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The Collected Stories
The Collected Stories
May 4, 2025 4:01 AM

Author:Paul Theroux

The Collected Stories

The Collected Stories is a collection of award-winning writer Paul Theroux's short stories, each of which brimming with astute observations and sharp wit that will captivate readers the world over.

'[Theroux] makes and remakes his own world...the smell, sound, sight of his scenes is always strong, even pungent; and, even more, his dialogue is powerfully but also effortlessly accurate' Sunday Telegraph

'Theroux willingly explores the blighted territory of a failing marriage; the tangled jungle of a mad poet's secret anti-Semitism; the belated sexual guilt of a Hindu. . . a book of many and varied pleasures; to read it is to feel alert, curious, adventurous' Observer

'Paul Theroux's writing is impeccable and thoughtfully entertaining. . . his artistry is individual, serene, yet also grainy with fierce truths' The Times

'One needs energy to keep up with the extraordinary, productive restlessness of Paul Theroux. . . [He is] the most gifted, most prodigal writer of his generation' Jonathan Raban

'You close the book feeling you have read a single big narrative rather than a series of short ones. . . As a short-story writer, he makes a terrific novelist' Sunday Times

American travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people and places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his novels and collected short stories, My Other Life, My Secret History, The Lower River, The Stranger at the Palazzo d'Oro, A Dead Hand, Millroy the Magician, The Elephanta Suite, Saint Jack, The Consul's File, The Family Arsenal, The Mosquito Coast, and his works of non-fiction, including the iconic The Great Railway Bazaar are available from Penguin.

Reviews

A. L. Kennedy is one of the most brilliant writers of her generation

—— Sunday Telegraph

This woman is a profound writer

—— Richard Ford

A collection of fifteen exquisite and troubling tales... It is a particular delight to discover a writer as original as A. L. Kennedy

—— Mail on Sunday

The clarity, wit and description of her style are uplifting... A writer in her thirties, who is becoming one of Britain's best

—— The Times

A writer of linguistic brilliance, balm-bearing humanity and blissful originality

—— Scotsman

Kennedy writes with flaying precision about things we won't often admit to ourselves, let alone speak aloud

—— Daily Mail

KNOCKEMSTIFF by Donald Ray Pollock is the best book I have ever read. This is the America they don't let you see on television. This is real literature. It will be read for centuries

—— Michael Guinzburg

It's as if you put David Lynch, Denis Johnson, and a drunk speed freak body builder into a blender. The result are some of the darkest, wildest, most messed up, hilarious stories I've ever read. Knockemstiff is really something

—— Willy Vlautin

This short story collection gives those new to her oeuvre a chance to delve into gems from her past...precociously vibrant

—— Melissa McClements , Financial Times
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