Product Description

An astonishing collection of short stories--set deep in the twisted heart of middle class America--from one of America's most promising and highly acclaimed young writers. Leavitt lays bare the terrible lies of love and pain that bind us all in this "astounding collection of short stories".--New York Times. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1040421 in Books
• Published on: 1997-11-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 205 pages

Review
"Astonishing -- funny, eloquent, and wise." -- Review

Review
"Astonishing -- funny, eloquent, and wise." (The New York Times )

About the Author
David Leavitt's first collection of stories, Family Dancing, was published when he was just twenty-three and was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Prize. The Lost Language of Cranes was made into a BBC film, and While England Sleeps was short-listed for the Los Angeles Times Fiction Prize. With Mark Mitchell, he coedited The Penguin Book of Short Stories, Pages Passed from Hand to Hand, and cowrote Italian Pleasures. Leavitt is a recipient of fellowships from both the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He divides his time between Italy and Florida.

Customer Reviews

early Leavitt work shows some brilliance...
'Family Dancing' is a collection of short stories written by David Leavitt when he was in his early twenties. It is remarkable thata young man can write with such sensitivity. The prose is very fluid, and the characterizations are quite realistic. Quite remarkable considering these are *short* stories, not novels. However these stories are somewhat uneven in their overall quality, and I think I know why.

David Leavitt is best known for writing gay fiction. In 'Family Dancing' about a third of the stories are gay-themed. But I find the gay characters in these stories, and even in his fine novel 'The Lost Language of Cranes', to be very two-dimensional. However Leavitt's observations of parents coping with dysfunctional lives, marriages, and children to be most affecting. In 'Family Dancing' there are a couple of simply wonderful, extremely moving stories about people living with cancer. These stories alone are worth the price of this book.

Bottom line: a mixed bag containing treasures. Recommended.

the family exposed
Reading these poignant stories is like watching 15 or so different versions of American Beauty. Beneath the surface in almost every family lie illness, infidelity, betrayals and anger. This is his first collection of stories and they make for an excellent collection. I had read his later books first like The Lost Language of Cranes which I think are stronger overall, but as a first collection, these stories are revealing.

Leavitt has a knack for exposing the underside of family relations. Many of his stories focus on husbands who leave their wives, but just as many focus on the effect these family disputes have on the children. Overall, these stories will leave you with a feeling of sadness -- he touches many nerves from cancer to men coming to terms with their sexuality, to abandoned sisters and brothers. I think Leavitt is a very sensitive writer with an eye for the problems that plague 20th century families.

Couldn't Please Me More
Leavitt is one of the true modern masters of the short story--it is ashame his novels aren't quite as well done. Here is where Leavitt launched his career, to justified critical delight. These stories are near perfection--and our of a writer in his early 20s!--with well-drawn characters and serious themes, though sometimes playful treatments. Leavitt's preoccupations seem to be with the family, homosexuality, and cancer, but he has yet to make any of these topics stale. Highly recommended.