โHighly intelligent, wildly entertaining stories . . . visionary, philosophical, comic proseโpart Gertrude Stein, part Simone Weil, and pure Lydia Davis.โ โElle
From one of our most imaginative and inventive writers, a crystalline collection of perfectly modulated, sometimes harrowing and often hilarious investigations into the multifaceted ways in which human beings perceive each other and themselves. A couple suspects their friends think them boring; a woman resolves to see herself as nothing but then concludes sheโs set too high a goal; and a funeral home receives a letter rebuking it for linguistic errors. Lydia Davis once again proves in the words of the Los Angeles Times โone of the quiet giants in the world of American fiction.โ
โThe 56 stories . . . showcase the wordplay and distillation of meaning that have become her stylistic hallmarks, offering up crisp twists on familiar themes. . . . Eclectic and astute, Davis continues to find new ways to tell us the things we need to know.โ โPublishers Weekly
โOutsiders, self-doubt, and alienation: all form the bedrock upon which Davis sets up an off-kilter, edgy universe distinctly her own.โ โKirkus Reviews
โDavis should be counted among the true originals of contemporary American short fiction.โ โSan Francisco Chronicle
โDavis deploys her gift for verbal bemusement, annoyance, and high anxiety . . . [and] converts her charactersโ complex ruminations into narratives full of insight and pleasure.โ โThe Village Voice
โIf youโre smart, chances are good youโll read the stories in Lydia Davisโs Samuel Johnson is Indignant.โ โVanity Fair
โPrecise and quietly unsettling.โ โDetroit Free Press
โIntrospective and subversive, ironic and playful, obsessive and funny.โ โSalon