The Price of the Haircut, Brock Clarke
The Price of the Haircut, Brock Clarke
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Price of the Haircut
Stories

Author: Brock Clarke

Narrator: P.J. Ochlan, Suzanne Elise Freeman

Unabridged: 7 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/13/2018

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories


Synopsis

From an acclaimed and original writer comes a new collection of stories bursting with absurdist plot twists and laced with trenchant wit. Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England and Exley, among other novels, now offers up bite-sized morsels of his trademark social satire that will have listeners laughing, and perhaps shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

The title story delivers a cringingly biting dissection of racial attitudes in contemporary America, and Clarke also turns his eagle eye to subjects like PTSD, the fate of child actors, and, most especially, marital discord in stories like "Considering Lizzie Borden, Her Axe, My Wife" and "The Misunderstandings." In "The Pity Palace," a masterful study in self-absorption and self-delusion, a reclusive husband in Florence, Italy, who believes his wife has left him for a famous novelist, sells tickets to tourists anxious to meet someone more miserable than they.

It's a distinctly Clarkean world, in which listeners find themselves reflected back with the distortion of funhouse mirrors—and swept up on a wild ride of heart-wrenching insight and self-discovery.

About Brock Clarke

Brock Clarke is the author of several novels, including the bestselling An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, as well as three collections of short stories, the most recent being The Price of the Haircut. He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches at Bowdoin College.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ian

Brock was one of my first creative writing teachers, and probably the one I spent most of my time with in my development as a fictioneer in college and grad school. He wound up moving away to Bowdin from Cincinnati, but Cincinnati seems to be a major player in these stories—even glancingly as the op......more

Goodreads review by Caitlin

Thanks to Algonquin for the free review copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. This book is a collection of short stories that take on a vary sarcastic and satire tone. I enjoyed getting to read about how the author portrays all walks and stages of life. At times, I was laughing so hard while r......more

Goodreads review by David

This is a weird book - Clarke seems to have a knack for coming up with good stories only to have them hijacked by his own writing style; and then of recognizing the weaknesses of that style and pointing them out within the story, as though addressing them in this way makes them into strengths (it do......more

Goodreads review by Kevin

I gave this two stars instead of one because the first short story is so good. Of the possible five stars that can be awarded to books on this website, I gave it two, but it should have been one. I did this because the author wrote a great short story that I enjoyed, but then after starting so stron......more