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The First Summer: Excerpted from HIDE
"Fiction like this should not feel as brave and important and transgressive as Matthew Griffin’s Hide feels, and that an honest, emotionally complicated, lushly beautiful depiction of two men who have spent their life together, and who are about to encounter death, should not feel so refreshing and so necessary. But the times, sadly, do not always dictate our literature. So, along comes a book like Hide—a first novel, a Southern novel, a novel about love and death and the terror of discovery—that does what all the best fiction seeks to do, which is that it shows its characters as humans." - Stuart Nadler, author of The Inseparables
About the Author: Matthew Griffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He was born and raised in North Carolina and currently lives with his partner in Louisiana, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Hide is his first novel.
About the Guest Editor: Stuart Nadler is a recipient of the 5 Under 35 award from the National Book Foundation. He is the author of Wise Men, and the story collection The Book of Life. His new novel, The Inseparables, will be published by Little, Brown, in July.
About the Publisher: Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction.
About the Author: Matthew Griffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He was born and raised in North Carolina and currently lives with his partner in Louisiana, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Hide is his first novel.
About the Guest Editor: Stuart Nadler is a recipient of the 5 Under 35 award from the National Book Foundation. He is the author of Wise Men, and the story collection The Book of Life. His new novel, The Inseparables, will be published by Little, Brown, in July.
About the Publisher: Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction.
15 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2016
12 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Griffin
55 books63 followersMatthew Griffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught composition, literature, and creative writing at the University of Iowa and Walters State Community College, and he worked for several years as Assistant to the Director of Highlander Research and Education Center, a renowned hub of grassroots organizing for social justice throughout the South and Appalachia. He was born and raised in North Carolina and now lives with his husband and too many pets in Louisiana, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 20, 2017
This is excerpted from Matthew Griffin' novel
. A chapter where Wendell and Frank sleep in the same bed for the first time. It's a beautiful moment.
'We went to the beach together the end of that first summer, stayed in a little two-room shack with plywood walls so flimsy the sea breeze would have knocked them down on top of us if there weren’t so many gaps between the boards for it to slip through instead of strain against. We slept for the first time in the same bed, so narrow he crushed me against the wall and had to peel his chest from my sweaty back just to roll over, but I rested better than I had in years. I loved how deeply he breathed in the night, how early and suddenly he rose in the morning, as though sleep were a thin covering you could throw back as easily as the sheets. I loved how he had to stoop every time he walked through a door.'
. A chapter where Wendell and Frank sleep in the same bed for the first time. It's a beautiful moment.'We went to the beach together the end of that first summer, stayed in a little two-room shack with plywood walls so flimsy the sea breeze would have knocked them down on top of us if there weren’t so many gaps between the boards for it to slip through instead of strain against. We slept for the first time in the same bed, so narrow he crushed me against the wall and had to peel his chest from my sweaty back just to roll over, but I rested better than I had in years. I loved how deeply he breathed in the night, how early and suddenly he rose in the morning, as though sleep were a thin covering you could throw back as easily as the sheets. I loved how he had to stoop every time he walked through a door.'
March 31, 2016
"The First Summer", by Matthew Griffin is excerpted from his novel "Hide", which I'm a huge fan of. I enjoyed reading this section of the book again....and I purchased this ( only 99 cents), to read any other 'notes' which might be included.
There are some beautiful articles, (interviews), on the Internet about Matthew Griffins - now that his book "Hide" out in stores to buy. ( I read it as an early read)....
Matthew shares about writing the book "Hide", where the ideas came from and shares about his life. He's a strict vegetarian, and lives with a ton of dogs.
The excerpt in this book takes place at a beach - it was the first time Frank and Wendell slept in the same bed - in a flimsy shack.
Frank went swimming in the ocean - Wendell watched him....( I could smell the salt and
imagine the waves...the ocean turning back on themselves) ...'lovely beach scene'.
These old guys were happy...laughing...a little nervous..and in love!
I like what Stuart Nadler, author of "The Inseparables", had to say about "Hide"....
"So, along comes a book like "Hide"--a first novel, a Southern novel, a novel about love and death and the terror of discovery--that does what all the best fiction seeks to do, which is that it shows it's characters as humans."
There are some beautiful articles, (interviews), on the Internet about Matthew Griffins - now that his book "Hide" out in stores to buy. ( I read it as an early read)....
Matthew shares about writing the book "Hide", where the ideas came from and shares about his life. He's a strict vegetarian, and lives with a ton of dogs.
The excerpt in this book takes place at a beach - it was the first time Frank and Wendell slept in the same bed - in a flimsy shack.
Frank went swimming in the ocean - Wendell watched him....( I could smell the salt and
imagine the waves...the ocean turning back on themselves) ...'lovely beach scene'.
These old guys were happy...laughing...a little nervous..and in love!
I like what Stuart Nadler, author of "The Inseparables", had to say about "Hide"....
"So, along comes a book like "Hide"--a first novel, a Southern novel, a novel about love and death and the terror of discovery--that does what all the best fiction seeks to do, which is that it shows it's characters as humans."
February 16, 2016
Excerpt from the novel Hide. Enticing taste of the story to come. I will have more to say when I have read the whole book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews