Paperback, 249 pages
English language
Published Nov. 6, 2007 by Graywolf Press.
'The stories in Refresh, Refresh are big-hearted and drunk and dangerous, and there's a heightened, unnerving vibe as you travel through Percy's world. You never know where you will end up... but you can be sure that he'll actually take you somewhere.'Dan Chaon.Here is the United States of today. The young men and boys in this bold, fiery collection do the unthinkable to prove to themselves – to everyone – that they are strong enough to face the heartbreak in this world. The war in Iraq empties the small town of Tumalo, Oregon of fathers, leaving their sons to fight among themselves. There is a bear on the loose, a house with a basement that opens up into a cave and a nuclear meltdown that renders the Pacific Northwest into a contemporary Wild West. 'Benjamin Percy moves instinctively toward the molten center of contemporary writing, the place where genre fiction... …
'The stories in Refresh, Refresh are big-hearted and drunk and dangerous, and there's a heightened, unnerving vibe as you travel through Percy's world. You never know where you will end up... but you can be sure that he'll actually take you somewhere.'Dan Chaon.Here is the United States of today. The young men and boys in this bold, fiery collection do the unthinkable to prove to themselves – to everyone – that they are strong enough to face the heartbreak in this world. The war in Iraq empties the small town of Tumalo, Oregon of fathers, leaving their sons to fight among themselves. There is a bear on the loose, a house with a basement that opens up into a cave and a nuclear meltdown that renders the Pacific Northwest into a contemporary Wild West. 'Benjamin Percy moves instinctively toward the molten center of contemporary writing, the place where genre fiction... overflows its boundaries and becomes something dark and grand and percipient. These stories contain a brutal power and are radiant with pain—only a writer of surpassing honesty and directness could lead us here.' Peter Straub
Like Jhumpa Lahiri, Percy's voice seems well suited to short stories. Unlike Lahiri he pairs fastidious detail with sometimes cartoonish storylines. I enjoy the overall effect, especially the evocation of place, but still find the stories more interesting than satisfying.
