In this debut story collection, Jesus and Mary lawn ornaments come to life, women become horses, and other strange scenarios play out against the backdrop of workaday life.
The author strikes like an earthquake in a land that hardly recalls mild tremors, evoking quivers of awe at both the power of the written word and the scope of human imagination ... What is remarkable about The Wrong Heaven is that it is not only a brilliant story collection, but also a manifesto-in-action announcing what the contemporary short story should be ... In Bonnaffons’s micro-universes, the rules change suddenly, often inexplicably—and the test is how the characters accept or reject those surprises ... the striking and unflappable facility with which her characters address their new realities is something novel and breathtaking ... The Wrong Heaven never disappoints ... She is also an intensely wise writer who has a keen sense for the pulse of this complex moment in history—who has written stories in which facts, if not truth, are always negotiable.
At once goofy, poignant, and edged with the fantastic, the stories in Bonnaffons's debut collection initially surprise, then turn into one long, delicious rush—you just have to get into the author's frame of mind ... Not just fun but full of smart ideas; as the woman-become-horse observes, 'Would you rather transform your Core, or your entire being?'
The Wrong Heaven, taps into a dark and funny unrest seen — most famously — in the early works of Lorrie Moore. It’s a raw look at how women handle — or don’t — 'curdled potential' and self-inflicted pressure of day-to-day life. Amy Bonnaffons is a new author you’ll want to read and want to watch.
