A stunningly original debut collection about lives across history marked by violence and longing.
A brother and sister turn outlaw in a wild and brutal landscape. The daughter of a diplomat disappears and resurfaces across the world as a deadly woman of many names. A young Philadelphia boy struggles with the contradictions of privilege, violence, and the sway of an incarcerated father. A monk in sixteenth century England suffers the dissolution of his monastery and the loss of all that he held sacred.
The characters in The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead, Benz's wildly imaginative debut, are as varied as any in recent literature, but they share a thirst for adventure which sends them rushing full-tilt toward the moral crossroads, becoming victims and perpetrators along the way. Riveting, visceral, and heartbreaking, Benz’s stories of identity, abandonment, and fierce love come together in a daring, arresting vision.
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““In every one of these dazzlingly varied stories, Chanelle Benz steps out on to a new stylistic tightrope... A riveting new voice in American fiction.” ”
“Chanelle Benz conjures startling, amazing worlds out of her fierce and wild imagination, out of her hard-cut sentences and through her strange and original characters. Her wicked intelligence and electric talent are evident in everything she writes.”
“Yes to Chanelle Benz and the skill, fluency and panache with which her voices interrogate and elevate narrative. There’s lots more I could say about these brilliant stories, but you’ll find out all about it and get your own joy when you read them.”