Ned and Nina are trying to conceive, so when Ned jets off with no notice to the funeral of Douglas, a mysterious friend from his student days, Nina follows him so they can have sex on time. Douglas was the ringleader of a fellowship of chums at NYU and Nina is baffled by the extraordinary hold the group - and Douglas in particular - have on Ned. The novel explores the reconfiguring and reappraisal of the clique following Douglas's tragic death. Subtle Bodies asks why we make the friends we do, why we keep them and how we make sense of our personal histories. It is a wise, funny and keenly observed portrayal of shifting relationships and new truths emerging from old certainties. Like all of Rush's work it embodies the dictum 'fiction is truth told excessively and beautifully'. It is a warm-hearted and pitch-perfect master class in the art of the novel.

From an acclaimed master of American fiction comes an intelligent and romantic novel about friendship, funerals and the myths we employ to make sense of ourselves

About the Author
NORMAN RUSH is the author of three previous books; Whites, Mating (winner of the National Book Award) and Mortals. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review and Best American Short Stories. He and his wife Elsa were Co-Directors of the Peace Corps program in Botswana. They now live in upstate New York.


Book Information
ISBN 9781847087812
Author Norman Rush
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 184g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 17mm