Personal Velocity
Published on 2. July 2009
224 pages
978-1-84767-774-7 (ISBN)
Description
'An excellent book' Guardian
'Compelling' Independent
The vibrantly fresh and lustrous stories in Miller's collection explore the multifaceted lives of women in seven arresting portraits. Modern and diverse, these women of different classes and ages struggle with sexuality, fate, motherhood, infidelity, desperation, and an overriding will to survive.
We meet Greta, a cookbook editor who is chosen by Tavi, the hottest writer of his generation, to edit his new book; Paula, a pregnant twenty-one-year-old, who is on the run; Delia, an abused working-class wife who goes into hiding with her children; and Louisa, a painter who moves rapidly from one lover to the next, acting out a self-perpetuating drama over which she has no control.
Edgy, fearless, and beautifully spare, Personal Velocity is a superb collection from one of the best writers in contemporary fiction.
'Compelling' Independent
The vibrantly fresh and lustrous stories in Miller's collection explore the multifaceted lives of women in seven arresting portraits. Modern and diverse, these women of different classes and ages struggle with sexuality, fate, motherhood, infidelity, desperation, and an overriding will to survive.
We meet Greta, a cookbook editor who is chosen by Tavi, the hottest writer of his generation, to edit his new book; Paula, a pregnant twenty-one-year-old, who is on the run; Delia, an abused working-class wife who goes into hiding with her children; and Louisa, a painter who moves rapidly from one lover to the next, acting out a self-perpetuating drama over which she has no control.
Edgy, fearless, and beautifully spare, Personal Velocity is a superb collection from one of the best writers in contemporary fiction.
Reviews / Votes
Miller is a brilliantly observant writer with a sharp eye . . . In her hands, every emotion and state of mind are fully imagined and accurately realised. * * Daily Mail * * She is good with words: economical, deft with detail . . . Miller writes with a welcome sensitivity . . . compelling. * * Independent * * Emotionally and intellectually, every tale in this debut volume is a quick fix, a burst of clarity delivered at breakneck speed: perfect stuff for a visually orientated, easily distracted generation ... This is an excellent book. * * Guardian * * Miller really knows momentum. Each story launches a fully rounded character into play like a pinball sprung into action. * * Daily Telegraph * * A talented and highly visual writer. * * New York Times Book Review * * Just when you begin to think . . . that women's literary material is limited . . . something like Personal Velocity happens to remind us that good material is everywhere. [Miller is] a wonderful writer. -- Carolyn See * * Washington Post * * Rebecca Miller's debut story collection is a series of eye-opening portraits of women who are either struggling to attain self-knowledge or who are hopelessly plagued by it. . . . Miller's prose is alarmingly unvarnished, as if she's hovering above . . . questions of identity and desire with transcendent impartiality. . . . Miller might pretend to be detached and objective as she probes these quandaries, but she's always humane, always honest, and always entertaining. -- Mark Rozzo * * Los Angeles Times Book Review * * Whether Miller is writing about sophisticated New Yorkers or (in Delia) a wife who, with her three bewidlered children flees from a violent husband, her stories conjure up lives and worlds that linger in the memory. * * Sunday Times * *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
ISBN-13
978-1-84767-774-7 (9781847677747)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Rebecca Miller is a writer and director. She is the author of The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, a Sunday Times bestseller and Richard & Judy Book Club pick, which she also adapted for screen; Personal Velocity, her feature film of which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance; and Jacob's Folly. Her film work includes Angela, The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Maggie's Plan. Her work has been published in thirty-two languages.
Content
- Intro
- Greta
- Delia
- Louisa
- Julianne
- Bryna
- Nancy
- Paula
- Preview: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
- Acknowledgments
