Thirst

This acclaimed short story collection veers between whimsical postmodern playfulness and a darker realism [with] sophisticated comic flare (Publishers Weekly).

Distinguished by black comedy and an international perspective, Ken Kalfus’ stories demonstrate the author’s chameleon-like ability to change mode, manner, and voice. They often concern the abrupt dislocation of people bumping into different cultures, be they real, hallucinated, dreamed, or desired.

Kalfus’ characters – which include an endless line of refugees fleeing Sarajevo with no particular destination; an Irish au pair plagued by her own psychosexual fears in a Paris science museum; and an entirely fictitious baseball league – are constantly thumping their heads against a shifting reality. These sympathetic portraits of human beings caught in the tectonic cultural shifts that disrupt our lives are frequently hilarious, consistently touching, and powerfully creative. A book for people who piss and moan about the unpromising future of American fiction. –David Foster Wallace