I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

the long version

"A dislocating collection of short stories from the author of "The Third Hotel""-- Van den Berg's story collection draws readers into a world of wholly original, sideways ghost stories that linger in the mouth and the mind. She confronts misogyny, violence, and the impossible economics of America with her trademark spiky humor and surreal eye. These are stories of women on the verge, trying to grasp what's left of life: grieving, divorced, and hyperaware, searching, vulnerable, and unhinged, they exist in a world that deviates from our own only when you look too closely. -- adapted from jacket