Cries for Help, Various: Stories - Softcover

Praise for "Cries for Help, Various: "
"Padgett Powell captures voices and thoughts so exquisitely it hurts to read sometimes; you want to stop to laugh or sigh but you also can't wait to see what comes next. In these 44 stories, Powell grabs you and lets you go at the same time with poignant observations and expressions of longing followed by a quick comment on how banal it all is. He does it in the title itself, "Cries for Help, Various, " and he delivers it again and again in his finely wrought stories." NPR's Best Books of 2015, recommended by Philipp Goedicke, limericist, "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!"
"'I don't fit in today, ' third-grader Charles Dickens tells his classmate Janis Joplin as she kisses him, two misunderstood geniuses seeking camaraderie. And that's the kind of surreal poignancy awaiting readers of these 44 stories, each compassionate and beguiling." "O, The Oprah Magazine," "16 Books To Start 2016 Right"
"This is a collection that will please the most discerning of tastesabsurd and bleak and hilarious, while still able to question what is meaningful in an everyday life." "Vanity Fair," "The Best Books of 2015 for Gifting. . . and Hoarding"
By turns moving, funny, and maddening.These stories are very much in the key of Donald Barthelmewith touches of Nicholson Baker s fascination with the microscopic and the nostalgic.They regularly embed a fragment of wisdom, a brilliantly turned phrase, or a laugh-inducing one-liner. Teddy Wayne, "The New York Times Book Review"
"A surreal and at times laugh-out-loud collection of short stories" "The Wall Street Journal"
"Rifles through fear, identity, meaning, and cultural memory in forty-four short, surreal stories. . . Read, obsessively re-read, and then carry around all fall in backpockets or tote bag as talismanic accessory advertising your smart-cool weirdness." "Vanity Fair," "7 September Books We've Waited All Year For"
"This new collection of stories. . . is somehow both grounded and absurd, each one of the stories trying get at that heart of the confusion and sadness at the core of contemporary life." "VICE"
"Padgett Powell is one of the true originals of American fiction. . . His collection of forty-four short stories forty-four failed novels, Powell has called themis the perfect introduction to his linguistic dexterity and try-anything style." Lincoln Michel, "Electric Literature," "Best Story Collections of 2015"
"I have just come off of reading "Cries for Help, Various," and I am changed. I am indoctrinated. I am a disciple. I am an earnest, resignedly bewildered, fan... It buzzes through your conscious thought to land on those bone-deep anxieties that you otherwise only let yourself glance at sidelong." Agatha French, "Los Angeles Review of Books"
"Cantankerous, funny prose. . . The 44 stories hustle through dreamlike predicaments with dizzying resolve, pulling you by the ear into 7 Elevens, car dealerships and covered wagons. Cameos include Janis Joplin, Ted Turner and lots of Boris Yeltsin. . . The strongest flash fiction pieces bring to mind the humor and economy of Lydia Davis." "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
"A lively medley. . . Taken together, the short compositions assembled in Cries for Help, Various portray a consciousness wearied by experience but on the lookout for objects of wonder. More than anything, they reveal an author who wants to use language to revivify the world." "The Nashville Scene"
"Powell s range is matched only by his sense of play, and this book is a skeleton key to an extremely gifted and quintessentially American writer, at home in any form." "Publishers Weekly"
"Powell s wonderfully playful syntax epitomizes his madcap vision and ultimately steals the show. As in his novel, "You and Me" (2012), Beckett comes to mind, though Powell demonstrates his own invigorating love of language and life." "Booklist"
"A playful and provoking clutch of stories that forces words and themes into unfamiliar territory." "Kirkus Reviews"
"A writer like Padgett Powell is of the greatest importance, as reminder of what comedy, specifically literary comedy, can be. Wry, strange, and with a sense of tragedy only partially concealed by the stories peculiar and surrealistic narratives, "Cries for Help, Various" exhibit s a comedy which is still in possession of its humanity" "ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine"
"[Powell's] latest virtuosic collection of short stories, "Cries for Help, Various" puts another wing on the house of Greatest Living Southern Writer that he's been building for three decades." "Orlando Weekly"
"Tremendously entertaining. . . A rich stew of language and humor exposing an absurd world of Southern crackpots, satire and existentialism." "Shelf Awareness Pro"
It s the music of a virtuoso. Bill Morris, "The Millions" Most Anticipated List: The Great Second-Half 2015 Book Preview
"Beautifully produced by the new press, Catapult... "Cries for Help, Various" is a book not to be missed, not only because Powell can write (and often does) Laugh Out Loud fiction that will give you a jolly good time, but because Padgett Powell is, at the same time, exploring the sad depths of our lives where, recognizing them to be ourselves, we come upon creatures strange and astounding." "The Hollins Critic"
"Padgett Powell once again proves himself one of our most talented and versatile fiction writers with the captivating "Cries for Help, Various."" "Largehearted Boy"
"To read a Padgett Powell story is to ride, and ride well, never quite sure of where you are going, not caring because it is so wonderfully captivating. But the real genius is that Powell, in his own way, always leaves you exactly where you need to be. The stories in "Cries for Help, Various" will transport you." Kevin Wilson, author of the "New York Times" bestselling "The Family Fang"
""Cries for Help, Various" is ecstatic and necessary. The inimitable Padgett Powell holds up his house-of-cards short stories with his own breath. And like his own Charlie Dickens, he's that rare writer who can 'step inside the trick'--which is life itself--smile, and save us all from it." Scott Blackwood, author of "See How Small"
Praise for Padgett Powell:
"Edisto" (1984):
"Edisto" is a startling book, full of new sights, sounds, and ways of feeling. Mr. Powell weaves wonderful tapestries from ordinary speech; his people, black and white, whether speaking to each other or past each other, tell us things that we never heard before. The book is subtle, daring, and brilliant. Donald Barthelme
"Edisto" is a truly remarkable first novel, both as a narrative and in its extraordinary use of language. It reminds one of "The Catcher in the Rye," but it s bettersharper, funnier, more poignant. Walker Percy
"Edisto" is distinctly a tour de forceSome turn of phrase, some flash of humor, some freshly observed detail, some accurately rendered perception of a child s pain or a child s amazement transfigures nearly ever page. Robert Towers, "The New York Review of Books"
"A Woman Named Drown" (1987):
Potent, funny, one-of-a-kindIt presents one of the sterling comic heroines in recent American fictionDon t miss her. T. Coraghessan Boyle, "The New York Times Book Review"
When asked for a list of the best American writers of the younger generation I invariably put the name Padgett Powell at the top. Saul Bellow
"Typical" (1991):
This new collection of short stories sends off fireworks of language, language that runs, jumps, and sometimes performs acrobatics in the air. Michiko Kakutani, "New York Times"
These twenty-three stories put Powell in a league not only with Barthelme, but also with Stanley Elkin and Barry Hannah. Joseph Coates, "Chicago Tribune"
Mr. Powell has an almost unequalled ability to bring Southern colloquial speech to the page. Amy Hempel, "New York Times Book Review"
"Edisto Revisited" (1996):
Nobody else talks to you like this. Pete Dexter, author of "Paris Trout"
With his wit, his almost disorientingly dazzling turns of phrase and his utter disdain for middlebrow political correctness, Mr. Powell is like a fabulous guest at a dinner party, the guy who gets people drinking far too much and licking their dessert plates and laughing at jokes for which not a few of them will hate themselves in the morning. Scott Spencer, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Aliens of Affection" (1998):
Powell s stories are...gleefully non-narrative, aggressively stylized, linguistically inventive, and often very funny. James Hynes, "The Washington Post Book World"
Padgett Powell is that rare literary writer, a language-drunk craftsman who s funny. Meg Harlan, "Boston Phoenix"
"Mrs. Hollingsworth s Men "(2000):
A slim, sly deceiver of a book, full of mirth and wickedness...excitements and dubious desires.Mrs. Hollingsworth is an adorable character...who makes up the characters of an extraordinary and finally memorable vision. Robert Kelly, "The New York Times Book Review"
A hilarious series of comic, linguistically charged rants on anything and anyone who happens to enter Mrs. Hollingsworth s wide-sweeping and unforgiving consciousness. Ken Foster, "San Francisco Chronicle"
A tour de force of wordplay and lucid description. "The New Yorker"
The enduring charms of this exhilarating book [are] Mrs. Hollingsworth herself and Powell s exquisite prose. Scott Morris, "Wall Street Journal"
Many of us have wished that someone would bury the Confederate dead. Powell has gone furthergiven them, and us, a new lease on intelligent life. Mrs. Hollingsworth s Men is refreshing and provocative and very funny. Roy Blount Jr.
Padgett Powell is among the top five writers of fiction in the country, word-perfect and often, when compelled, full of soaring found lyricism. Mrs. Hollingsworth s Men is very different for Powell, but alight with hard and deep thoughts, true, as usual. Barry Hannah
"The Interrogative Mood" (2009):
A 'Best Books of the Year' selection by Amazon.com, "The Believer, GQ, Portland Oregonian, Time Out New York, Village Voice"
If Duchamp or maybe Magritte wrote a novel (and maybe they did; did they?) it might look something like this remarkable little book of Padgett Powell s: immensely readable, ingenious, witty, and ultimately important-feeling in a way you can t quite describe but don t need to. Richard Ford
Can you picture the rabble-rousing literary offspring of Flannery O Connor and Donald Barthelme? Does the prospect of reading a flawlessly lyrical, comic novel composed entirely in the interrogative mood pique your curiosity? Elissa Schappell, "Vanity Fair"
A supreme literary stunt: a short novel composed only of questions, each of which seem to implicate the reader in a narrative conspiracy as serious and absurd as his or her own life. Jonathan Lethem, "The Millions"
Offhanded, witty, original, and an altogether unique bookPowell is a member of the badass gang of Barry Hannah. "The Interrogative Mood," serious and laughable, extends this legacy. Rick Moody, "Bookforum"
This book will sear the unlucky volumes sleeved on either side of it. How it doesn t, itself, combust in flames is a mystery to me. Padgett Powell has given us a wake-up call. Jonathan Safran Foer
A delightful stylistic flight, and as engrossing as staying up late at summer camp considering every goofy or brilliant question that comes into your head. Padgett Powell is one of the best writers in America, and one of the funniest, too. Ian Frazier
Another brilliant work of fiction, in some ways Powell s best, by one of the few truly important American writers of our time. Sam Lipsyte
"The Interrogative Mood" represents superior value in a crumbling economy. Its 176 pages do not tell a storythey tell thousands of stories, all of them starring you. Luc Sante
"You & Me "(2012):
Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction,
Indie Next Pick
[Powell s] characters might be all talk and no walk, but what wonderful talk it isPowell, in his recent work, has set his mind ablaze. And nothing but exquisite and deeply strange language is left to emerge from the ashes. Michael Miller, National Public Radio
Padgett Powell s "You & Me," mixed with 750 ml of fine bourbon, is the most fun you can have in many states without getting arrested. Braver, tougher, smarter than most of the fiction supposedly pushing the envelope. Why? Because it actually means something. Gary Shteyngart

Praise for Cries for Help, Various:
"Padgett Powell captures voices and thoughts so exquisitely it hurts to read sometimes; you want to stop to laugh or sigh but you also can't wait to see what comes next. In these 44 stories, Powell grabs you and lets you go at the same time -- with poignant observations and expressions of longing followed by a quick comment on how banal it all is. He does it in the title itself, Cries for Help, Various, and he delivers it again and again in his finely wrought stories." --NPR's Best Books of 2015, recommended by Philipp Goedicke, limericist, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!
"'I don't fit in today, ' third-grader Charles Dickens tells his classmate Janis Joplin as she kisses him, two misunderstood geniuses seeking camaraderie. And that's the kind of surreal poignancy awaiting readers of these 44 stories, each compassionate and beguiling." --O, The Oprah Magazine, "16 Books To Start 2016 Right"
"This is a collection that will please the most discerning of tastes--absurd and bleak and hilarious, while still able to question what is meaningful in an everyday life." --Vanity Fair, "The Best Books of 2015 for Gifting. . . and Hoarding"
"By turns moving, funny, and maddening....These stories are very much in the key of Donald Barthelme...with touches of Nicholson Baker's fascination with the microscopic and the nostalgic....They regularly embed a fragment of wisdom, a brilliantly turned phrase, or a laugh-inducing one-liner." --Teddy Wayne, The New York Times Book Review
"A surreal and at times laugh-out-loud collection of short stories" --The Wall Street Journal
"Rifles through fear, identity, meaning, and cultural memory in forty-four short, surreal stories. . . Read, obsessively re-read, and then carry around all fall in backpockets or tote bag as talismanic accessory advertising your smart-cool weirdness." --Vanity Fair, "7 September Books We've Waited All Year For"
"This new collection of stories. . . is somehow both grounded and absurd, each one of the stories trying get at that heart of the confusion and sadness at the core of contemporary life." --VICE
"Padgett Powell is one of the true originals of American fiction. . . His collection of forty-four short stories-"forty-four failed novels," Powell has called them-is the perfect introduction to his linguistic dexterity and try-anything style." --Lincoln Michel, Electric Literature, "Best Story Collections of 2015"
"I have just come off of reading Cries for Help, Various, and I am changed. I am indoctrinated. I am a disciple. I am an earnest, resignedly bewildered, fan... It buzzes through your conscious thought to land on those bone-deep anxieties that you otherwise only let yourself glance at sidel...

Named a Best Book of 2015 by NPR and Vanity Fair

"Rifles through fear, identity, meaning, and cultural memory in forty-four short, surreal stories." Vanity Fair

"By turns moving, funny, and maddening . very much in the key of Donald Barthelme." The New York Times Book Review

"Somehow both grounded and absurd, each one of the stories trying get at that heart of the confusion and sadness at the core of contemporary life." VICE

From the highly acclaimed author of Edisto and The Interrogative Mood, Padgett Powell’s new collection of stories, Cries for Help, Various, follows his mentor Donald Barthelme’s advice that wacky mode” must break their hearts.” The surrealistic and comical terrain of most of the forty-four stories here is grounded by a real preoccupation with longing, fear, work, loneliness, and cultural nostalgia. These universal concerns are given exhilarating life by way of Powell’s wit, his . . . dazzling turns of phrase” (Scott Spencer).

Padgett Powell’s language is both lofty and low-down, his tone cranky and heartfelt, exuberant and inconsolable. His characters rebel against convention and ambition, hoping to maintain their very sanity by doing so. Even the most hilarious or fantastical stories in Cries for Help, Various ring gloriously, poignantly, true.