More of This World or Maybe Another [Paperback]

More of This World or Maybe Anotheris a collection of award-winning short fiction about four outsiders whose unruly lives intersect on the back streets of New Orleans from writer Barb Johnson. Funny and haunting by turns, Johnson’s unforgettable characters are driven by something fragile and irresistible, a sputtering drive to love and be loved, in these “stunning stories . . . the kind that reveal, enlarge, and make living seem worth the trouble.” (Dorothy Allison)

The lives of four unlikely friends intersect on the backstreets of New Orleans. Living amid poverty and violence, these fragile heroes of the American underclass redefine our notions of family, redemption, and love.

[A] gorgeous debut collection&heartbreakingly poignant&if a short story is a slice of life, then the sum of this collection shows the power of a moment, of how a whole life is ultimately comprised of its slices.In this book, the music is earned by muscular language, empathy and emotional courage. The writing alone is a rare, sweet joy. Like a drop of water from Delias leaky faucet, each story in this brilliant collection breaks open in a fit of shine.Johnson is pitch-perfect in her spare yet lyrical descriptions, especially those of male-female interactions, how going to war changes soldiers, and how love can be damaged or destroyed, as Delia describes her affair with Maggie as a tear in my soul that just wont heal. An insightful literary gem.Barb Johnsons beautiful and touching stories stirred up emotions in me that few books ever have&I hate to admit it, [but] I actually cried over a pig in one of the stories, and I used to work in a meatpacking plant!What a pitch-perfect, utterly original, dazzlingly flexible narrative voice Barb Johnson has. Her collection of gritty, sad, funny stories from the Gulf Coast, More of This World or Maybe Another, is a truly exciting debut.Precise and gorgeous language...A wonderful sense of humor..Pathos made ovló}