Pieces For The Left Hand | Granta

  • Published: 07/03/2005
  • ISBN: 9781862077409
  • 137x20mm
  • 192 pages

Pieces For The Left Hand

J.Robert Lennon

A student’s suicide note is not what it seems. A high-school football rivalry turns absurd – and deadly. A much-loved cat seems to have been a different animal all along. A pair of identical twins aren’t identical at all – or even related. A man finds his own yellowed birth announcement inside a bureau bought at auction. Set in a small American town, told in a conversational style, Pieces for the Left Hand is a stream of a hundred anecdotes, none much longer than a page. At once funny, bizarre, familiar and disturbing, these deceptively straightforward tales nevertheless shock and amaze through uncanny coincidence, tragic misunderstanding, strange occurrence or sudden insight. Unposted letters, unexpected visitors, false memories – in Pieces for the Left Hand, these are the things that decide our fate. Wry and deadpan, powerful and philosophical, these addictive little fables reveal the everyday world as a strange and eerie place.

Lennon's writing stands out because he has an ability to take everyday situations and turn them into comedy

Big Issue in the North

Perfectly formed pieces with the power to disturb and amaze ... A well-written and thought-provoking book

Nottingham Evening Post

The Author

J. Robert Lennon was born in 1970 and lives in New York State. He is the author of Mailman, The Light of Falling Stars, The Funnies and On the Night Plain, all available from Granta Books.

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