four across; title: Please wait; title: In the house of my friends; title: A plate of peas; title: Lake songs; title: Derangement of time, deviations fo light; title: True and tender in the north; title: Exit lines; title: Asphalt; title: Invasive procedures; title: Te Absolvo; title: The deepest red; title: Bon appetit; title: Charting the course; title: Things too fierce to mention; title: In the shallows; title: After the ceremony.