內容簡介
內容簡介 《深夜小狗神祕習題》、《黃昏老爸的煩惱習題》作者馬克‧海登最新作品9個令人永生難忘的短篇故事，與馬克‧海登一同尋找人生的心靈歸屬「一連串充滿震撼人心的短篇故事集，感受內心深處的無限孤寂，探討死亡的距離，及如何再度獲得重生的機會。」─《Evening Standard》馬克‧海登的全新短篇故事集結了維多利亞時期的冒險故事風格、科幻情節、倫理道德及現實主義，他不只是擅長短篇故事的大師，透過這些故事更能充分感受馬克‧海登超乎常人的想像力。這9篇故事的重點，皆設定在人無法逃離的孤寂感，儘管擁有不完美的人生且害怕受傷，但仍極力尋求與他人的聯繫。其中與作品同名的故事《The Pier Falls》主角以冷酷及精準的描述，敘述一場襲擊海岸的恐怖災難，這場災難不只摧毀無數生命，也再度將人與人緊緊聯繫；而在獲獎故事《The Gun》中，一個小男孩在好友哥哥的箱子中意外找到一把半自動手槍，而這把手槍卻意外改變他的人生；《The Island》敘述一位被綁架者拋棄在無人島上的希臘公主；《The Boys Who Left Home to Learn Fear》，一群探險家深入亞馬遜叢林，卻意外發現最大的危險其實就潛伏在他們之中；《The Woodpecker and the Wolf》，一個單身女子寧願不計代價選擇到火星旅行，只為了逃離複雜的人際關係。這些主角群皆有相同的特點─受到外在力量被孤立或是與家人疏遠，而內心深處卻又嚮往與人有著緊密的聯繫。An expedition to Mars goes terribly wrong. A seaside pier collapses. A thirty-stone man is confined to his living room. One woman is abandoned on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Another woman is saved from drowning. Two boys discover a gun in a shoebox. A group of explorers find a cave of unimaginable size deep in the Amazon jungle. A man shoots a stranger in the chest on Christmas Eve.In this first collection of stories by the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon demonstrates two things: first that he is a master of the short form (several of the stories have been longlisted for prizes), second that his imagination is even darker than we had thought.
