Chroma (Contemporary American Fiction)

by Frederick Barthelme

Book Overview

Frederick Barthelme has been applauded as one of the finest fiction writers in America today. In Chroma, he offers fifteen odd, elegant, and heartbreaking stories in which wives give away husbands,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140107533
• Release Date: October 1988
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Tonight's special: blackened chicken and failed marriage

"Moon Deluxe" has the sexier title, but Frederick Barthelme's second collection cuts just as deeply and then some. The characters are people who are trying their best to do the decent thing, but can't quite shake the urge to do the wild and crazy thing. Romance collides with love, safety breeds ennui, material comforts and cultivated irony fend off, but can't cure, yearning and restlessness. Heartbreak is the frequent result. Tight and subtle as the stories are, Barthelme's prose style is often dazzling and virtuosic in a way which should make any reader think twice about calling them "minimalist." Some of the shorter numbers ("Trick Scenery," "Cut Glass") have the lyricism and condensed energy of poetry. But don't let me spoil it for you. Go out and read it yourself.