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The Wrong Heaven
- Narrated by: Alex Vaillant
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Including the story "Horse," as heard on This American Life.
For fans of George Saunders and Karen Russell, an "amazing, wildly inventive"* collection of stories that straddles the line between the real and the fantastical. (*Kevin Wilson)
In The Wrong Heaven, anything is possible: bodies can transform, inanimate objects come to life, angels appear and disappear.
Amy Bonnaffons draws us into a delightfully strange universe, in which her conflicted characters seek to solve their sexual and spiritual dilemmas in all the wrong places. The title story's heroine reckons with grief while arguing with loquacious Jesus and Mary lawn ornaments that come to life when she plugs them in. In "Horse," we enter a world in which women transform themselves into animals through a series of medical injections. In "Alternate," a young woman convinces herself that all she needs to revive a stagnant relationship is the perfect poster of the Dalai Lama.
While some of the worlds to which Bonnaffons transports us are more recognizable than others, all of them uncover the mysteries beneath the mundane surfaces of our lives. Enormously funny, boldly inventive, and as provocative as they are deeply affecting, these stories lay bare the heart of our deepest longings.
What the critics say
"In the stories of her imaginative and unsettling debut, Bonnaffons creates worlds much like ours, except for the parts that are askew...when Bonnaffons hits the sweet spot between the emotional and physical realities of this world and the odd, askew thing that lets readers see them, the collection is at its best. This is an outstanding, exciting debut." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
"At once goofy, poignant, and edged with the fantastic, the stories in Bonnaffons's debut collection initially surprise, then turn into one long, delicious rush." (Library Journal, starred review)
"In her first collection, Bonnaffons dazzles and cuts with 10 hilarious and cathartic short stories. Though the pieces vary in tone and format, they uniformly focus on a complex female protagonist. The author employs a modern magical realism, absurd, nihilistic, and playful all at once. Resonant of Alissa Nutting's novels and George Saunders' Pastoralia (2000), Bonnaffons' first collection presents a powerful and fresh new voice." (Booklist)