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Poetry
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Book Details

Refresh, Refresh

ISBN:
978-1-55597-485-5
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Trim Size:
5.25 x 8.5
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Pages:
256
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Pub Date:
October 2, 2007
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Subject:
FICTION/Literary
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Acknowledgments

This book is made possible, in part, through the Jerome Foundation, which suppor
ts new works by emerging artists in New York City and Minnesota, and by the gene
rosity of Graywolf Press donors like you.
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Refresh, Refresh

Fiction > Short Stories

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Refresh, Refresh
Stories

Benjamin Percy

Price $15.00
Paperback
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See Refresh, Refresh on Good Reads

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Winner of the 2007 Plimpton Prize

Winner of a 2007 Pushcart Prize

Percy displays a steely mastery as he explores and defines the unexpected dangers
and fresh fears of this new century. Los Angeles Times
About the Book

"Benjamin Percy is a force" (Anthony Doerr) and Refresh, Refresh is a bold, fier
y and unforgettable collection that deals with vital issues of our time.

We didn t fully understand the reason our fathers were

d that they had to fight. The necessity of it made the
part of the game, my grandfather said. It s just the
ur fingers and wish on stars and hit refresh, refresh,
to us.

fighting. We only understoo

reason irrelevant. It s all
way it is. We could only cross o
hoping they would return

The war in Iraq empties the small town of Tumalo, Oregon of me of fathers le
aving their sons to fight amongst themselves. The boys, alone at home and desper
ate for contact, click refresh to see if an email might have just come through.
In striking, muscular prose, these stories deal with the pressures of ma
nhood. A young man lays a trap and confronts a huge bear that has already mutila
ted two teenage girls; a man returns to the Pacific Northwest after a nuclear me
ltdown in 2010; a couple explores a deep and dangerous underground cave.

Additional Reviews

Percy[ s] best stories reveal gifts close to the level of early Richard Ford and To
bias Wolff. The Chicago Tribune

Astonishing intensity.

The Boston Globe

There s no wading into a Benjamin Percy story. Reading the first sentence is like f
alling off a cliff you keep going until you hit the inevitable yet surprising end. Po

ets & Writers

Benjamin Percy, raised in the high desert country of central Oregon, plants his s
tories in these familiar settings on the outer edges of civilization, weaving dr
eamlike scenarios sometimes nightmarish, sometimes nightmarish, sometimes challeng
ing. Raw, archetypal and bloody, the 10 shorts in Refresh, Refresh could be desc
ribed as literary horror. The Oregonian
An unsettling delight.

The Guardian

These are some of the best five-page stories I ve every read.

Irish Times

"Karate Chop is a collection of brittle, blackly comic, and quietly explosive st

ories that provide snapshots of modern Danish life and home at daring angles to
highlight the quirks, agonies, and vulnerabilities of the human condition." Star T
ribune