<div>In these disquieting tales of confronting the past, the author and playwright showcases his &ldquo;keen ear for how people talk, think, and behave&rdquo; (Publishers Weekly). Listening for Ghosts collects some of David Rabe&rsquo;s most compelling short fiction of the past few years, including three stories that appeared in the New Yorker. In &ldquo;Things We Worried About When I Was Ten,&rdquo; a group of seemingly carefree Midwestern boys are revealed to be egregiously uncared for by their parents. &ldquo;The Longer Grief&rdquo; is a slow-motion explosion, as one moment in time propels shards of reckoning through the shared history of a brother and sister. In &ldquo;Uncle Jim Called,&rdquo; a man cooking stir fry answers a phone call from the dead . &ldquo;Suffocation Theory&rdquo; slyly depicts our off-kilter and increasingly apocalyptic world. In the novella, I Have to Tell You, the elderly tenants of a Midwestern apartment complex seek fairness from a conniving landlord. When an emergency stay in the hospital brings a near-octogenarian named Emma face-to-face with looming injustice, she finds herself burdened with two mysteries to solve. She may never get to the bottom of them, but she is determined to do all she can. Also included are &ldquo;Things We Worried About When I Was Ten,&rdquo; which won the 2021 O. Henry Prize, and &ldquo;The Longer Grief,&rdquo; which won first prize in the 2019 Narrative Story Contest.</div>

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Listening for Ghosts

<div>A searing portrait of a young dancer&rsquo;s descent into hell&mdash;extensively revised and returned to the two-act structure originally intended by the author. Chrissy, a bright and not-quite-innocent woman with visions of a career as a dancer, finds herself in the Boom Boom Room, a disco/bar in Philadelphia meant to be her first step on the road to stardom. Instead, she finds herself fighting to keep her dreams intact amid the anesthetic sex and stimulation that surround her, the psychological residue of her parents&rsquo; betrayals, and the bizarre pack of suitors who follow her. In a desperate search for love and hope, Chrissy careens from the seductive mistress of ceremonies at the Boom Boom Room to the earnestly friendly gay man next door to a brutally passionate lover. In its compassionate look at Chrissy&rsquo;s living nightmare, In the Boom Boom Room is a piercing look at a society dangerously close to our own lives, and a drama that captures both our hearts and our heads.</div>

In the Boom Boom Room

<div>Two plays exploring the struggle of mental illness by the Tony Award&ndash;winning &ldquo;giant of American theater&rdquo; and author of Hurlyburly (Chicago Tribune). Good for Otto, which premiered in October 2015 at the Gift Theatre in Chicago, is a &ldquo;sprawling drama of mental illness&rdquo; in which &ldquo;Mr. Rabe digs into his subject with a depth that almost feels bottomless.&rdquo; Drawing on material from Undoing Depression by psychotherapist Richard O&rsquo;Connor, it explores the lives of a therapist and his many patients, all trying to navigate personal trauma (Charles Isherwood, The New York Times). Visiting Edna, which premiered in September 2016 at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, is a drama of &ldquo;deeply searing power&rdquo; about the bond between mother and son. As Edna faces a short future plagued by her many illnesses&mdash;and a cancer that looms so large it becomes another character&mdash;she and her adult son struggle to communicate about their shared past as they contemplate the future (Variety). Taken together, the plays offer a satisfying glimpse into &ldquo;Rabe&rsquo;s theatrical universe . . . at once vivid and mysterious, a pageant and a puzzle&rdquo; of contemporary American life (John Lahr, The New Yorker). &ldquo;Many would list [Rabe] among the very greatest of living playwrights.&rdquo; &mdash;Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune</div>

Visiting Edna and Good for Otto

<div>&ldquo;The only Vietnam plays to appear on Broadway while the war was raging&rdquo; from the Tony Award&ndash;winning playwright of Hurlyburly (Observer). David Rabe has been a major voice and crucial force in American drama since 1971 when, in the midst of the Vietnam War, he startled the nation with The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. The story of a native recruit&rsquo;s initiation into war, it is by turns brutal and hilarious. It won the young playwright an Obie and was hailed by The New York Times as &ldquo;rich humor, irony, and insight.&rdquo; More than four decades later, Rabe continues to be one of our most compelling dramatists. In this, the first of two volumes of The Vietnam Plays, Pavlo Hummel is paired with the equally intense Sticks and Bones, in which a blinded Vietnam veteran returns home numbed by the war and is astonished by his family&rsquo;s inability to comprehend their country&rsquo;s politics and his rage. &ldquo;Pavlo won Al Pacino a Tony, and Sticks and Bones won one for its Harriet, Elizabeth Wilson&mdash;plus a nomination for its Oz, Tom Aldredge. It also won the Best Play Tony&rdquo; (Observer). &ldquo;Defies a million slogans to become a contemporary masterpiece.&rdquo; &mdash;The Harvard Crimson on The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel &ldquo;Sticks and Bones is still a searing critique of America&rsquo;s willful ignorance in the face of an ultra-violent international war machine operating in our name.&rdquo; &mdash;TheaterMania &ldquo;This scalding work scores direct hits on the stubborn obliviousness of the folks back home to the realities of that dirtiest of 20th century wars.&rdquo; &mdash;The Hollywood Reporter on Sticks and Bones</div>

The Vietnam Plays

<div>The landmark American play&mdash;and its prequel&mdash;from the Tony Award&ndash;winning author of Sticks and Bones and In the Boom Boom Room. Nominated for the Tony Award when it was first produced in 1984, Hurlyburly was immediately hailed as a classic American drama. This edition is the definitive version of David Rabe&rsquo;s most celebrated work, reflecting his continued exploration of the play through several productions&mdash;in particular the one he directed in 1988 at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles&mdash;and his latest thoughts regarding the text. With Those the River Keeps, the prize-winning playwright embarks on an intense psychological exploration of Hurlyburly&rsquo;s most dangerous and enigmatic character. This edition contains the definitive versions of these works, a foreword in which Rabe examines the interwoven relationship of the plays, and an afterword in which he discusses the process of their construction. &ldquo;Fresh, glittering, entertaining, full of wit and blisteringly funny. A stunning comic drama of contemporary life in the Hollywood hills and beyond.&rdquo; &mdash;USA Today &ldquo;Powerfully written . . . dazzling.&rdquo; &mdash;The New Republic &ldquo;Offers some of Rabe&rsquo;s most inventive writing.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times &ldquo;Compelling . . . Those the River Keeps&rsquo; strength is its dialogue, which ranges from staccato nonsense to amorphous bursts of palooka philosophy and raw anguish . . . masterfully rendered.&rdquo; &mdash;The Boston Phoenix Praise for David Rabe &ldquo;Few contemporary dramatists have dealt with violence, physical and psychological, more impressively than Rabe.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews &ldquo;A remarkable storyteller.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune &ldquo;Rabe&rsquo;s mastery of dialogue is the equal of Pinter and Mamet put together.&rdquo; &mdash;The Boston Globe</div>

Hurlyburly and Those the River Keeps

<div>&ldquo;[A] violent, surrealist romp&rdquo; from the Tony Award&ndash;winning playwright of Hurlyburly and Visiting Edna (The Brown Daily Herald). David Rabe explores the struggle between hope and anguish in the human spirit in this story of two small-time jewel thieves united in a strangely unsettling friendship and the constant fight to prove to themselves and others how tough they are. But when their frantic scheming suddenly begins to betray them in mysterious ways, they find themselves trapped into a kidnapping and a murder over which they seem to have no control. Or do they? David Rabe&rsquo;s language creates and recreates reality in constantly surprising ways, magically dramatizing the danger of the power of illusion&mdash;and the illusion of power&mdash;with force and insight. &ldquo;A potluck smorgasbord of surrealism, dream soliloquies, science fiction, noir potboiler and fairy tales, with the ghosts of such other writers as David Mamet, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard and even novelist Thomas Pynchon hovering nearby . . . boasts ample proof of a top-notch writer at work.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune &ldquo;A fast-paced, visceral work with a manic, anarchic energy . . . a chaotic examination of power and powerlessness in a frightening, irrational universe.&rdquo; &mdash;The Brown Daily Herald &ldquo;[A] surrealist, hilarious, mind-fuck of a play . . . a wild, high-energy ride through plot and action.&rdquo; &mdash;LAist Praise for David Rabe &ldquo;Few contemporary dramatists have dealt with violence, physical and psychological, more impressively than Rabe.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews &ldquo;A remarkable storyteller.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune &ldquo;Rabe&rsquo;s mastery of dialogue is the equal of Pinter and Mamet put together.&rdquo; &mdash;The Boston Globe.</div>

Goose and Tomtom

<div>Tales from the Tony Award&ndash;winning playwright: &ldquo;Not only an exhibition of David Rabe&rsquo;s acclaimed dramatic powers but also proof of his narrative magic&rdquo; (Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate). David Rabe, playwright of Hurlyburly and In the Boom Boom Room, brings his intense vision to the world of fiction with a short story collection of astonishing range and versatility. Whether he is writing about a marriage shadowed by the unacknowledged discord of a risky pregnancy, a group of men whose attempt to settle an account launches them toward unexpected violence, or a young journalist who believes he&rsquo;s escaped his Catholic roots only to be forced again to confront them by a priest who once mentored his writing, Rabe&rsquo;s strong, true voice tenders an inimitable portrait of America and offers benediction to her lost souls. A Primitive Heart confirms the mastery of a writer and establishes David Rabe as an exciting voice in fiction. &ldquo;Rabe has a way of implicating the reader&mdash;of creating a near-claustrophobic bond with his restless characters, writing so convincingly that the subtext becomes almost palpable, accruing darkly, like a storm. Okay: I&rsquo;m eating my heart out.&rdquo; &mdash;Ann Beattie, PEN/Malamud Award&ndash;winner &ldquo;These are gripping stories, hard to put aside, that cut so close to primitive emotional truths that they can be painful to read . . . That vivid confusion&mdash;the desire to understand something more primitive than thought&mdash;makes these stories unforgettable.&rdquo; &mdash;The Seattle Times &ldquo;David Rabe demonstrates in this new collection of short stories that his talent for dialogue is just as dazzling inside a prose narrative as it is on stage.&rdquo; &mdash;The Baltimore Sun</div>

A Primitive Heart

<div>The Tony Award&ndash;winning playwright of Hurlyburly &ldquo;confronts the timely topic of assisted suicide . . . an affirmation of dignity that rings clear and true&rdquo; (Variety). David Rabe is one of America&rsquo;s finest dramatists. In A Question of Mercy, he explores the controversial and emotional issue of euthanasia, delving deep into the ties that bind friends and lovers. Thomas and Anthony are lovers struggling with Anthony&rsquo;s final, exhausting battle with AIDS. Joined by their friend Susanah and a retired doctor, whose help Thomas has requested, they fashion a heartbreaking friendship as they work through the stages of a plan to relieve Anthony of his illness and his life. Rabe creates a passionate depiction of four people confronted with the reality of a loved one&rsquo;s fight with death and a compelling dramatic event that poses the question: &ldquo;What would you do?&rdquo; &ldquo;A moving and enlightening experience.&rdquo; &mdash;Backstage &ldquo;Completely gripping. This life and death tale questions the moral implications involved with assisted suicide, and the honor behind the action. A serious and provocative night at the theatre.&rdquo; &mdash;Theasy Praise for David Rabe &ldquo;Few contemporary dramatists have dealt with violence, physical and psychological, more impressively than Rabe.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews &ldquo;A remarkable storyteller.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune &ldquo;Rabe&rsquo;s mastery of dialogue is the equal of Pinter and Mamet put together . . . full of a measured Mafia formality played against Jacobean terrors, blood lust, horror and revenge raised to an unlikely poetry dazed by equally unlikely insights.&rdquo; &mdash;The Boston Globe</div>

A Question of Mercy

<div>A successful artist shoots a dog harassing his cows and descends into madness in this dark novel by the Tony Award&ndash;winning author of Sticks and Bones. In classic works such as Hurlyburly and Streamers, David Rabe&rsquo;s depictions of violence and the dark side of the human psyche have won him widespread acclaim. In Recital of the Dog, a painter who has left urban chaos for the country soon finds his hopes of tranquility shattered by a marauding intruder&mdash;a dog that torments his small herd of cows. Desperate to restore order to his world, the man shoots the dog, unwittingly unleashing a nightmare on himself. This is a tale of creation and destruction, crime and punishment, rife with insight and black comedy. Praise for Recital of the Dog &ldquo;So primal, so dark and redeeming it should be considered taboo, and is therefore irresistible. . . . An extraordinary, powerful piece of literature.&rdquo; &mdash;Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul &ldquo;David Rabe has crafted an intense, strange and frightening nightmare. . . . There is violence and intensity and vividness that a reader feels as though inhabiting the mind of a madman.&rdquo; &mdash;The Denver Post &ldquo;Playwright Rabe&rsquo;s first novel is a powerful, shocking portrait of a disintegrating psyche . . . fairly crackles with a dark, disturbing, often dazzling energy.&rdquo; &mdash;Library Journal &ldquo;A gifted prose writer of original vision . . . In both voice and structure, Recital of the Dog owes much both to Albert Camus and James M. Cain. . . . Rabe&rsquo;s beautiful, tight, fluent prose renders the fragility of reality with enormous power and grace.&rdquo; &mdash;San Francisco Chronicle</div>

David Rabe
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Books By David Rabe (9 Books)

Listening for Ghosts

In the Boom Boom Room

Visiting Edna and Good for Otto

The Vietnam Plays

Hurlyburly and Those the River Keeps

Goose and Tomtom

A Primitive Heart

A Question of Mercy

Recital of the Dog

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David RabeFollow this author