Women and Ghosts
by Alison Lurie
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The author of The War Between the Tates and the Pulitzer prize-winning Foreign Affairs now brings her irresistible wit to the ghost story. nbsp; In nine spooky tales, Alison Lurie writes of women haunted by ghosts both literal and metaphorical: A woman about to marry Mr. Right is visited by the spirit of his first wife; a dead fiancé haunts a foreign service officer every time she has an intimate moment with another man; the ghost of a girl in a Halloween costume disconcerts the perfect show more housewife. A secretary on a diet begins to see obese people everywhere she looks; a self-conscious poet is shadowed by her intrusive doppelganger; and a capricious, malevolent spirit seems to have inhabited an acquisitive matron's prized piece of furniture. nbsp; Delightfully strange and beautifully told, these nine tales show Alison Lurie at her luminous best. show lessTags
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This is one of my favorite books. I reread it incessantly. All of the stories enjoy the benefit of Lurie's finely developed sense of humor, even the ones that end on an eerie note. And Lurie is deeply creative, playing merrily with exactly what qualifies as a ghost. A haunted piece of furniture? Visitations from a woman who's still alive (and may not even realize she's "haunting" her ex-husband's new fiancée)? A fertility goddess manifesting in our world just for a moment (maybe)?
Some of the stories are genuinely eerie; some are absolutely upbeat; a few are ambiguous, so far as "happy" endings are concerned. You don't have to be familiar with Lurie's novels to enjoy this book deeply, but those who have read "The War Between The Tates" show more or "The Truth About Lorin Jones" or "Real People" may recognize some characters in this collection.
This is one of those books I'd pay extra to be able to read for the first time again. show less
Some of the stories are genuinely eerie; some are absolutely upbeat; a few are ambiguous, so far as "happy" endings are concerned. You don't have to be familiar with Lurie's novels to enjoy this book deeply, but those who have read "The War Between The Tates" show more or "The Truth About Lorin Jones" or "Real People" may recognize some characters in this collection.
This is one of those books I'd pay extra to be able to read for the first time again. show less
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33+ Works 6,206 Members
Novelist Alison Lurie was born September 3, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois to Harry and Bernice Stewart Lurie. She is an American novelist and academic. Lurie won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. She received an A.B. from Radcliffe College in 1947. After finishing college, Lurie worked as an editorial assistant for Oxford show more University Press in New York, but she wanted to make a living as a writer. After years of receiving rejection slips, she devoted herself to raising her children. Lurie had taught at Cornell University since 1968, becoming a full professor in 1976 specializing in folklore and children's literature. Lurie's first novel was "Love and Friendship" (1962) and its characters were modeled on friends and colleagues. Afterwards, she published "The Nowhere City" (1965), "Imaginary Friends" (1967), "The War Between the Tates" (1974), which tells of the collapse of a perfect marriage between a professor and his wife, "Only Children" (1979), and "The Truth About Lorin Jones" (1988). "Foreign Affairs" (1984) won the Pulitzer Prize; it tells the story of two academics in England who learn more about love than academia. Her more recent books include the novels "Women and Ghosts" (1994), and "The Last Resort" (1998), and a work of nonfiction, "Familiar Spirits (2001)." Among her awards and honors, she received honorary degrees from the University of Oxford (2006) and the University of Nottingham (2007). And from 2012-2014, she was the official author of the state of New York. Alison Lurie died on December 3, 2020 in Ithaca, NY at the age of 94. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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detebe (22993)
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Greg Spiegelman; Clark Stockwell; Janet Stockwell; Fred Turner; Celia Zimmern
- First words
- Sure, I'm aware that people still theorise about why I never married Greg Spiegelman.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Because as long as they're safe from Not-Karo, so am I.
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- 148,906
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.18)
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 17
- ASINs
- 7
