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3.5 

Pieces for the Left Hand

By J. Robert Lennon
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Finally available in the United States, a singular story collection that Time Out declared "unsettlingly brilliant"

Astudent's suicide note is not what it seems. A high school football rivalry turns absurd—and deadly. A much-loved cat seems to have been a different animal all along. A pair of identical twins aren't identical at all—or even related. A man finds his own yellowed birth announcement inside a bureau bought at auction. Set in a small upstate New York town, told in a conversational style, Pieces for the Left Hand is a stream of a hundred anecdotes, none much longer than a page. At once funny, bizarre, familiar, and disturbing, these deceptively straightforward tales nevertheless shock and amaze through uncanny coincidence, tragic misunderstanding, strange occurrence, or sudden insight. Unposted letters, unexpected visitors, false memories—in J. Robert Lennon's vision of America, these are the things that decide our fate. Wry and deadpan, powerful and philosophical, these addictive little tales reveal the everyday world as a strange and eerie place.

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12 Reviews

3.5
“This book of 100 vignettes centered around the author's life in upstate New York. Some are true, while others are small town lore or fable. There's a mix of hope, love, grief, and loss in these. My experience while reading this was like binge reading 100 vignettes from Reader's Digest. While well written, I think it best not to binge read these. If I had to do it again, I would read no more than 10 in a day, then leave it for about 24 hours, then come back to it. I don't regret the time spent reading it, I would just not binge read it. For lovers of brief snippets of slice of life fiction.”
“Very amusing and insightful, and not at all a bother to read. It only took me so long because I was distracted by other books, and because the stories were so bite-sized. My personal favorite was "Money Isn't Everything". I would highly recommend this book. I dare say that it's a new favorite of mine, at least in terms of anthologies. I thought about giving it four stars but decided that it was better than Courtney's War, to which I gave five stars. My rating (and review) should reflect that, no?”

About J. Robert Lennon

J. Robert Lennon is the author of five novels, including Mailman and The Light of Falling Stars. His stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Harper's, Playboy, and The New Yorker. He lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife and two sons.

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