Join Books.org — it's free

Fiction, American Fiction, World Literature, Fiction Subjects
Through the Safety Net: Stories by Charles Baxter β€” book cover

Through the Safety Net: Stories

by Charles Baxter
Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Log in to track your reading progress.

Overview

Baxter dives into the undercurrents of middle-class American life in these eleven arresting, often mesmerizing stories. Whether they know it or not, Baxter's characters are floating above an abyss of unruly desire, inexplicable dread, unforeseen tragedy, and sudden moments of grace.

A drunken graduate student hurtles cheerfully through a snowstorm to rescue a fiancee who no longer wants him. A hospital maintenance worker makes a perverse bid for his place in the sunlight of celebrity. A man and a woman who have lost their only child cling fiercely to the one thing they have left of her--their grief. Lit by the quiet lightning of Baxter's prose, Through the Safety Net is filled with rare artistry and feeling.

Synopsis

Baxter dives into the undercurrents of middle-class American life in these eleven arresting, often mesmerizing stories. Whether they know it or not, Baxter's characters are floating above an abyss of unruly desire, inexplicable dread, unforeseen tragedy, and sudden moments of grace.

A drunken graduate student hurtles cheerfully through a snowstorm to rescue a fiancee who no longer wants him. A hospital maintenance worker makes a perverse bid for his place in the sunlight of celebrity. A man and a woman who have lost their only child cling fiercely to the one thing they have left of her—their grief. Lit by the quiet lightning of Baxter's prose, Through the Safety Net is filled with rare artistry and feeling.

New York Times Book Review

Mr. Baxter's stories are intelligent, original, gracefully written, always moving, frequently funny and -- that rarest of compliments -- wise.

About the Author, Charles Baxter

Of Charles Baxter's fiction, Ron Hanson wrote in The New York Times Book Review, "Baxter's stories are intelligent, original, gracefully written, always moving, frequently funny and -- the rarest of compliments -- wise."

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Los Angeles Times

An exemplary writer. . . . His every story [is] a lesson in observation, feeling and wit.

Nation

A remarkable storyteller. . . . His narratives can be as plausible as they are utterly amazing.

New York Times Book Review

Mr. Baxter's stories are intelligent, original, gracefully written, always moving, frequently funny and -- that rarest of compliments -- wise.

Book Details

Published
September 1, 1998
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pages
216
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780679776499

More by Charles Baxter

Similar books