From EDGAR-AWARD WINNING author Erika Krouse, a VISCERAL, DAZZLING collection of stories set across the globe about characters desperate for salvation
‘Far-ranging and visionary collection...A dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise.’ —ADAM JOHNSON
‘Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables—supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.’ —LOUISE ERDRICH
Erika Krouse's debut memoir, Tell Me Everything, was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as ‘lyrical, jarring, propulsive,’ and the Washington Post as ‘mesmerizing on every page.’ Now, with an electrifying new collection of stories, Save Me, Stranger, she further cements her reputation as an essential voice.
From the coldest town on earth to a sex shop in Bangkok to a haunted bed-and-breakfast in the Rockies, we meet characters at hinge moments. A runaway fights for her future while driving an ice-cream truck in gang territory; a cleaning woman investigates the teenager who died in her stead; a terminal patient in Alaska discovers new life in helping others die. This collection explores the borderlands between humor and hurt, community and self, and hope and despair, redefining what it means to survive.
Scalpel-sharp, unsparingly funny, and achingly wise, Krouse's expansive stories build to unforgettable emotional catharses, as these men and women must decide how far they are willing to go to save one another—and themselves.
Genre: Literary Fiction
‘Far-ranging and visionary collection...A dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise.’ —ADAM JOHNSON
‘Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables—supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.’ —LOUISE ERDRICH
Erika Krouse's debut memoir, Tell Me Everything, was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as ‘lyrical, jarring, propulsive,’ and the Washington Post as ‘mesmerizing on every page.’ Now, with an electrifying new collection of stories, Save Me, Stranger, she further cements her reputation as an essential voice.
From the coldest town on earth to a sex shop in Bangkok to a haunted bed-and-breakfast in the Rockies, we meet characters at hinge moments. A runaway fights for her future while driving an ice-cream truck in gang territory; a cleaning woman investigates the teenager who died in her stead; a terminal patient in Alaska discovers new life in helping others die. This collection explores the borderlands between humor and hurt, community and self, and hope and despair, redefining what it means to survive.
Scalpel-sharp, unsparingly funny, and achingly wise, Krouse's expansive stories build to unforgettable emotional catharses, as these men and women must decide how far they are willing to go to save one another—and themselves.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"I really enjoyed this book. Some of its remarkable power is that the stories alternate between embodying epiphanies and valedictions-sometimes a quick goodbye, but always with an authenticity that convinces the longer it lingers. They'll stay in your mind." - Ann Beattie
"It is always a thrill to encounter a new and wildly capable imagination. Each story here is fully-realized and also a portal into a new landscape, and I read with appetite, marveling at Krouse's range and storytelling chops." - Aimee Bender
"Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables-supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor." - Louise Erdrich
"In this far-ranging and visionary collection, Krouse extends the reach of what stories can do, delivering a dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise. Save Me, Stranger is at once a treatise on tender moments and a symphony of storytelling." - Adam Johnson
"The protagonists at the heart of this collection seem to hang, fingers clinging, on a high precipice, while the reader stands above in judgment and care, both at once. In our lonesome, suspicious times, Save Me, Stranger made me feel that there's hope yet for our wretched souls. I'll be thinking about these stories for a long time." - Vauhini Vara
"It is always a thrill to encounter a new and wildly capable imagination. Each story here is fully-realized and also a portal into a new landscape, and I read with appetite, marveling at Krouse's range and storytelling chops." - Aimee Bender
"Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables-supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor." - Louise Erdrich
"In this far-ranging and visionary collection, Krouse extends the reach of what stories can do, delivering a dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise. Save Me, Stranger is at once a treatise on tender moments and a symphony of storytelling." - Adam Johnson
"The protagonists at the heart of this collection seem to hang, fingers clinging, on a high precipice, while the reader stands above in judgment and care, both at once. In our lonesome, suspicious times, Save Me, Stranger made me feel that there's hope yet for our wretched souls. I'll be thinking about these stories for a long time." - Vauhini Vara
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