The Stars Above Vera Cruz

by Gifford, Barry

• ISBN13: 9781560259824
• ISBN10: 1560259825
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-07
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr

Summary

A high-wire artist named Ropedancer is our guide to Gifford's world in The Stars Above Veracruz. His tale opens and closes this book of linked short fictions that take place in Honduras, France, Cuba, Paris, New York, New Zealand, Mexico, and other locales. Gifford's lyrical stories are often confessional, involving crimes large and small and narrators who, win or lose in their battles, never emerge unscathed. There is little triumphing here; victory lies in the completion of the journey, the survival of the high-wire artist who, step by step, follows his lifeline with utter concentration. At once tragic and humorous, full of pathos, and reminiscent of Thornton Wilder's humanist classic The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Stars Above Veracruz is Gifford's most significant work since Wild at Heart.

Author Biography

Barry Gifford is a literary lion whose works have been translated into twenty-seven languages and who’s been the recipient of awards from PEN, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Library Association, and the Writer’s Guild of America. His novel Wild at Heart was turned into a David Lynch film, and he co-wrote the screenplays for Lost Highway (1997) and City of Ghosts (2003). His more recent books, Wyoming and The Phantom Father, were named the Los Angeles Times Novel of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, respectively.