The New Order: Stories - Hardcover

Bender, Karen E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1640090991 ISBN 13: 9781640090996

Verlag: Counterpoint, 2018

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Praise for The New Order

Long-listed for The Story Prize
1 of 10 Books to Be Thankful for This November (O, The Oprah Magazine)
1 of 23 Hot Picks for Cool Fall Books (The Boston Globe)
1 of 34 Fall 2018 Books We Can't Wait to Read (HuffPost)

"A finalist for the National Book Award, lauded for her short stories, Bender returns with a collection that reflects America's new reality." --The New York Times Book Review, New & Noteworthy

"The unfussy yet supremely crafted short fictions in the author's second collection delight in upending expectations, playing fast and loose with the rules of tone, time, and point of view to constantly keep us guessing." --O, The Oprah Magazine, 1 of 10 Books to Be Thankful for This November

"While her stories have a universality that makes them timeless, The New Order very much speaks to this particularly fraught time." --Elizabeth Taylor, The National Book Review

"The National Book Award finalist returns with a story collection guaranteed to unnerve." --The Boston Globe, 1 of 23 Hot Picks for Cool Fall Books

"When most readers think about the American Jewish literary tradition, they're thinking about Saul Bellow and Philip Roth . . . But there's another tradition: the tradition of Grace Paley and Deborah Eisenberg, of the great Jewish women short story writers. Karen E. Bender belongs to that close-knit, fiery canon. She is as politicized as Paley, who famously split her time between parenting, writing and protesting, and like Eisenberg she excels at sneaking in a joke when least expected. She's always got an elbow in the reader's side, nudging us to look closer at the world we live in." --Lily Meyer, Los Angeles Review of Books

"Bender is a master of the short story . . . Throughout The New Order, Bender manages to draw inspiration from her Jewish heritage, creating characters with whom the reader can relate no matter what their own background." --Andrea Geary, Winnipeg Free Press

"She articulates our new normal in terms both empathetic and terrifying. Bender shows an utter mastery of dialogue, including the conversations her characters have with themselves. These inner monologues never sink into simplistic political agitprop but break, twist, and unwind in ways that evoke the uncertainties we feel in the face of an unrecognizable world . . . You will think about some of these stories every day." --W. Scott Poole, PopMatters, 1 of the 80 Best Books of the Year

"National Book Award finalist Bender is back with more politically timely short fiction, in a collection that takes on school shootings, economic instability, campaigns for public office, sexual misconduct and beyond." --HuffPost, 1 of 34 Fall 2018 Books We Can't Wait to Read

"Bender's collection of short stories speaks to the here and now with an almost shocking degree of prescience . . . Bender's stories are unnerving--they track the slow warping of a mind pressured by threats of instability, danger, and falling without a net to catch them. Essentially, of us. Bender is an exquisite writer, and this book really will act as a brutally honest but empathetic guide to navigating the now." --Refinery29

"There are plenty of books that are well reviewed, but which don't reach nearly the readership they deserve. I suspect one title which falls into that category is Karen E. Bender's short story collection, The New Order, which so incisively and unnervingly captures the newest forms of tyranny." --Donna Seaman, Book Marks

"The dark undercurrents of our social climate--the threat of bigotry, violence, and misogyny--fuel the stories and central characters in Bender's sharp, thought-provoking and urgent collection." --Samantha Zabell, Apartment Therapy

"The New Order is one of the best collections of the year." --HelloGiggles

"The book shines a penetrating light on our current political moment without a whiff of sanctimony. If I were to describe these stories (always impossible with the best ones), the topics would sound as if lifted from a CNN news ticker: sexual harassment, school shootings, political campaigns, the emotional toll of living under constant threat. And yet, there's nothing preachy about the writing. Long after I finished the book, I found myself thinking less about the scenarios and more about the characters caught up in them. Bender renders her people with such precision and nuance, such warmth and compassion, that I cared about them as intensely as I do the people in my own life . . . Bender's elastic use of structure is reminiscent of Deborah Eisenberg and Joan Silber -- all three wield a pace that's unexpected and undulating. They consistently surprise by speeding right past moments that would seem crucial in a more conventional story, only to linger in the quieter, less-explored precincts of a character's psyche . . . Karen Bender is, hands down, one of our best story writers -- and for anyone who hasn't encountered her fiction, The New Order is the perfect place to start." --Molly Antopol, Electric Literature

"Karen E. Bender's new story collection is steeped in the present political moment, with an eye to our future. Our cultural corrosion--especially our denial of sexual assault and gun violence--impacts Bender's female narrators in quiet, resounding ways . . . The New Order delivers deceptively straightforward reflections on the mundane, as the reader is drawn into worlds much like our own." --The Arkansas International

"In what feels like the most timely release, The New Order is a new collection of stories that examines American culture over the past two years where violence, bigotry, sexual harassment, and negativity loomed over the country like a cancerous cloud." --Women.com

"Bender's previous collection of stories, Refund, was deservedly shortlisted for the National Book Award. Her latest, The New Order, is even better and more trenchant, a harrowing look into our present moment . . . Bender's writing is precise and exacting, and each story heartbreakingly cuts to the core of America's numerous tragedies." --Read It Forward

"Closed spaces--elevators, offices, an airplane, classrooms--amplify the inner dramas of Bender's watchful, anxious, feverishly expressive narrators in her second short story collection . . . In each of Bender's emotionally intimate tales, perplexed and traumatized girls and women confront the opacity of the thoughts and feelings of others, even those closest to them . . . With literary virtuosity, psychological authenticity, and breath-catching insight, Bender dramatizes gripping personal dilemmas compounded by a new order of social tyranny." --Booklist (starred review)

"[An] incisive collection . . . Bender's stories maintain a grounded, subdued realism. The great strength of the collection lies in her ability to examine the ramifications of violence and casual cruelty on individuals and communities . . . This is a thoughtful, timely collection." --Publishers Weekly

"What an amazing collection this is. Anyone who doubts that true art can be written in response to what's going on in America needs to read The New Order. The book kept surprising and dazzling me--junior-high treacheries, a woman's mean new job, and futile efficiencies in the face of danger are all turned into stories that read like legends." --Joan Silber, author of Improvement

"Karen E. Bender's stories are a marvel. This collection is profound and deeply humane, a moving portrait of a culture at a moment of anxiety, its faults on display and all too recognizable." --Daniel Alarcón, author of The King Is Always Above the People

"Karen Bender is a tremendous writer--bighearted and wise, witty and wry--and The New Order is a powerhouse of a book: each story brilliantly crafted, propulsive, and surprising, with characters I cared for deeply and endings that knocked me flat. It's a book that feels tailor-made for the current political moment, while still having the timeless feel of a classic. One of the best story collections I've read in years." --Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans

"I have found a new favorite writer and am a bit embarrassed I didn't know who Karen E. Bender was before this ARC fell into my lap. Elegant writing and powerfully packed stories with relevant topics, relatable inner dialogue, and powerful (sometimes funny) twists. Loved it!" --Elena Eustaquio, Books Inc. (San Francisco, CA)

Praise for Refund

Finalist for the National Book Award for fiction
Short-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize
Long-listed for the Story Prize

"Money is ostensibly the fuel that powers Karen E. Bender's new collection, Refund...but Bender's subtler preoccupation is the eroding effect of emotional want...Bender understands worlds about marriage and emotional need." --The New York Times Book Review

"Bender probes the depths people will sink to for love and money in this poignant, absorbing collection of finance-themed tales. Worth investing time in." --People

"Each day Bender's cast of ordinary people struggle to make sense of their debts, their fears, and how to be satisfied with what they've got, in short stories that are both lean and expansive." --O, the Oprah Magazine

"The tales told in Karen Bender's Refund, a collection of stories that centers on money and family, are exquisitely composed portraits of modern life, and chances are you will encounter characters that remind you a little or a lot of yourself. That's the brilliance of Bender's storytelling....Bender's ability to transform observations of life into uncomfortably realistic stories cannot be denied." --Chicago Tribune

"The stories are replete with poignant, tragic moments...her graceful and sensitive treatment of her characters reminds us that in difficult times, it's important to remember that everyone is fighting a hard battle." --The Boston Globe

"Each of the Refund stories is an impeccably constructed miniature, a ship in a bottle that makes the reader wonder how the author got all that detail, all that craft, into such a small container. Taken as a whole, the collection is a 13-stop journey into some richly imagined worlds...Bender's willingness to go deep, to burrow down into what's right and wrong about 21st century America and Americans is a mirror that draws us in and does not allow us to look away." --Los Angeles Times

"A masterful new collection." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"In the 13 electrifying tales of Refund, she examines the themes of wealth and poverty, health and disease, and the suddenness with which our lives can change -- or even end....Bender ends on notes of hope and despair: hope because one is still loved and can love, despair at a life fraught with worry and disappointment. The author's sharp observations and fine, crisp writing keep these stories crackling with energy and wit, while they excavate the buried secrets of 21st century America." --Miami Herald

"A fictional bonanza for penny-pinching times." --More

"Bender's evocative prose takes us immediately to a place that we recognize, even if we haven't yet lived there ourselves...I loved Refund. Highly recommended." --The Billfold

"There are some astonishing characters in this collection-the elderly grifter in 'Theft, ' the ailing child in 'Anything for Money, ' and the sisters in 'A Chick From My Dream Life'...the stories' strengths stem from Bender's beautiful writing and her ability to convey the wonder and dread of ordinary life, the things we might notice-whether with terror or with joy-if we weren't too busy worrying about paying the bills." --Publishers Weekly

"Bender's tales are stark, heart-wrenching, quirky....but they all work together, as Bender leads us to a unifying conclusion: you can't put a price on human life or love." --Booklist

"Money, money! The things we'll do to get it, the distortions (especially when children are involved) of the space between desire and satisfaction: these are Karen Bender's subjects, which she handles with savage wit, great economy, and a brilliant instinct for the telling situation. Her stories floored me." --Andrea Barrett, author of Archangel and Servants of the Map

"Every once in a while a book steps onto the stage and convinces readers all over again that literature is the great companion and interpreter of life. This is one of those books. In these eleven absolutely masterful stories by Karen E. Bender, the reader gets the most intimate education in politics, language, love, family. The book cares about every single idea it comes across-- in a way it is political to the core. On the other hand, the writing is affectionate and attentive to the way life feels, to the way a phrase can grasp a moment so entirely. This is the book of the season, and the book everyone should read who wants to understand the depth and capability of the short story." --Rebecca Lee, author of Bobcat and The City Is A Rising Tide

"In an American moment where money rules and anxieties fester, Karen Bender has stepped in to tell all our stories with unsettling honesty, an eye for our absurdities, and an openness to the moments of grace that keep us going. Bender is a master storyteller and Refund is a superb collection." --Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me

"These stories are among the best short fiction I've read in a generation. From the chains of straw and coins and angels that bind us to earth, Bender weaves not only gold, but the rings of Saturn." --Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Second Nature

"In Refund, Karen Bender offers us a vision of contemporary life that is tragic and deeply funny, disturbing and - most of all - true. These are stories about us, women and men living with the trappings of comfort and security, while anxiety thrums under the surface and a sense of calamity looms. This collection moved and enthralled me throughout." --Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia and the story collection You are Free

Praise for A Town of Empty Rooms

"In the very best of fiction, an intimate, spiritual communion momentarily transpires between reader and author. In the case of Bender's novel, these moments occur during these flawless passages of authentic longing and isolation. Like some of today's best contemporary realistic authors, Bender skillfully excavates and animates the human fragilities and missteps of life, transporting the reader deeper into the narrative and the interior lives of her characters. Taken together, A Town of Empty Rooms elicits both great pleasure and heartache." --S. Kirk Walsh, The Boston Globe

"Conversations -- about love, faith, belonging, and the nature of God -- rattle and hum throughout Karen Bender's outstanding new novel, A Town of Empty Rooms. The book itself i...

Reseña del editor:

“Bender's willingness to go deep, to burrow down into what's right and wrong about 21st century America and Americans, is a mirror that draws us in and does not allow us to look away." —Los Angeles Times on Refund

The National Book Award finalist for Refund returns with a new collection of stories that boldly examines the changes in American culture over the last two years through the increasing presence of violence, bigotry, sexual harassment, and the emotional costs of living under constant threat.

In the title story, the competition between two middle school cellists is affected by a shooting at their school, and it is only years later that they realize how the intrusion of violence affected the course of their lives. In "This Is Who You Are," a young girl walks the line between Hebrew school and her regular school, realizing that both are filled with unexpected moments of insight and violence. In "Three Interviews," an aging reporter must contend with her dwindling sense of self and resources, beleaguered by unemployment, which sets her on a path to three increasingly unhinged job interviews. In "Mrs. America," a candidate for local office must confront a host of forces that threaten to undermine her campaign and expose her own role in the dissonance between what America is and what it should be.

The New Order explores contemporary themes and ideas, shining a spotlight on the dark corners of our nature, our instincts, and our country.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Counterpoint
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1640090991
• ISBN 13: 9781640090996
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288