HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories (2005)

by Maureen F. McHugh

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3641670,476 (3.84)14
"Gorgeously crafted stories." --Nancy Pearl (Book Lust) on Morning Edition, "Books for a Rainy Day" "My favorite thing about her is the wry, uncanny tenderness of her stories. She has the astonishing ability to put her finger on the sweet spot right between comedy and tragedy, that pinpoint that makes you catch your breath. You're not sure whether to laugh out loud or cry, and you end up doing both at once." --Dan Chaon "When I first read China Mountain Zhang many years ago, Maureen McHugh instantly became, as she has remained, one of my favorite writers. This collection is a welcome reminder of her power--they are resonant, wise, generous, sharp, transporting, and deeply, deeply moving. McHugh is enormously gifted; each of these stories is a gift." --Karen Joy Fowler "Wonderfully unpredictable stories, from the very funny to the very grim, by one of our best and bravest imaginative writers." --Ursula K. Le Guin "Enchanting, funny and fierce by turns --a wonderful collection!" --Mary Doria Russell * Story Prize finalist. * A Book Sense Notable Book. In her luminous, long-awaited debut collection, award-winning novelist Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations. -- A woman introduces her new lover to her late brother. -- A teenager is interviewed about her peer group's attitudes toward sex and baby boomers. -- A missing stepson sets a marriage on edge. -- Anthropologists visiting an isolated outpost mission are threatened by nomadic raiders. McHugh's characters--her Alzheimers-afflicted parents or her smart and rebellious teenagers--are always recognizable: stubborn, human, and heartbreakingly real. This new trade paperback edition has added material for book clubs and reading groups, including an interview with the author, book club questions and suggestions, and a reprint of Maureen's fabulous essay, "The Evil Stepmother." Maureen F. McHugh has spent most of her life in Ohio, but has lived in New York City and, for a year, in Shijiazhuang, China. She is the author of four novels. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang, won the Tiptree Award, and Nekropolis, was a Book Sense 76 pick and New York Times Editor's Choice.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 14 mentions

English (15)  Catalan (1)  All languages (16)
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
Did I pick it for the title? Yes, or at least that was a bonus. Interesting and mildly unsettling collection. They do read like the stories of someone who wants to write novels, and I'll happily try the novels. ( )
  Kiramke | Apr 16, 2024 |
Step-parenting sucks
woops, you lost your memory
your friend is a dog. ( )
  Eggpants | Jun 25, 2020 |
I've wondered if the McHughs characters seem so real because they're often so depressed. This was a free electronic book that I read on a touch. Many of the stories were meditations on motherhood or caretaking, one was a precursor to Nekropolis. It wasn't all her best stuff, but an interesting collection. ( )
  cindywho | May 27, 2019 |
Interesting collection. ( )
  Jon_Hansen | Jun 3, 2018 |
"Wonderfully unpredictable stories, from the very funny to the very grim, by one of our best and bravest imaginative writers."
—Ursula K. Le Guin ( )
  ConsortiumLibrary | Feb 20, 2017 |
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
For Evelyn Lickliter McHugh, if she only knew.
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

"Gorgeously crafted stories." --Nancy Pearl (Book Lust) on Morning Edition, "Books for a Rainy Day" "My favorite thing about her is the wry, uncanny tenderness of her stories. She has the astonishing ability to put her finger on the sweet spot right between comedy and tragedy, that pinpoint that makes you catch your breath. You're not sure whether to laugh out loud or cry, and you end up doing both at once." --Dan Chaon "When I first read China Mountain Zhang many years ago, Maureen McHugh instantly became, as she has remained, one of my favorite writers. This collection is a welcome reminder of her power--they are resonant, wise, generous, sharp, transporting, and deeply, deeply moving. McHugh is enormously gifted; each of these stories is a gift." --Karen Joy Fowler "Wonderfully unpredictable stories, from the very funny to the very grim, by one of our best and bravest imaginative writers." --Ursula K. Le Guin "Enchanting, funny and fierce by turns --a wonderful collection!" --Mary Doria Russell * Story Prize finalist. * A Book Sense Notable Book. In her luminous, long-awaited debut collection, award-winning novelist Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations. -- A woman introduces her new lover to her late brother. -- A teenager is interviewed about her peer group's attitudes toward sex and baby boomers. -- A missing stepson sets a marriage on edge. -- Anthropologists visiting an isolated outpost mission are threatened by nomadic raiders. McHugh's characters--her Alzheimers-afflicted parents or her smart and rebellious teenagers--are always recognizable: stubborn, human, and heartbreakingly real. This new trade paperback edition has added material for book clubs and reading groups, including an interview with the author, book club questions and suggestions, and a reprint of Maureen's fabulous essay, "The Evil Stepmother." Maureen F. McHugh has spent most of her life in Ohio, but has lived in New York City and, for a year, in Shijiazhuang, China. She is the author of four novels. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang, won the Tiptree Award, and Nekropolis, was a Book Sense 76 pick and New York Times Editor's Choice.

No library descriptions found.

Book description


Maureen F. McHugh is the author of four acclaimed novels. Her genre-expanding short fiction has won the Hugo and Locus Awards and has frequently been included in Best of the Year anthologies. Since 1988 she has attracted a broad readership in publications such as Asimov's, Scifiction, Starlight, The Year's Best Science Fiction, and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror.

Now, in her luminous, long-awaited debut collection, award-winning novelist Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations.

- A woman introduces her new lover to her late brother.
- A teenager is interviewed about her peer group's attitudes toward sex and baby boomers.

- A missing stepson sets a marriage on edge.
- Anthropologists visiting an isolated outpost mission are threatened by nomadic raiders.

McHugh's characters -- her Alzheimers-afflicted parents or her smart and rebellious teenagers -- are always recognizable: stubborn, human, and heartbreakingly real.
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.84)
0.5
1
1.5 2
2 3
2.5
3 15
3.5 5
4 32
4.5 5
5 14

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 204,521,223 books! | Top bar: Always visible