{"product_id":"bucket-of-tongues","title":"Bucket of Tongues","description":"From the author of Lone Star Swing, this winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, is \"lean, maggoty writing. More: it's subversively funny\" (Janice Galloway). In this extraordinary collection of short stories, Duncan McLean shows us real life ― and real death ― in all its many guises. Equally adept at black farce, brutal rants, or tender epiphanies, McLean plunges us headlong into the lives of his characters: partying, and all it entails, with soccer enthusiasts; shivering inside the butcher's man-sized fridge; stumbling bloody-footed along the cliff-top path at midnight, lost in a liver'n'onions-fueled fantasy of sex and violence. The men and women in these stories are mostly unemployed or in dead-end jobs, often on the edge of madness or destruction; but just as often they are on the brink of simply leaving: walking away from relationships, responsibilities, and the reassurance of alcohol and aggression. Told with enormous skill, fierce humor, and a dark emotional drive, these stories are as various as the characters themselves. Their commonality derives from a merciless realism, and an almost fanatical adherence to the rhythms and cadences of spoken language. \"McLean wants to capture the unremarkable, but it is his remarkable stories which transport. Expressed here at last is a psychic disorder, so contemporary, so unsafe; here is swaggering, sneering, frustrated, self-scepticism on the pavement.\" ― Guardian (London) Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0393318974\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.0393318974.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:McLean, Duncan\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact  including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43115156045885,"sku":"BVV.0393318974.G","price":8.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/0393318974-0.jpg?v=1776549110","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/bucket-of-tongues","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}