Natural Disasters: Stories

by Elizabeth Geoghegan

What's the allure of the bad boy? Marco Chronicles author Elizabeth Geoghegan writes about women who should know better.

Kindle Edition

First published August 17, 2014

About the author

Elizabeth Geoghegan was born in New York, grew up in the Midwest, and lives in Rome. She is the author of the short story collection Eightball, and the bestselling flash memoir The Marco Chronicles. Her writing and interviews have appeared in TIME, The Paris Review, BOMB, The Best Travel Writing, El Pais, Words Without Borders, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Ellis Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories pick up where The Marco Chronicles left off. Geoghegan’s fiction places you in the dark terrain of love and obsession via vivid landscapes and details. The narration is really powerful in “The Violet Hour” story -- very funny but razor sharp. I liked how it shaped both Violet’s view of the world and my view of her as she traveled from Boulder to Bangkok. The plot twists unexpectedly. Great cliff hanger! The more lyric story “Tree Boy” reads like a spell or incantation in a way. It captures the sensation of falling in love and that plunge into obsession. Both stories are darkly comic and edgy. I highly recommend.

[Caitlin Rettenmaier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geoghegan's fiction picks you up with toy machine claws. It drags you over from wherever you are, and it plops you--all alone--into steaming Thailand. Or into lush Washington. In stories past, into a not-often-seen Italy. In narratives of boy romance agony, Geoghegan's heroines navigate the passionate channels of sacrifice, travel, and inspiration. Heroines, lady heroes, faithfully on the move. No truths or dark horrors spared here! Geoghegan's writing, at its core, is uninhibited. It goes there. It plops you. She'll weave you into laughter. After finishing The Violet Hour and Tree Boy in Natural Disasters, I felt like I'd done something. Gone somewhere. Take the ride. Five stars!