Varieties of Disturbance

A National Book Award finalist, this collection of “whimsical, seemingly eventless [short stories] . . . gain momentum as tiny epics of paranoia and ennui” (The New Yorker).

“Davis is a magician of self-consciousness. Few writers now working make the words on the page matter more.” -Jonathan Franzen

“Davis is the kind of writer about whom you say: ‘Oh, at last!’” -Grace Paley

Fifty-seven rule-breaking short stories, in which Lydia Davis proposes a clear account of the sexual act, rides the bus, gets lost in a foreign city, and addresses common anxieties regarding etiquette, work, taste, the fourth grade, death, and conversation.

No two of these fictions are alike. And yet in each, Davis rearranges our view of the world by looking beyond our preconceptions to a bizarre truth, a source of delight and surprise.

“Davis's work defies categorization and possesses a moving, austere elegance.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)