White People

by Allan Gurganus

Overview

A PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
A New York Times Notable Book

In eleven glorious stories, Allan Gurganus, author of the highly acclaimed Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, gives heart-breaking and hilarious voice to the fears, desires, and triumphs of Americans—black and white, gay and straight, old and young, Northern and especially Southern.

Here are war heroes bewildered by the complex negotiations of family life, former debutantes called upon to muster resources they never knew they had, vacationing senior citizens confronted by their own bravery, and married men brought up short by the marvelous possibilities of entirely different lives.  Written with flair, wit, and deep humanity, this award-winning volume confirms Allan Gurganus as one of the finest writers of our time.

The title novella of White People won the National Magazine Prize

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307764126
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Series:	Vintage Contemporaries
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	534,661
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

The title novella of White People won the National Magazine Prize. He other honors include PEN/Fualkner Award finalist,  the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Allan Gurganus lives in a small town in North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

With the publication of this virtuoso collection, Gurganus ( Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All ) has again produced a book of literary merit that deserves wide readership. In 10 stories and two novellas written over the last two decades, we meet a delightful array of characters who share the common denominator of white skin, if little else. Narrated almost entirely in an astonishing range of first-person voices, this fiction displays the depth and breadth of Gurganus's skill as a gifted raconteur. In ``Condolences to Every One of Us'' a woman describes a disastrous African package tour that leads to the death of two tourists. ``Breathing Room'' is the story of a man who is overtaken by a once sickly younger brother. At age six, he ``ached to simply arch right over him, to settle like a jar with air holes and enough floor space so he'd not be bored.'' But the story ends in a melancholy tone: ``Bradley's thirty-four, and thriving; that makes me thirty-six.'' ``America Competes'' is a hilarious send-up of arts competitions. ``Reassurance'' is a delicate letter from the grave of a Civil War casualty that takes up at the final line of Walt Whitman's letter ``Death of a Pennsylvania Soldier.'' The final piece, ``Blessed Assurance,'' is a funny, sad, confessional tale told by a man reflecting on his traumatic youth, when he collected funeral insurance premiums from poor blacks. Gurganus is a champion storyteller with particularly American roots, in the tradition of Mark Twain. This is a collection to be savored and reread while we wait for more. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gurganus's colorful collection of stories and novellas, written from the mid-Seventies to the late Eighties, is a fine follow-up to last year's best-selling novel Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All ( LJ 5/1/89). Many of the stories are personal, even dedicated to family members, and they have decidedly autobiographical overtones. ``Minor Heroism'' tells of a war-hero father's awkward relationship to his creative, sensitive son. In ``Breathing Room,'' the older son watches as his once pale, asthmatic little brother eclipses him in size and strength. In ``A Hog Loves Its Life,'' Grandfather tried to pass on some country wisdom to his bookish grandson. Gurganus has a fluid, humorous style that gently pokes fun at and yet honors his Southern roots. This is a poignant, entertaining collection. Recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/90.--Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.

Library Journal

"Elegant, mysterious and satisfying." — Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Gurganus, a storyteller in the grand tradition...can tell his stories as well as anyone alive in our time." —The New York Times Book Review

"Ranging from family memoirs to historical pieces, from satire to surrealism, White People celebrates American culture in all its humanistic vibrancy and grotesque contradictions.  Blending trenchant satire with outrageous humor, Gurganus's stories recall both Mark Twain and Flannery O'Connor."—Chicago Tribune

"Each story is a gem."—San Francisco Chronicle

From the Publisher