Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Onlookers: Stories

Onlookers: Stories

Beattie, Ann

Hardcover

General FictionLiterary Fiction

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1668013657
ISBN13: 9781668013656
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: Jul 18 2023
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.80
Height: 1.10 Width: 5.40 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
* Supple, superb. --The Boston Globe * A deft mash of lonesomeness and wit. --Chicago Tribune * Her best in more than two decades. --The New York Times *

Award-winning short story writer Ann Beattie returns with a sophisticated, idiosyncratic, and witty (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) collection of linked stories set in Charlottesville, Virginia, in a moment of unrest.

Onlookers is collection of extraordinary stories about people living in the same Southern town whose lives intersect in surprising ways. Peaceful Charlottesville, Virginia, drew national attention when white nationalists held a rally there in 2017, a horrific event whose repercussions are still felt today. Confederate monuments such as General Robert E. Lee atop his horse were then still standing. The statues are a constant presence and a metaphoric refrain throughout this collection, though they represent different things to different characters. Some landmarks may have faded from consciousness but provoke fresh outrage when viewed through newly opened eyes.

In Nearby, an elderly man and his younger wife watch from their penthouse as protestors gather to oppose the once heroic explorers Lewis and Clark depicted towering over their native guide, Sacagawea. A lawyer in In the Great Southern Tradition deals with a crisis on Richmond's Monument Avenue, while his sister and nephew plant tulip bulbs at her stately home.

These are stories of unexpected relationships that affirm the value of friendship, even when it requires difficult compromises or unexpected risks. Ann Beattie explores questions about the nature of community, and proves her herself up to the task of pinpointing America's contradictions (Publishers Weekly).

Also from

Beattie, Ann

View All

Also in

Literary Fiction

View All