A hotshot young lawyer, burdened by years of guilt and resentment, comes to the aid of his irresponsible kid brother, only to realise he's a pawn in a treacherous scheme. A lonely professor, frequently regaled with outrageous tales by the office handyman, suddenly fears he's being asked to abet a murderous fugitive. A man down on his luck closes in on a mysterious job offer while doing a good turn for his fragile neighbour, but his efforts backfire in a terrifically surreal - and hilarious - manner. Four college kids goad each other on in a series of escalating dares, culminating in a result as ambiguous as it is tragic. An enterprising adolescence uses his brief career as a child actor to fulfil the crush he has on a friend's seemly untouchable older sister.
"Ross studies families and couples in volatile combinations . . . Punches are thrown between brothers, wild dogs go on the attack, and someone gets pistol-whipped. Conversations lead out of the polite shallows into confrontation . . . For both the married and the divorced in [these] seven stories, full of reversals and surprise endings, potential catastrophe is always closer than you think." --Brian Miller, "Seattle Weekly"
"Riveting and affecting--the work of an author who has the rare ability to mesmerize "and" move us . . . Suspenseful, humorous and, at times, noirish, [Ross] crafts smooth sentences and can make you laugh out loud without ever undermining or selling out the poignancy of his stories . . . Irresistible." --Skip Horack, "San Francisco Chronicle"
"Masterfully constructed . . . Skillful but never showy, [Ross's] highly polished, somewhat spare prose . . . gives these stories a beauty and clarity that are strangely at odds with [their] grim vision . . . "L
Title: Ladies and Gentlemen
Subtitle:
Contributors:
By (author)
Adam Ross
ISBN 13: 9780224087742
ISBN 10: 0224087746
Publisher: Vintage
Imprint: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Publication Date: 15/01/2012
Place of Publication:
London,
United Kingdom
Edition:
BIC Subjects:
Modern fiction
NBS Classification: General & Literary Fiction
Dewey Classification:
813.6
(DC23)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Height: 216mm
Width: 135mm
Thickness: 19mm
Weight: 287g