Love Letters from a Fat Man: stories

by Naomi Benaron

Fiction. Winner of the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, selected by Stuart Dybek. Benaron's stories cover a remarkable range of themes and conflicts, including family relationships, genocide in Rwanda and Europe, the American Jewish experience, women's experience in traditionally male fields, and such challenges as mental illness and physical mortality. Yet beyond its deft depictions of conflict, Benaron's stories offer the reader a wide range of hope, humor, pathos, and literary transformation. "Naomi Benaron is fearless. Her work shines a light into the darkest corners of human existence and, in doing so, helps us both bear witness to atrocity and find hope and healing"--Gayle Brandeis.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2007

About the author

Naomi Benaron won the 2010 Bellwether Prize for Fiction for her novel RUNNING THE RIFT, forthcoming from Algonquin books. She earned an MFA from Antioch University and an MS in earth sciences from Scripps Institute of Oceanography. She teaches online through UCLA Extension Writers' Program and the Afghan Women's Writing Project. An advocate for African refugees in her community, she has worked extensively with genocide survivor groups in Rwanda. She has won the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction and the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. She is also an Ironman triathlete."

Reviews

[David Highton · Rating 2 out of 5]

An excellent set of short stories

[I-Ching · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three stories in and I was falling in love with this book. Five stories in, and I have to pause to breathe, reflect and swoon. Wildly original and diverse, each story has been a bittersweet gem. I am trying to slow down my reading in order to savor the words.

[Katerina Klemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly excellent writing. The style reminds me of Nabokov in the way that it reads like pure poetry in places. Well done, Naomi!

[serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

fabulous collection of short stories

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique and captivating collection of stories.

[Dodi Benaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these wonderful stories.