Escape: Stories of Getting Away

by Lena Lencek (Editor), Gideon Bosker (Editor)

Who doesn't dream of escape, whether to defy the strictures of a conventional or restricted life, to outrun the fates, to pursue an extraordinary goal, or, most inevitably, to distance oneself from the suffering, loss, and pain that unavoidably bear down on our lives. Now Escape is the first collection to bring together a wide array of the very finest stories about this universal impulse. Photographs and selections range from the comic to tragic, covering escapes from reality, domesticity, matrimony, intimacy, materialism, rules, and dependence, as well as escapes into hedonism, addiction, beauty, spirituality, intimacy, art, nature, and science. With the same mix of stellar short stories, novel excerpts, and narrative nonfiction that characterized Beach and Sail Away, Escape includes such writers as Isabel Allende, Isaac Babel, Harold Brodkey, Michael Chabon, Jamaica Kincaid, D.H. Lawrence, David Malouf, and others.

Genres: Short Stories

352 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2002

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a "shelf pick" which means I didn't get a recommendation from anywhere; I was taking a chance. There are some real gems in here, including Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg's story of being held in a Stalinist prison. Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" is a masterpiece and will stand the test of time. Michael Finkel's "Desperate Passage" is the story of going with Haitian refugees in a boat in the Caribbean. And John Updike -wow, what a writer.

[Teresa Power · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though a bunch of short stories I couldn't get through the book. I tried just not my cup of tea.

[Jen Surname]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12766486