HELEN OYEYEMI, authorof WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS and GINGERBREAD There's some fierce and steady activity in all of the sentences-something that makes them live, and makes them shift a little in meaning when you look at them again and they look back at you (or look beyond you). These poignant and deceptively quiet stories are powerhouses of feeling and depth How to Pronounce Knife is an artful blend of simplicity and sophistication.- MARY GAITSKILL, author of VERONICA and SOMEBODY WITH A LITTLE HAMMER There is not a moment off in these affecting stories.- SHEILA HETI, author of HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE and MOTHERHOOD Souvankham Thammavongsa writes with deep precision, wide-open spaces, and quiet, cool, emotionally devastating poise. In under 200 pages, Canadian poet Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut.a poignant, eyes-wide-open exploration.pristine short fiction: think Paul Yoon, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Phil Klay.- LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred Review) "A stunning collection of stories that portray the immigrant experience in achingly beautiful prose."- SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE judges
"As the daughter of refugees, I'm able to finally see myself in stories." -Angela So, Electric Literature Unsentimental yet tender, taut and visceral, How to Pronounce Knife announces Souvankham Thammavongsa as one of the most striking voices of her generation. As one of Thammavongsa's characters says, "All we wanted was to live." And in these stories, they do-brightly, ferociously, unforgettably. In spare, intimate prose charged with emotional power and a sly wit, she paints an indelible portrait of watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong. In her stunning debut story collection, O. A mother teaching her daughter the art of worm harvesting. A housewife learning English from daytime soap operas. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant.
Description A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and winner of the 2020 Giller Prize, this revelatory story collection honors characters struggling to find their bearings far from home, even as they do the necessary "grunt work of the world." A failed boxer painting nails at the local salon.
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