Why, Why, Why?
by Quim Monzó
On This Page
Description
"A man tries to teach a stone to speak through sheer force of will. An engaged couple makes a pact to never lie, and their union dissolves immediately. Over the course of a phone call, a man learns that his girlfriend died months ago, and that he's been unknowingly seeing her twin sister. Prince Charming marries Cinderella, but then has an affair with the evil stepsisters. A psychopath's liver explodes after a night of heavy drinking, but instead of killing him, it allows him to be a better show more drinker. These, and many more strange and twisted characters populate the pages of Why, Why, Why?, a delectable brew of dark humor and biting satire on human relationships."-- Back cover. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Quim Monzó has produced a fine collection of (very) short stories. Quirky, even bizarre, they focus on relationships, the choices we make in life, and how one seemingly small decision can snowball into something quite out of control.
The characters are often unnamed, and so become a symbol or general figure for us to explore: the man who never falls in love, the mushroom picker, a man and woman in a furtive telephone conversation, and so on. Some of the latter stories take a delightfully playful twist with fairy tales, including a prince kissing a frog, and Cinderella - now married to the prince who has since ascended to the throne - who is convinced her husband is having an affair and gets the shock of her life when she finds out the show more truth.
Coming in at no more than a few pages each, it is best to ration yourself to 2 or 3 at a time. The risk of them blending into one amorphous mass is real, and they deserve attention and time to reflect. As with all the best short stories they focus on particular moments, or read like fables.
Excellent and wryly comic, this deserves a wide audience for this well-respected Catalan author. Definitely recommended. show less
The characters are often unnamed, and so become a symbol or general figure for us to explore: the man who never falls in love, the mushroom picker, a man and woman in a furtive telephone conversation, and so on. Some of the latter stories take a delightfully playful twist with fairy tales, including a prince kissing a frog, and Cinderella - now married to the prince who has since ascended to the throne - who is convinced her husband is having an affair and gets the shock of her life when she finds out the show more truth.
Coming in at no more than a few pages each, it is best to ration yourself to 2 or 3 at a time. The risk of them blending into one amorphous mass is real, and they deserve attention and time to reflect. As with all the best short stories they focus on particular moments, or read like fables.
Excellent and wryly comic, this deserves a wide audience for this well-respected Catalan author. Definitely recommended. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
51+ Works 2,324 Members
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 24
- Popularity
- 1,112,424
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.33)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
