ISBN-13: 9780822962441 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 192 str.
ISBN-13: 9780822962441 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 192 str.
Winner of the 2002 Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Selected by Elizabeth Hardwick
It is difficult to see what lurks beneath the surface of a muddy river, an alligator-infested lake, or a John Blair short story. The deep currents that drive a demure, devout, church-going woman to shoot her husband; the ripple effect of a midnight rendezvous at church youth camp that goes slightly then horribly askew; the sinkholes that can swallow Porsche dealerships or marriages; what is dredged up in "American Standard" cannot easily be forgotten.
Set mostly in central Florida, Blair s stories are filled with people living lives of disquieting longing and stubborn isolation. For them, this is the American standard, as ubiquitous and undistinguished as vitreous china bathroom fixtures.
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