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    Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money
    Unavailable
    Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money
    Unavailable
    Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money
    Ebook203 pages3 hours

    Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money

    By Rebecca Curtis

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In this dazzling literary debut, Rebecca Curtis displays the gifts that make her one of the most talented writers of her generation. Her characters—young women struggling to find happiness, love, success, security, and adventure—wait tables, run away from home, fall for married men, betray their friends, and find themselves betrayed as well.

    In "Hungry Self," a young waitress descends into the basement of a seemingly ordinary Chinese restaurant; in "Twenty Grand," a young wife tries to recover her lost fortune; in "Monsters," one family's paranoia leads to a sacrifice; and in "The Witches," an innocent swim on prom night proves more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. With elegant prose and a wicked sense of humor, these stories reveal Curtis's provocative and uncompromising view of life, one that makes her writing so poignant and irresistible.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061856716
    Unavailable
    Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money

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    Reviews for Twenty Grand

    3.5/5

    31 ratings3 reviews

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    • 1/5
      The first story in this collection was all right, but most of them were awful. The author's grasp of humorous writing reminded me of the stories I wrote in junior high school. They were fine stories for junior high school...just not for a published adult collection.
    • 3/5
      Like many first short story collections, Rebecca Curtis’ Twenty Grand explores a variety of styles and themes — signs of a young writer searching for her unique voice perhaps. What makes this collection special is that Curtis writes so well no matter which direction she turns. She offers heightened realism in “Summer, with Twins” or “The Alpine Slide”, stories that are told from the perspective of a quirky young woman protagonist. Our sympathies engage, but there is also something slightly askew. In other stories, such as “The Wolf at the Door” or “Monsters”, Curtis dips into George Saunders’ surrealist territory. Still others, like “Knick, Knack, Paddywhack” or “Solicitation” or even “To the Interstate” have the feel of more experimental McSweeney’s-type pieces. But perhaps the best stories combine aspects of each of these modes through which Curtis arrives at a kind of heightened surrealism — stories that on the surface seem straightforwardly realist but keep pitching over toward whatever horrors lie off the even keel. Here, the title story, “Twenty Grand”, and “Big Bear, California”, and also “The Witches” set the mark.Since I’ve mentioned almost every story in the collection, it will come as no surprise that I think Rebecca Curtis is a young writer worth watching. There is so much potential here. And for that alone I would gladly recommend this collection. The edition I had also included a P.S. section at the end, which is not untypical these days. There I was expecting to find an interview or something further about the author. Curtis has taken this section and turned it to good effect by using those twenty pages to pick out favourite places, businesses, and activities in her home state of New Hampshire, possibly to redress some of the seedier views she presents in her stories, many of which are set in New Hampshire locales. Sounds like a straightforward project, but here it is just as curious and heightened and slightly askew as the rest of the writing, so don’t skip the P.S. I’m already looking forward to whatever else Curtis will eventually publish.
    • 5/5
      Rebecca Curtis shows her literary dexterity in this collection of quick reading stories. Some of the stories are realistic enough to be believed, and others are so weird its like having a looking-glass into somebody's dreams...or nightmares. This collection takes you all over the emotional spectrum, and through a pile of genres, as well. What is more impressive than the variety is that regardless of the style or voice the quality of the writing remains consistently good. Its one thing to be able to write well in one voice, but quite another to write well in five or more!!!!