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Among the "best American short stories of the past two decades" (The Atlantic Monthly) from one of our most acclaimed writers.
In short stories "so vibrant and alive they have heartbeats, the prose so electric and dazzling it makes the pulse race" (Vanity Fair), a masseuse breaks her rich client's wrist bone, a friend visits at the hospital long after she is welcome, and a woman surrenders her husband to a creepily adoring student.
With her singular brand of gorgeous dark humor, Joy Williams explores the various ways—comic, tragic, and unnerving—we seek to accommodate diminishment and loss, offering a rich examination of our capacity for transformation and salvation.
Publisher : Vintage; Reprint edition (November 8, 2005)
Language : English
Paperback : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 1400095522
ISBN-13 : 978-1400095520
Item Weight : 8 ounces
Dimensions : 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Reviewer: Gregory A Powell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The ever brilliant Joy Williams
Review: One of the, if not the, best short fiction writer of modern times
Reviewer: Ellie in Massachusetts
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Joy Williams is a writer's writer
Review: Joy Williams is a writer's writer. Her language is remarkable. Her stories are often a bit dark and twisted. There are phrases that are so brilliant that I have to stop and write them down.
Reviewer: Tim Newman
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Four Stars
Review: wonderful writer of unpredictable stories and fascinating characters
Reviewer: David
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Some writers you can pick up anywhere and start reading ...
Review: Some writers you can pick up anywhere and start reading. This writer is one of them. You have to look hard for an uninteresting sentence.
Reviewer: T. Barger
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well crafted stories, but not for everyone.
Review: It is difficult to evaluate a book which so adeptly accomplishes its seeming purpose of making the reader shudder and want to turn away. This collection of short stories about this life's bleakest inhabitants and their miserable circumstances is not a book to be read for enjoyment, at least in the usual sense of the word. Some of the characters are so peculiar that they do inspire at least a smile, if not actual laughter, but I cannot recommend the book to anyone but those who revel in reading about the seamy, sordid underbelly of the lives of unfortunate people.
Reviewer: Gene Linetsky
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: What an amazing discovery of a major American writer
Review: Joy Williams is all the way up there with Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, Flannery O'Connor, and, as audacious as it sounds, Chekhov.
Reviewer: Amy Hale
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Five Stars
Review: I am going to read everything she wrote. Powerful, dark, clear writing.
Reviewer: Chillville, CA
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I vastly prefer "The Quick and the Dead"
Review: After reading Williams' Pulitzer-finalist novel, this collection didn't really do anything for me. The brilliant parts and pieces are much the same in "Honored Guest," but for me they never gelled into a story I cared about. I think Joy Williams is one of the most interesting writers out there. "The Quick and the Dead" changed the way I think about books. The challenge with "Honored Guest" is not letting it change the way I think about Joy Williams.