When the Messenger Is Hot (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: Elizabeth Crane
- First Published: 2003
- Type of Work: Short fiction
- Time of Work: About 2002
- Setting: New York and Chicago
- Principal Characters: Wendy, Apple Fowler, Dave, Alice
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: New York, Mothers, New York City, Twenty-first century, Chicago, Hope, Women, Identity, Single people, Career women, Isolation, Dating, Phobias
- Locales: New York, Chicago, IL
Elizabeth Crane’s debut collection of sixteen short stories is filled with agoraphobic, overly analytic women who detach themselves from the world because of bad childhoods, odd fetishes and phobias, and a distrust of modern life in general. Mostly told from the first-person point of view, Crane’s stories unfold from the mouths of various female Holden Caulfields whose internal monologues remark on popular culture topics as diverse as support group spirituality and tattoo artistry. Though most stories rely heavily on Crane’s experimentation with form and style to create an edgy,...
[The entire page is 1966 words long]
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