We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time

We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time

Summary

'Kennedy is a superb writer and the canniness of her observation keeps you reading' Sunday Times

Humour, fantasy, rage and despair both help and hinder the protagonists of these stories as they navigate changing circumstances, accumulating losses, moments of comprehension and tenderness. Here is the woman, hoping for a quiet day at the zoo, who finally snaps at a white man's racist tirade and vents years of fury; the micro-celebrity who practises lines for a chat show on which he'll never appear; and the woman who walks out of her honeymoon suite at midnight, perhaps for good. Unsparing in her close examination of human relationships, A. L. Kennedy proves once again why she is regarded as one of our great storytellers.

'Kennedy dissects the small intimacies of inner thoughts... Her prose is typically direct, her sentences clear-cut and yet capable of great tenderness' Observer

'An author with a proven ability to see - truly see - and whose prose can fire like gunshots across the page' New Statesman

Reviews

  • Quite astonishing... A masterclass in the possibilities of the short story form.
    Scotsman

About the author

A.L. Kennedy

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more