Where the God of Love Hangs Out: Fiction | 
| Author: Amy Bloom
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.89(as of 3/11/10 05:04 PST - Details)
You Save: $10.11 (40%)
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 3467
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 1400063574
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781400063574
ASIN: 1400063574
Publication Date: January 12, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9781400063574 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
Love, in its many forms and complexities, weaves through this collection by Amy Bloom, the New York Times bestselling author of Away. Bloom's astonishing and astute new work of interconnected stories illuminates the mysteries of passion, family, and friendship.
Propelled by Bloom's dazzling prose, unmistakable voice, and generous wit, Where the God of Love Hangs Out takes us to the margins and the centers of real people's lives, exploring the changes that love and loss create. A young woman is haunted by her roommate's murder; a man and his daughter-in-law confess their sins in the unlikeliest of places. In one quartet of interlocking stories, two middle-aged friends, married to others, find themselves surprisingly drawn to each other, risking all while never underestimating the cost. In another linked set of stories, we follow mother and son for thirty years as their small and uncertain family becomes an irresistible tribe.
Insightful, sensuous, and heartbreaking, these stories of passion and disappointment, life and death, capture deep human truths. As The New Yorker has said, "Amy Bloom gets more meaning into individual sentences than most authors manage in whole books."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
An Amazing Author March 9, 2010
A. Williamson (Georgetown, TX United States)
Amy Bloom is one of my favorite authors. A collection of stories.. some just one chapter, others a few chapters. Very intriguing all of them.
 Twenty-first Century Existentialism March 8, 2010
C. E. Selby
I wish the third chapter (story?) in this book had been the first. Had I picked this book up in a book store and read only the first two stories (chapters?), I would not ahve purchased it because the syntax seemed just too fragmented and the characters very uninteresting, two pre-retired couples without any descriptive flesh to them. But when Clare becomes The Cactus (like me!), then I perked up. And most of the rest of the book was a great adventure as I related to a cast of aging personalities who are wandering about the landscape without much purpose. I won't go into more details about what happens.
I leave my reading wondering why the four divisions in the book. The first becomes obvious: a short novel. And it is by far, in my opinion, the best. I wondered if maybe the rest was filler, something the publisher insisted upon to fill up two hundred pages.
This is not at all as engaging as Amy Bloom's Away except for the first half of the book. That part would get five stars.
 Where sublime jumps off the page February 28, 2010
Chick Pea (Los Angeles, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book. Read it in one day. Usually not a big fan of short story collections, the stories are so rich and ripe, like a perfect peach.
Another home run for Amy Bloom!! February 28, 2010
Larry Hoffer (Fairfax, VA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Amy Bloom is one of my favorite authors. Some of her short stories--in Love Invents Us, Come to Me and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You--are among the best I've ever read. And her latest story collection, Where the God of Love Hangs Out, is a worthy addition to this list.
There are two sets of interrelated stories in this collection and some unrelated ones. The first set chronicles William and Clare, lifelong friends who, unbeknownst to their spouses, are falling in love with each other late in life. The stories are told from both William and Clare's points-of-view and see them both through ups and downs. The second set follows Julia, the new widow of a famous jazz musician, and her stepson, Lionel, as they make their ways through life. The other stories touch on various aspects of love, life and relationships, and each is memorable in its own way.
Bloom is at her best in this collection. In thinking about these stories, I'm struck by something a reviewer of this book said in Entertainment Weekly: Bloom's writing doesn't stop you in your tracks, but it grabs your heart. I'd agree. Don't miss this book.
 great writing but not enjoyable content for me February 19, 2010
Joanne Harris (GA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I thought this was a well written collection of short stories, but struggled to enjoy what I was reading. I did not like the subject matter in several of the stories, and found myself racing to get the book over instead of wishing it would last longer. Obviously I am in the minority here, since the other reviews are positive, but I did not enjoy this collection, though I can appreciate Amy Bloom's talent and writing.
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