Days of Awe

　　我們如何談起這些細節？人會消逝，故事會留下來。

　　這本暌違多年的短篇小說集一展作者寫作的技巧。巨細靡遺的描繪細節，精巧的對話設計，讀來如臨現場。帶點作者艾美（Amy）特有的黑色幽默，筆下的角色都可以是你我，如母親、父親、兄弟或老友。貼近日常的情節設定讀來親切自然，而喜愛讀劇本的作者，也善用對話勾勒出每位角色的面貌。

　　一場研討會再續一對朋友的前緣。超級市場裡的競選奇想劇碼。一段媽媽面對兒子車禍後的對白。網路聊天室的你來我往。作者透過新的寫作技巧呈現給讀者新穎的視覺畫面，而一個個小故事，渲染出獨特、近乎消逝的美國情懷。

　　這本小說集，普遍探索兩個核心：一個是說再見的藝術，一個是說不的能力。面對逝去與拒絕，讀者該如何反應？透過十三篇獨立的短篇小說串出美國家庭的眾生相，看似分離的劇情，卻又融合一起；我們可以強烈感受到主角們的焦慮。也可以發現主角們的無奈。對於旁人的言語，常做出不符合初衷的行為，一齣齣當代美國家庭的悲歌，躍然紙上。（文 / 博客來編譯）

　　FROM THE WINNER OF THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION.

　　A.M Homes returns with signature humour and psychological accuracy, to tell thirteen stories exposing the heart of an uneasy 21st-century America. In tales of a family obsessed with the surfaces of their lives, or the story of a shopper who suddenly finds himself nominated to run for President, she explores our attachments to each other through characters who aren’t quite who they hoped to become, though there is no one else they can be.

　　Her first book since the Women’s Prize-winning May We Be Forgiven, Days of Awe is another visionary, fearless and outrageously funny work from a master storyteller.