Certain American states2018
stories
by Catherine Lacey
"In the twelve stories collected in Certain American States, Catherine Lacey, the award-winning author of the acclaimed novels Nobody Is Ever Missing and The Answers, picks apart the minutiae of the human condition with the skill of a surgeon, giving life to a collection of ordinary people seeking -- and failing to find -- the extraordinary in their lives. The characters in Certain American States are continually coming to terms with their place in the world before change inevitably returns. A woman leaves her dead husband's clothing on the street, only for it to reappear on the body of a stranger; a man reads his ex-wife's short story and neurotically contemplates whether it is about him; a young woman's attempt to deal with family tragedy is interrupted daily by a mute stranger showing...