{"product_id":"9781632862914","title":"The Truth About Death : And Other Stories","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Truth About Death\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Robert Hellenga\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Truth About Death,\" the title novella of this virtuosic collection, is a masterpiece of sardonic humor that confronts Death head on and emerges bloody but unbowed. Simon, an undertaker, embalms his own father and faces his own death. Louisa, Simon's mother, makes peace with her husband over his dead body in a cooler in the basement of the funeral home. Simon contemplates the mystery of death over a plate of \u003ci\u003espaghetti cacio e pepe \u003c\/i\u003ein Rome with an Italian undertaker. The dog, Maya--who works as a greeter at the funeral home where she comforts those who are grieving hardest--eventually makes the truth about death known to Elizabeth, Simon's wife. \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003ecartoons keep the family laughing during the most difficult months, Elizabeth decides to show her own cartoons (included here), to the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003ecartoon editor, Bob Mankoff, at his office in New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The serious issues cleverly addressed in \u003ci\u003eThe Truth About Death \u003c\/i\u003eare touched with warmth, humor, and deep feeling in the eight \"Other Stories,\" not by invoking comforting fairy tales but by accepting the fact that death and grief are part of the natural order of things. As Maya explains to Elizabeth, \"It's just the way things are.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Mortality is far more than an intimation in \u003ci\u003eThe Truth About Death\u003c\/i\u003e, nine searching, mature stories that encompass grand passions and fleeting romantic adventures.\" —NPR.org\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Gripping and unpredictable . . . immensely satisfying.” —Mary Doria Russell, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post, on THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANCES GODWIN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hellenga creates a teacher you will wish you had studied with, and a character to remember.” —\u003ci\u003eSt. Louis Post-Dispatch on THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANCES GODWIN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hellenga neatly balances the pallet trucks of the wholesale produce business with the idiosyncrasies of translating the ribald poetry of Catullus . . . Although the story ranges wide, \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions of Frances Godwin\u003c\/i\u003e is firmly rooted in the culture and values of Hellenga's perfectly rendered Midwest.” —\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness on THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANCES GODWIN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“His latest novel [is] one of his best . . . Hellenga . . . is one of those writers who inspire a special kind of devotion in their readers . . . The beauty of this novel and, in fact, of all of Hellenga's work, lies in the scrupulous attention he pays to those different shapes that life takes. Like Frances, we find in their very concreteness a way of living with the uncertainty that surrounds us.” —starred review, \u003ci\u003eBooklist, on THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANCES GODWIN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781632862914\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Bloomsbury USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40596871119054,"sku":"9781632862914","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_ce0b6a9f-7543-48ce-b7b2-a2f25a3968dd.jpg?v=1637868002","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781632862914","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}