Celebrities in Disgrace: A Novella and Stories Paperback - 2001 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

"These stories come to us wrapped in narrative forms that simply obey no rules but their own: a single glance exploding fractally into many lives. Kids, do not try this at home."--Christopher Tilghman

Inspired by a society obsessed with celebrities, Searle explores the glittery-dark underworld of 'hopefuls, ' those who have been given the slightest hint of success--or even imagined success--and who are hungry for an audience, of any size. Ranging from a woman's relentless pursuit to be an actress despite her tendency to faint onstage, to a disintegrating family who comes together if only to watch the imaginary lives in a soap opera, these stories capture the thrill and lure of fame and our insatiable need for it.

"How well Elizabeth Searle knows her vivid characters and how cunningly she depicts their weird and wonderful lives. Celebrities in Disgrace is a sparkling collection by a writer with a unique and an utterly contemporary sensibility."--Margot Livesey

Praise for her novel, A Four-Sided Bed

"In clipped, poetic language, Searle skillfully unwinds a psychosexual narrative."--New York Times Book Review

"Her elegant prose and anythingbut-PC gender play are pleasing to the mind and to the loins."--Boston Phoenix

"Bending gender and conventional notions about love and marriage, Searle's bold, beautiful book reaches right past the sensationalism of a love triangle to offer us an intense and moving portrait of the different ways people can connect."--Booklist

"A powerful, unsettling first novel. . . . A bright, distinctive, haunting debut."--Kirkus Reviews

Elizabeth Searle is the author of the highly acclaimed novel, A Four-Sided Bed, and My Body to You, a collection of short stories that won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize. She lives in Arlington, MA.

Media reviews

Citations

• Booklist, 04/15/2001, Page 1537
• Kirkus Reviews, 05/01/2001, Page 617
• Library Journal, 06/15/2001, Page 106
• New York Times, 08/12/2001, Page 22
• Publishers Weekly, 06/18/2001, Page 57