‘Stay Up With Me’: A moving debut collection
Brooklyn BookBeat: Author to read in Fort Greene
In a moving debut collection of short stories, “Stay Up With Me” (Ecco/Harper Collins), award-winning novelist Tom Barbash paints a sophisticated picture of the ways in which humans connect with each other and the world surrounding them. Already receiving widespread praise, Barbash’s stories, mostly set in New York, tackle such delicate themes as heartbreak, sex, death, and coming-of-age. The author, known for his books “The Last Good Chance” and “On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11; A Story of Loss and Renewal”, will appear at Fort Greene’s Greenlight Bookstore on Sept. 25 to speak about his new collection with renowned author Rick Moody.
“Stay Up With Me” is a cohesive compilation of 13 distinct stories, all of which evoke the intricacies of human nature. In “The Break,” the first of the pieces, a mother struggles in her interactions with her nineteen-year-old son, who is home from college over Christmas vacation. She attempts to reconcile her fierce desire to protect and provide a good life for her son with her desire to give him independence.
In “Balloon Night,” a 34-year-old man is determined to host his and his wife’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade party even after his wife has left him. He resolves not to tell anyone about his flailing marriage, and instead informs his guests that his wife is away on business and is “heartbroken” to be missing the party.
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