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The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven: A Novella and Stories Kindle Edition

by Rick Moody (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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A spirited collection of stories revealing the extremes of the human experience from the author of The Ice Storm

In his first story collection, Rick Moody provides readers with a poignant, brazenly honest glimpse into the lives of a wide array of characters, from a paranoid husband obsessively listening in on his wife’s phone calls to the junkies and sex addicts of New York City’s underworld. Whether they’re grasping for connection or struggling to survive in a dismal and indifferent environment, these individuals’ haunting voices and the evocative worlds they inhabit make for a diverse and powerful volume.
 
Experimenting with form—one story is told as a term paper, another as an annotated bibliography—Moody demonstrates the vast range of his fascinations and talents, as well as his arresting command of language. Candid depictions of contemporary society and the inner-workings of distinctive characters’ minds bring these inquisitive, heartrending, and at times undeniably funny accounts to life.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rick Moody including rare images from the author’s personal collection.
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  1. Print length
    260 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    November 10, 2015
  6. File size
    4182 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of two much-admired novels of suburban anomie here delivers 10 ingenious but uneven stories with a wide range of subjects, styles and voices. Shaped as treatments, sketches and journal entries as well as traditional short stories, these literate, sharply delineated, darkly funny but occasionally contrived pieces explore the vicissitudes of life in New York City and its suburbs. Moody's (The Ice Storm) most compelling characters are desolate or wrongheaded losers, like the narrator of "Preliminary Notes," a manic insurance investigator whose attempts to record his wife's phone calls reveal that their marriage is about to collapse. "The Apocalypse Commentary of Bob Paisner," a hilarious variation on Pale Fire, is a story in the form of a term paper by a collegiate misfit obsessed with connections between his life and the Book of Revelations. In "Pip Adrift," the deranged African American cabin boy in Moby-Dick recounts falling overboard; "Primary Sources" is Moody's autobiography framed as a bibliography with footnotes. The title piece, a novella, is a gritty, lyrical but dispassionate portrait of young people whose lives intersect and bottom out in a dystopian New York of heroin dens and sex clubs. An affecting but noncohesive collection that, despite flashes of brilliance, sometimes strains for effect.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Intense and unnerving . . . A narcotizing tour-de-force of sex, drugs, and dementia.” —Vanity Fair

“Consistently inventive . . . A considerable achievement.” —TheNew York Times Book Review

“Wonderful prose . . . Moody’s language pushes and pulls boundaries; it avoids and seeks intimacy, with the same insistence, terror, and self-consciousness as Moody’s protagonists.” —TheBoston Globe

“A striking collection by a stylish writer. Mr. Moody is a rare type of author who can entertain by working rock ’n’ roll, Star Trek, and Jacques Derrida into a single story and not appear labored in doing so.” —TheWashington Times

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B016VNIGPA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (November 10, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 10, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4182 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

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Rick Moody

Rick Moody

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tweaverville
5.0 out of 5 stars Just what was expected
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2018
Verified Purchase
Saw this book on T.V. show so I had to order it.
3 people found this helpful
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Jayfred
2.0 out of 5 stars Not recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017
1 story was good; the rest were bad.
One person found this helpful
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Mark (woodley.family@xtra.co.nz)
5.0 out of 5 stars My Favourite
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 1998
I have only recently discovered Rick Moody & in a short period have read almost all of his books - this is my favourite. The stories here are reasonably varied in content, & he has a lot of fun taking liberties with form & style & content (what a story should be). These are not necessarily just straight narratives, but play around with ideas of meaningful coincedence & circles of happenings. It's always good to see a writer unafraid of taking risks in order to get at some sort of truth - it's what great artistry is all about (I think anyway). I too, along with the other person who has written a review, like the stories 'Phrase Book' (the girl who took a massive hit of acid) and 'The Apocalypse of Bob Paisner' (a term paper in which a guy flunking out of school relates his life to the Bible). One thing about Moody, apart from everything else, is that his characters here are always wholly believeable. Even if the situations are sometimes extreme, the characters ring true - they are created with a great deal of empathy, & if the reaction to them isn't always empathetic, at least it's with understanding. This, to me, is the most important feature. The last story in the book is quite self-revelatory. It's a neat idea - Moody uses a selection of books from his bookshelf as a 'Bibliography' & footnotes occasional ones in order to explain certain parts of his life. I think it takes a person a lot of courage to expose themselves implicitly like this (but it sure beats a publishers blurb on the back cover). Rick Moody is a very good writer & you don't get too much better in contemporary writing than Ring of the Brightest Angels Around Heaven.
18 people found this helpful
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