Music for Wartime
Book description
A short-story collection from the acclaimed author of The Great Believers
Named a must-read by the Chicago Tribune, O Magazine, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and The L Magazine
Rebecca Makkai's first two novels, The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House, have established her as one of the freshest and…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Music for Wartime as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This is a truly beautiful collection, and I love the way many of the stories place the protagonists in fraught situations that reveal what they will do to survive.
Some of my favorites are “The Worst You Ever Feel” and “The Briefcase” for how they show war’s impact on survivors, and “Painted Ocean, Painted Ship” and “The Miracle Years of Little Fork” for combining the tragic and the absurd in creative ways.
From Jeff's list on collections that show what great modern novelists can do with short fiction.
Of the several great works of fiction by this National Book Award-winner, this story collection is my favorite. Every character seems like someone I might know, or would like to know, and every story rings true. She is a master of description and dialogue, and the situations are as humorous as dark. Every story of course relates in some way to music – from a violinist to composer to a wanna-be, and a contemporary character named Bach – in settings from Berlin to an unnamed country. In the end, each tale has to do with relationships, as great fiction does,…
From Randy's list on short stories for smart women.
If you love Music for Wartime...
Brighter Than Her Fears
The 19th century women's rights movement and the rise of public education intertwine with one woman's story of struggle, perseverance, and love.
Alice Harris is pressed to marry a Civil War veteran twice her age when her family’s inn fails in 1882 in western North Carolina. She remakes herself by…
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