Giovanna's 86 circles : and other stories / Paola Corso.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Corso, Paola.

Series:

Library of American fiction

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Manners and customs.

Pennsylvania--Social life and customs--Fiction.

Pennsylvania.

Italian American families--Fiction.

Italian American families.

Italian American women--Fiction.

Italian American women.

Mothers and daughters--Fiction.

Mothers and daughters.

Catholic women--Fiction.

Catholic women.

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

ix, 138 pages ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Giovanna's eighty-six circles

Place of Publication:

Madison : Terrace Books, University of Wisconsin Press, [2005]

Summary:

These ten magical stories are primarily set in working-class river towns in the Pittsburgh area, where Italian American women and girls draw from their culture and folklore to bring life and a sense of wonder to a seemingly barren region of the Rust Belt. Each story catapults the ordinary into something original and unpredictable.

A skeptical journalist scopes out the bar where the town mayor, in seemingly perfect health, is drinking with his buddies and celebrating what he claims is the last day of his life. A woman donates her dead mother's clothes to a thrift shop but learns that their destiny is not what she expected. A ten-year-old girl wrestles with the facts of life as she watches her neighbor struggle to get pregnant while her teenage sister finds it all too easy. A high school girl hallucinates in a steamy hospital laundry room and discovers she can see her coworkers' futures. A developer's wrecking ball is no match for the legend of Giovanna's green thumb in the title story "Giovanna's 86 Circles." Quirky and profound, Corso's magical leaps uncover the everyday poetry of these women's lives.

Contents:

Yesterday's news

Between the sheets

Nose-dive

Unraveled

Giovanna's 86 circles

Freezer burn

Raw egg in beer

The drying corner

Roman arches

Shelf life.

ISBN:

0299212807

OCLC:

58055235