Varieties of Disturbance

A National Book Award finalist this collection of whimsical seemingly eventless [short stories] . . . gain momentum as tiny epics of paranoia and ennui (The New Yorker).Davis is a magician of self-consciousness. Few writers now working make the words on the page matter more. ―Jonathan FranzenDavis is the kind of writer about whom you say: ''Oh at last!'' ―Grace PaleyFifty-seven rule-breaking short stories in which Lydia Davis proposes a clear account of the sexual act rides the bus gets lost in a foreign city and addresses common anxieties regarding etiquette work taste the fourth grade death and conversation.No two of these fictions are alike. And yet in each Davis rearranges our view of the world by looking beyond our preconceptions to a bizarre truth a source of delight and surprise.Davis''s work defies categorization and possesses a moving austere elegance. —Publishers Weekly (starred review)