*SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2015*
SHORTLISTED FOR THE LA TIMES BOOKS PRIZE 2015
A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE NOTABLE BOOK OF 2014
A BOSTON GLOBE BEST FICTION OF 2014
ROXANE GAY'S TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2014
AN AMAZON BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION OF 2014
AN iBOOK BEST OF 2014
Perfectly pitched and gorgeously penned, this astonishingly bold collection of stories explores the boundary between the wild and the civilized. Pitting human beings against the extremes of nature, Diane Cook surgically peels back the layers of civilization to lay bare our vulnerabilities and the ease with which our darker, primal urges emerge.
These exhilarating and terrifying tales are set in worlds that are distorted versions of our own, where an alpha male is pursued through city streets by murderous rivals, a marooned woman defends her house against the rising flood and hordes of desperate refugees, and a pack of not-needed boys take refuge in a murky forest and compete against one another for food. Wry, transgressive and utterly unique, Cook's wildly inventive debut collection illuminates, with surreal humour and heartbreak, humankind's struggle not only to thrive, but survive.
About the Author
Diane Cook's fiction has been published in Harper's Magazine, Granta and Tin House. Her non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine. She earned an MFA from Columbia University, where she was a Teaching Fellow. She lives in Brooklyn.
Industry Reviews
'Sharply written and imaginative...Cook is an accomplished writer with a darkly comic touch...As with the short fiction of Stephen King and Miranda July, many of the bizarre tales in Man V. Nature would make for excellent viewing...brilliant...echoes of Margaret Atwood'.
Irish Times
'These are grimly funny stories; dark but dizzyingly alive.'
Sunday Express
'Makes for compulsive reading...these tales dizzy and trick...chilling and darkly comic'.
New Statesman
'A deeply original collection...deliciously unsettling...downright chilling...uncomfortably resonant.'
Independent
'Exhilarating... quirky, often edged with menace... understated dystopia... Cook's is a fresh and vivid voice; it's unsurprising the likes of Miranda July and Roxane Gay are fans'.
Observer
'Masterly.'
New York Times