Winner of the 2002 Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Selected by Elizabeth Hardwick
It is difficult to see what lurks beneath the surface of a muddy river, an alligator-infested lake, or a John Blair short story. The deep currents that drive a demure, devout, church-going woman to shoot her husband; the ripple effect of a midnight rendezvous at church youth camp that goes slightly—then horribly—askew; the sinkholes that can swallow Porsche dealerships—or marriages; what is dredged up in American Standard cannot easily be forgotten.
Set mostly in central Florida, Blair’s stories are filled with people living lives of disquieting longing and stubborn isolation. For them, this is the American standard, as ubiquitous and undistinguished as vitreous china bathroom fixtures.
- ISBN10 0822941929
- ISBN13 9780822941927
- Publish Date 27 October 2002
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 26 January 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Pittsburgh Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 192
- Language English