Helen Phillips (1) (1983–)
Author of The Need
For other authors named Helen Phillips, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Helen Phillips is Professor of English Studies at the University of Glamorgan.
Series
Works by Helen Phillips
Associated Works
A Companion to Medieval Poetry (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture) (2010) — Contributor — 13 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1983
- Gender
- female
- Birthplace
- Colorado, USA
- Places of residence
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Short biography
- Helen Phillips is the author of the novel THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT, the inter-genre collection AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY (named a notable collection of 2011 by The Story Prize), the children's adventure novel HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN, and the forthcoming short story collection SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS. She has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, the Italo Calvino Prize in Fabulist Fiction, and The Iowa Review Nonfiction Award. Her work has appeared in Tin House, Electric Literature, and BOMB, among others. She is a professor at Brooklyn College
Members
Reviews
The book started amazingly and had me quickly turning the pages, but then it fizzled into nothingness. At first I wondered if it was horror, fantasy, or science fiction, and I was thinking I had landed on a fantastic piece of fiction, but then it turned out to be pretty much a dud. I don't know what it was, honestly.
A collection of short stories (some very short) set in worlds that are slightly off-kilter from our own, sometimes in ways that only slightly exaggerate or distort reality, others in ways that feel rather more surreal. Cities so removed from nature that even the wind has ceased to exist, worlds where you can easily put in a request to learn the date of your death, versions of reality where a person can wake up suddenly able to see everyone else without their skin or witness time suddenly stopping at the end of a dinner party, planets full of counterparts that people can fuse with to become one complete, perfectly happy being, a la Plato. But all this strangeness, for the most part, is grounded in the details of everyday life, of romantic relationships, parenthood, loneliness, the gaps between rich and poor, and the general experience of living.
I will say, this collection didn't wow me quite as much as I thought it was going to after reading the first couple of stories, as not all of them worked nearly as well for me as those did. But even the ones I didn't entirely get or click with were still bizarrely intriguing, and they're all very well-written. If you like this kind of strange, thought-provoking stuff, this is definitely one to check out.… (more)
I will say, this collection didn't wow me quite as much as I thought it was going to after reading the first couple of stories, as not all of them worked nearly as well for me as those did. But even the ones I didn't entirely get or click with were still bizarrely intriguing, and they're all very well-written. If you like this kind of strange, thought-provoking stuff, this is definitely one to check out.… (more)
Hard to follow, well written book that has confusion, laughter and uhhhh.
It grabbed my interest from the beginning but lost me as the story kept on. I get it. But wouldn’t reread it. Little girl is a hoot though.
It grabbed my interest from the beginning but lost me as the story kept on. I get it. But wouldn’t reread it. Little girl is a hoot though.
1 
mybookloveobsession | 30 other reviews | Mar 12, 2024 |
mybookloveobsession | 30 other reviews | Mar 12, 2024 | Lists
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 9
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 1,148
- Popularity
- #22,370
- Rating
- 3.2
- Reviews
- 106
- ISBNs
- 58
- Languages
- 4
How can you be in two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all?