Most Popular Books by Andre Dubus

A working-class white man takes a terrible fall. Tom Lowe’s identity and his pride are invested in the work he does with his back and his hands. He designed and built his family’s dream home, working extra hours to pay off the adjustable rate mortgage he took on the property, convinced he is making every sacrifice for the happiness of his wife and son. Until, in a moment of fatigued inattention, shingling a roof in too-bright sunlight, he falls. In constant pain, addicted to painkillers at the cost of his relationships with his wife and son, Tom slowly comes to realize that he can never work again. If he is not a working man, who is he? He is not, he believes, the kind of person who lives in subsidized housing, though that is where he has ended up. He is not the kind of person who hatches a scheme to commit convenience-check fraud, together with neighbors he considers lowlifes, until he finds himself stealing his banker’s trash. Who is Tom Lowe, and who will he become? Can he find a way to reunite hands and heart, mind and spirit, to be once again a giver and not just a taker, to forge a self-acceptance deeper than pride? Andre Dubus III’s soulful cast includes Trina, the struggling mom next door who sells her own plasma to get by; Dawn, the tough-talking owner of the local hairdressing salon; Jamie, a well-meaning pothead college student ready to stick it to “the man”; and a mix of strangers and neighbors who will never know the role they played in changing a life. To one man’s painful moral journey, Dubus brings compassion with an edge of dark absurdity, forging a novel as absorbing as it is profound.

It is the summer of 1967 and, with one more year of high school to go, Leo Suther still has a lot to learn. He''s in love with Allie Donovan, the beautiful girl who has turned his head ever since she moved to his small Massachusetts town. And he feels a real draw to the blues his father has taught him. Leo soon finds himself in the middle of a consuming love affair - and an intense testing of his political values by Allie''s father, who challenges him on the escalating Vietnam conflict and forces him to examine just where he stands in relation to the people in his life. Throughout his - and the nation''s - unforgettable ''summer of love'', Leo is learning the language of the blues, which seem to echo the mourning he feels for his dead mother, his occasionally distant father, and the youth that is fast giving way to manhood.

Breece D''J Pancake cut short a promising career when he took his own life at the age twenty-six. Published posthumously, this is a collection of stories that depict the world of Pancake''s native rural West Virginia.

«Por la mañana me desperté sintiéndome como si la tierra estuviera bendecida, como si estuviéramos en un lugar sagrado. Tenía veintidós años y pensé en morir; todavía parecía que faltaban muchos años, pero me sentía más cerca, como si pudiera ver el resto de mi vida en esa tienda mientras Polly dormía, y no me hubiera importado morir.» Hay algo especial en la forma de escribir de Dubus; a menudo, sus historias pueden parecer banales, pero, según avanza la narración, lo que parece simple y común acaba iluminando las zonas grises del alma. Sus personajes se sienten culpables, lo esconden, actúan o no actúan, se avergüenzan de sí mismos, tienen miedo de su familia y de sus amantes, de su Dios, de ellos mismos, pero siempre intentan, con todas sus fuerzas, tener una buena vida con lo que se les da. Las acciones y los sentimientos de los protagonistas casi nunca van de la mano: experimentan miedo, ira, pérdida, pero también son capaces de conmoverse ante ciertos gestos sencillos, ciertas miradas, ciertos abrazos. Dubus escribe con una precisión y una tensión emocional que nunca decaen, con un poso duradero que deja al lector sumido en el extrañamiento y la indefensión.

«En voz baja, como si estuviera conspirando, en esa extraña intimidad que se había creado entre ellos, le habló del amor. No tenía idea de cuándo dejó de amar a su esposo, dijo. En cierto sentido, estaba feliz de que hubiera sucedido tan tarde, porque en ese momento seguramente ya había dejado de creer en el amor. No, dijo Robert, debe haber sucedido lo contrario. Ella lo pensó, encendió un cigarrillo y luego le dijo que sí, que probablemente tenía razón.» Vuelos separados habla de nuestra constante búsqueda interior y de cómo esta puede volverse más intensa cuando el desánimo y el miedo prevalecen. «A veces —escribe Dubus en una carta a un aspirante a escritor—, las historias se transforman en sombras y luces del alma. Siempre habrá sombras en tu vida, pero espero que sigas avanzando hacia la luz.» Publicada en 1975, es la primera colección de relatos de Dubus en ella ya hace muestra de todo su universo literario: la indecisión, las mentiras, el amor, la violencia... Son historias delicadas y duras a la vez, en las que deambulan individuos frágiles y vulnerables abrumados por las penas y las alegrías de lo cotidiano.

Andre Dubus''s short stories and novellas illuminate the lives of women and men cast against harrowing and heartrending circumstances. The gripping themes of Dubus''s uvre-faith and family, violence and loyalty, guilt and morality-have earned him comparisons to master storytellers such as Raymond Carver, Flannery O''Connor, and Anton Chekhov. With a deft touch, Dubus tackles nearly unspeakable subjects. Yet, without succumbing to sentimentality he imbues his characters with a quiet dignity in stories infused with an unerring belief that even the most complicated moments of our lives contain the possibility of grace. Dubus is a shrewd student of people who come to accept pain as a fair price for pleasure, and to view right and wrong as a matter of degree... Dubus ... continues to introduce us to ourselves, to see into the private worlds of everyday people as they live, dream and act, taking soundings that are deep and true. Book jacket.

Kathy verliert das vom Vater geerbte Haus aus eigener Unachtsamkeit und Behördenschlamperei. Der Kampf zwischen ihr und den neuen Besitzern, einer Emigrantenfamilie aus dem Iran, wird zur Überlebensfrage.

On retrouve ici, chez cet auteur, des personnages présents et "vrais", saisis dans la vivacité de leurs dialogues, surpris dans les moments les plus secrets de leur pensée et de leur conduite.

Explosive elements coverge one early September night in a Florida men''s club revealing the seamy underside of American life at the moment before the world changed.

Clippings, correspondence, signed and unsigned samples of his literary works, handwritten and typed manuscripts of this locally-born author. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd drafts of The Lieutenant, published in 1967, contained in the collection.

Four Sad Tales consists of four individual, small hand-made books, each with a single short-short story by a different writer, & each bound in different, fine print materials. These books constitute BBP''s ''Brief Book'' series. LESLIE IN CALIFORNIA, typeset, printed & bound by hand, is a short-short story by Andre Dubus: The wages of violence in marriage. Signed & numbered. Limited to 300 copies. Paper: $9.00. FINAL GRACE, made entirely by hand - typesetting, printing & binding, is a short-short story by Roger Armbrust: How the last people on earth face their fate. Signed & numbered. 250 limited edition copies. Paper: $9.00 HAPPILY EVER AFTER, a handcrafted edition, is a short-short story by Tom Tolnay: The ironies of aging. Original art printed in maroon. Limited to 300, numbered & signed by author & artist Alfred P. Ingegno, Jr. Paper: $9.00. WINDOW, a hand-made book, is a short-short story by William Oppenheimer: The poignant indelibility of lost love. Limited to 250. Signed & numbered. Paper: $9.00.

Ray a épousé Polly, tout simplement parce qu''il l''aimait. Au point que, lorsque Polly le trompe et le quitte, il part à sa recherche, la retrouve, et dans sa passion vengeresse la viole, un couteau à la main. Est-ce parce que son frère a sauté sur une mine, au Vietnam, que Ray porte en lui une violence qui le transforme peu à peu en un homme en sursis ? Aux voix de Ray et de Polly se joint celle d''Alex, l''autre frère de Ray, pour composer un bouleversant récit d''amour, de violence et de sang où l''écriture d''André Dubus, multiple et bruissante, fascine par sa capacité à saisir toutes les facettes et les nuances d''un drame ordinaire.