Gates of Eden

Coen delights in juxtaposing tone, character and setting to comic and chilling effect. But what is really on display here is his startling ventriloquism, his facility with creating distinct and authentic voices. And boy, can his characters talk. Some simply want to tell a story, some need to defennd themselves, and some desperately crave understanding for their crimes, although they are aware that forgiveness is an illusion and a sense of humor a necessity…his writing is affecting and evocative’ Jay A. Fernandez, Washington Post. ‘Set in the frigid temperatures of Minneapolis and New York, the best stories in this collection depict the shabby aspirations of Americans locked in dead-end families and middle-class anxieties…Coen’s stories are as good as anything in contemporary American fiction’. Scott Bradfield, TLS. ‘A formidable writer, possessing a keen eye for the small manifestations of deep emotion’. Stephen Amidon, Sunday Times. ‘Superb short stories…Coen’s pitch-perfect ear for American demotic is on proud display. His fascination with people who talk but never listen - and the lingustic impasse that results when they get together - is almost Beckettian’ . Tom Shone, Evening Standard. ‘In Gates of Eden, Mr Coen has sounded the jagged dissonance of the American experience’. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times