Disruptions

Stories

By: Steven Millhauser

Narrated by: Gisela Chípe, Vas Eli, Arthur Morey

AN NPR AND NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • An exquisite new collection from a Pulitzer Prize–winning master of the short story, the culmination of a five-decade career: work that takes us beneath the placid surface of suburban life into the elusive strangeness of the everyday

Here are eighteen stories of astonishing range and precision. A housewife drinks alone in her Connecticut living room. A guillotine glimmers above a sleepy town green. A pre-recorded customer service message sends a caller into a reverie of unspeakable yearning. With the deft touch and funhouse-mirror perspectives for which he has won countless admirers, Steven Millhauser gives us the towns, marriages, and families of a quintessential American lifestyle that is at once instantly recognizable and profoundly unsettling. Disruptions is a collection of provocative, bracingly original new work from a writer at the peak of his form.

Critic reviews

“Millhauser revitalizes the small-town tale, evoking the magical, the mundane, and the extravagantly madcap . . . Millhauser is the great eccentric of American fiction . . . Millhauser reminds you of Borges sometimes, of Calvino and Angela Carter at other times, even of Nabokov once in a while . . . Much as Millhauser relishes the magical, he also has a soft spot for the humdrum: the sound of a lawn sprinkler, the sight of a basketball left on a driveway. His genius is to be able to evoke both so urgently.” —Charles McGrath, The New Yorker

“Several of the stories are among his best . . . [One] is a bit like Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery,’ if YouTube videos of the stonings had leaked out . . . It was always a treat to find his stories in The New Yorker, where many have appeared over the years . . . When Millhauser is on, he hands you a periscope of his own unique design, and he allows you to really look and feel.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times

“Cause for celebration . . . Once again his precision shines bright.” —Michael Welch, Chicago Review of Books

“More turmoil and magic in suburbia from one of America’s most accomplished short story writers . . . Each of these stories is open to interpretation as a study of prejudice, suburban narrowness, and groupthink. But Millhauser has always been too slippery a writer to pursue such obvious meaning-making; more often, the effect is that of Borges-ian strangeness and delight . . . Millhauser remains gifted at stretching time, space, and expectations.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Millhauser shows his mastery for the short story in a collection that consistently addresses the absurdity of modern American life . . . These characters, like Millhauser’s bizarre worlds, feel fascinatingly real.” —Annie Tully, Booklist

“A mélange of fantastical imaginings and scenes of domestic oddness . . . Millhauser exhibits a Cheeveresque curiosity about—and a fun house distortion of—a small town’s placid façade . . . This will please Millhauser’s longtime fans and earn him new admirers.” —Publishers Weekly

B-Sides

There are some very new ideas in here that are maybe mostly exciting to those that have read through everything else Steven Millhauser has written. The aesthetic is pretty unforgiving- and to add to that, a handful of the stories almost verge on redundant (anonymous town has or adopts a quirk, then the quirk becomes mundane, the end). Also, more in this collection than anything else by Millhauser, is evidence that some of his writing only works on paper in a physical book. It was nice to see a poem in the collection. Well written as always.

Fascinating and disturbing

Fascinating and disturbing series of short stories. I'm really impressed by the author's imagination and his ability to bring all these strange ideas and scenarios to life. Not all the stories were super enjoyable, but most I found really interesting. Some did drag on a bit longer than they needed to. I absolutely loved the pieces narrated by Vas Eli, superb voice.

My entire book group disliked this book book

NPR let us down on this recommendation. Not a single person enjoyed it or found it intriguing.