A Guide to Being Born

A Guide to Being Born Stories

Short stories

Paperback (06 May 2014)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Reminiscent of Aimee Bender and Karen Russell, from the author of the new collection, Awayland-an enthralling book of stories that uses the world of the imagination to explore the heart of the human condition.

Major literary talent Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, combines the otherworldly wisdom of her much-loved debut novel, No One Is Here Except All of Us, with the precision of the short-story form. A Guide to Being Born is organized around the stages of life-love, conception, gestation, birth-and the transformations that happen as people experience deeply altering life events, falling in love, becoming parents, looking toward the end of life. In each of these eleven stories Ausubel's stunning imagination and humor are moving, entertaining, and provocative, leading readers to see the familiar world in a new way.

In "Atria" a pregnant teenager believes she will give birth to any number of strange animals rather than a human baby; in "Catch and Release" a girl discovers the ghost of a Civil War hero living in the woods behind her house; and in "Tributaries" people grow a new arm each time they fall in love. Funny, surprising, and delightfully strange-all the stories have a strong emotional core; Ausubel's primary concern is always love, in all its manifestations.

Book information

ISBN: 9781594632686
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Imprint: Riverhead Books
Pub date:
Edition: Short stories
DEWEY: 813.6
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 208
Weight: 168g
Height: 203mm
Width: 131mm
Spine width: 15mm