An explorer's whereabouts keeps a queen in waiting; a faith healer's illegal radio broadcasts give hope to an oppressed people; a president's offer of ice cream surprises a prostitute expecting to cooperate fully -- the three short fictions gathered in The Great Exception build into a vision of Cuba that is black-humored, brutal, and beautiful. Written prior to the publication of Rachel Kushner's first acclaimed novel Telex From Cuba, these stories, like Roberto Bola?o's Antwerp, burst forth with the genesis of her fictional universe as though fired from a cannon. From the mythical title story, to the ominous "Debouchment" -- originally published in her too short-lived journal Soft Targets -- to the sexy and noirish "Strange Case of Rachel K," this is Kushner saddling up for a journey into the wilds of the modern novel.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published: 03/24/2015
ISBN: 9780811224215
Pages: 96
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 7.20h x 4.80w x 0.40d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2014
Publishers Weekly 02/09/2015