Nelly Reifler's Books

Elect H. Mouse State Judge

A Novel

By: Nelly Reifler

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A terrible crime occurs in Elect H. Mouse State Judge. Two young girl are abducted and held hostage by a band of religious fanatics. The girls' anxious father, a politician on the eve of an important election, has reasons of his own not to go to the police, so he hires a pair of shady private eyes to investigate. All the elements of a classic noir—except that the kidnapped girls are mice, the abductors are Sunshine Family dolls, and the detectives are Barbie and Ken. Part 1970s childhood dreamscape, part Raymond Chandler, this is a world both familiar and transformed. Sex shops, illicit affairs, spies, political hypocrisy, and dangerous zealots may coexist with Barbie and Ken's acrobatic poolside sex, but the crises of faith that Nelly Reifler's characters face are as real as our own. Elect H. Mouse State Judge is an unusual—and masterful—blend of irony and tenderness, and a moving portrayal of a father trying and failing to do the right thing.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

Macmillan + ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

0374710058

ISBN 13

9780374710057

See Through

Stories

By: Nelly Reifler

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

See Through

Stories

By: Nelly Reifler

Heartbreaking and haunting, wholly inventive, the unforgettable stories of Nelly Reifler's debut collection, See Through, imagine a world where the emotional logic of our dreams and childhood fantasies rule our actions. In the title story, an educated young woman sits behind the glass of a talk booth in a peep show and becomes a different girl for each man who visits. A thorn in a little girl's scalp becomes the physical locus for her painter father's grief and helplessness following his wife's leaving in "The Splinter." "Teeny" tells the story of an awkward, solitary pubescent girl who can't bring herself to perform the simple task of feeding the vacationing neighbors' cats. In "Baby," an infant asks his mother existential questions that are impossible to answer. Nelly Reifler, winner of the Henfield/Transatlantic Review Prize for two of the stories in this collection, explores her characters' psyches and motivations with the precision of an anthropologist, detailing their physical urges and fears, and the desire, isolation, and violence that drive -- and sometimes consume -- them. But more than her desire to expose splintered personalities, Reifler plumbs the deep chasm between expectations and reality with infinite hope, warmth, and wisdom. A powerful and extraordinary collection, See Through heralds the arrival of a significant new voice in contemporary fiction.

Average ratings

N/A