Buy used:
$52.14
FREE delivery May 21 - 28. Details
Or fastest delivery May 15 - 20. Details
Used: Very Good | Details
Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Steven Polansky
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

DATING MISS UNIVERSE: NINE STORIES (Ohio State Univ Prize in Short Fiction) Paperback – March 1, 1999

by Steven Polansky (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating
See all formats and editions
Steven Polansky's universe has no heroes, no villains. His people are fallen and eminently human. They try to live difficult lives with dignity and grace, to cope with what scares them. These are powerful stories of brokenness - broken families, failed loves, dangerous intimacies, unrealized dreams - that are surprisingly tender and often comic. These are stories that are at once bright and dark, written with scrupulous moral precision.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    196 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ohio State University Press
  4. Publication date
    March 1, 1999
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    081425019X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0814250198
  8. See all details
Next page
Books with Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the surgical skill of his literary forebear Raymond Carver, Polansky cuts away the skin of conventional relationships and love as it's normally described to reveal in nine smart (and smarting) stories the cankers that infect us all. The ineffectual and frustrated father of "Leg" refuses to treat the scrape he gets from a pointless slide into third in a church group baseball game. He turns feverish and stiff, afflicted to the bone, but won't see the doctor until his disdainful and uncommunicative teenage son comes to him in tears. Punning with a gentle smirk, the story "Sleights" tells of a dead magician who, omniscient, watches as his daughter Judith absents herself from his funeral. Aware but unrepenting of some crime he committed against herAone suspects neglect at bestAthe magician does not defend himself when Judith claims in a letter to her estranged cousin that she hates her father and is not sorry he has died. In "Coda," Lack and Rosenthal, acquaintances, not friends, come into an uneasy and quickly dissolved intimacy when Rosenthal tells Lack the story of his sexual depravity. Polansky's dialogue is clipped, the stories brief. Suspenseful and riddled characters, both distressed and repressed, dwell in these neat plots pulled together with nooselike finality. Here, the last laugh belongs to Polansky and it's a devastating, ironic twitch of a smile.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

...[an] inventive and sometimes moving book. -- The New York Times Book Review, Beth Wolfensberger Singer

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ohio State University Press; 1st edition (March 1, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 081425019X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0814250198
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Steven Polansky

Steven Polansky

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
1 global rating

Top review from the United States

Kevin F. Tasker
4.0 out of 5 stars " they are all excellent in their own right
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2014
Verified Purchase
A deft and surprising small masterpiece in the spirit of Raymond Carver,Mr. Polansky's collection begins on a strong, surreal note with "Leg," as we meet Dave, a religious man attempting to find a meaningful way to communicate with his petulant adolescent son. Things get darker and more off-kilter as the collection progresses from there. Along the way we meet a celebrity stalker, two quibbling brothers, and other realistically drawn and vaguely haunting characters. Polansky is a master of the short form and while a few of the stories don't have the zing of "Leg," there are all excellent in their own right. Worth a read if you enjoy minimalism or dirty realism.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report