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Randall Kenan
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Let The Dead Bury Their Dead (Harvest American Writing Series) Paperback – June 4, 1993

by Randall Kenan (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 69 ratings
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“Nothing short of a wonder-book.”—New York Times Book Review 

The story collection that hailed the arrival of an essential voice in southern literature—a sharp, rich exploration of what it means to poor, Black, and gay in the United States.

A three-year-old boy begins to deliver messages from dead relatives. A zombie uprising is led by an evil preacher. A woman is haunted by a child her husband may have drowned. A pig talks. The stories in Let the Dead Bury Their Dead embody the type of fiction that defined Randall Kenan's career: set in the thinly veiled fictional Carolina town of Tims Creek, they follow a diverse cast of Southern folkways, and stare into a long shadow of history. A stunning mix of magic, myth, and folktales, Kenan masterfully portrays a world of varied voices, and in wondrous prose, brings to life the ghosts of our past and present.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    348 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    June 4, 1993
  4. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    9780156505154
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0156505154
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A gallery of lovers, losers, dreamers and misfits roil the North Carolina farm town of Tims Creek in Kenan's book of imaginative, unpredictable stories, which was nominated for the NBCC fiction award.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Nothing short of a wonder-book.” — New York Times Book Review

"Randall Kenan is an American master." — Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

"A genius, our Black Marquez." — Terry McMillan, author of Waiting to Exhale

“Kenan’s grasp of his lightly fictionalized home’s history, geography, and culture was as keen as Faulkner’s.” — Slate

“One of America’s finest writers.” — Southern Review of Books

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0156505150
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books Classics; First Edition (June 4, 1993)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 348 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780156505154
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156505154
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 69 ratings

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Randall Kenan

Randall Kenan

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
69 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Judith Lethin
5.0 out of 5 stars A real page-turner.
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2024
Verified Purchase
Kenan's character development through voice and language is superb. His characters are so real, flesh and blood, caught in their own skin, trapped, on a course--curved and mountainous, narrow, narrow, narrow- -makes me feel like I'm in the car with them.
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laura howard
5.0 out of 5 stars great deal
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
great deal on this book ! As a surprise it was also signed by the author
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Herma R. Woodward
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020
Verified Purchase
Stunning, beautiful, and wildly inventive. A total masterpiece. Like Marquez and Faulkner had a baby.
5 people found this helpful
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Michael Falls
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly Original
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2023
Very original short stories, only the last (title) confusing. Recommended reading.
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Caroline
5.0 out of 5 stars beautifully written, emotionally compelling
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2017
Verified Purchase
thought-provoking, beautifully written, emotionally compelling, insightful... a fantastic collection of short stories.
4 people found this helpful
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David S. Morgan
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
Verified Purchase
Kenan is full of surprises!
3 people found this helpful
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Cassie Zeiner
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2014
Quick shipment. Can't wait to read it!
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M. J. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars reality fiction at its best
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2005
In these short stories, Randall Kenan makes the people of Tims Creek so real that one expects to take a map and go meet them. These are "real" people with a history, with folklore, with religion, with complex relationships. The stories explore a variety of situations - the hypocritical preacher, the family accepting the sexual orientation of a son, the "perfect woman" snapping under the pressures of "perfection," the double-crossed and financially strapped worker, religious law vs. the reality of a hard-scramble life, new life from a May-December affair ... It is in the selection of detail that Kenan excells - the history of Tims Creek refers to well known gospel hymns that perfectly identify the tone of community. Or the mother proud of her son, a medical research doctor in Salt Lake City who would be more proud if he'd stayed in North Carolina. Or the cadences of a southern preacher in internal dialogue - " Fire. Nostrils. The four winds. Breath. Her breath. Some days atale, some days swwet, some days stinking of fish and onions."

These are stories that stay with the reader, begging to be read and reread.
7 people found this helpful
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