Product Details
Touchy Subjects

Touchy Subjects
By Emma Donoghue

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Product Description

In this sparkling collection of nineteen stories, the bestselling author of Slammerkin returns to contemporary affairs, exposing the private dilemmas that result from some of our most public controversies. A man finds God and finally wants to father a child—only his wife is now forty-two years old. A coach’s son discovers his sexuality on the football field. A repressed young woman finds liberation in her roommate’s bizarre secret.

Many of these stories involve animals and what they mean to us, or babies and whether to have them; some reimagine biblical plots in modern contexts. With characters old, young, straight, gay, and simply confused, Donoghue dazzles with her range and her ability to touch lightly but penetrate deeply into the human condition.

(20060924)

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #857709 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-05-07
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR TOUCHY SUBJECTS

"Lucid, concise, clever and poignant. Roaming the globe, from many walks of life, bearing their painful and wonderful aspects alike, Donoghue’s characters will remind readers of themselves in the here and now."—THE MIAMI HERALD

"Touchy Subjects parades a variety of styles, but I’d say Donoghue’s greatest talent is for humor . . . Written over a number of years, these stories demonstrate considerable versatility."—THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW



"Virtually every tale in TOUCHY SUBJECTS is lucid, concise, clever and poignant. Roaming the globe, from many walks of life, bearing their painful and wonderful aspects alike, Donoghue''s characters will remind readers of themselves in the here and now." (Miami Herald )

"Lucid contemporary takes in a variety of styles, with humor ascendant." (Editors'' Choice) (New York Times )

"All of Donoghue''s stories are lucid and well paced...written over a number of years, these stories demonstrate considerable versatility...It''s evident she likes her characters, and you probably will too." (Tibor Fischer New York Times )

About the Author

EMMA DONOGHUE is an Irish novelist, playwright, and historian. She is the author of four novels, two collections of short stories, and a collection of fairy tales. She lives in London, Ontario.


Customer Reviews

Pleasantly surprised4
I'm not actually a fan of short stories at all. They typically don't let you get into the heart of a character enough to make it worthwhile. Frequently they lack any character development at all. Not so with Donoghue's stories. She pulls you in to her characters and leaves you wanting more, but not feeling denied. I was pleasantly surprised.

Touchy subjects...5
is a short story collection by Emma Donoghue, whose work I really, really like.

I like her humor and the melancholy touch a lot of her work has. Her characters always feel very real, they have flaws and ups and downs.

This collection includes stories she has gathered under the headings babies, domesticity, desire and death. The characters come from all walks of life, background etc. (if you're looking for a collection of all-lesbian stories this isn't it). As with all collections I liked some stories better than others but I enjoyed them all.

My favorite stories are "Touchy Subjects", the story of a single woman and her best friend's husband meeting in a hotel room to make a baby and "The Welcome", which takes place in an all-woman housing co-op.