Searches and Seizures

by Stanley Elkin

Book Overview

Three novellas filled with humor and insight by one of America's modern literary masters. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879232536
• ISBN13: 9780879232535
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Three Novellas by a Great Poet

Stanley Elkin had a wonderful gift for colorful language and a breezy style, coupled with a narrative gift that brought the reader inside the heads of his characters. "The Bailbondsman," "The Making of Ashenden," and "The Condominium" are good examples of these gifts. The range of incident, humor, violence and dramatic confrontation shown in these novellas were marks of Elkin's style. I especially recommend "The Bailbondsman," for in addition its odd twists the story has depth and suspense and surprise. The narrator notices everything, even "the roller coaster" of a man's fly when he sits. You have to be ready to be shocked, but you will also find a whimsical streak in the writing that delights. Elkin's final novel, "Mrs. Ted Bliss," might have been a continuation of "The Condominium." Highly recommended for all who appreciate fine writing or who are trying to write on their own.