I Am No One You Know - by Joyce Carol Oates (Paperback)

About the Book

From the Back Cover

I Am No One You Know contains nineteen startling stories that bear witness to the remarkably varied lives of Americans of our time. In "Fire," a troubled young wife discovers a rare, radiant happiness in an adulterous relationship. In "Curly Red," a girl makes a decision to reveal a family secret, and changes her life irrevocably. In "The Girl with the Blackened Eye," selected for The Best American Mystery Stories 2001, a girl pushed to an even greater extreme of courage and desperation manages to survive her abduction by a serial killer. And in "Three Girls," two adventuresome NYU undergraduates seal their secret love by following, and protecting, Marilyn Monroe in disguise at Strand Used Books on a snowy evening in 1956.

These vividly rendered portraits of women, men, and children testify to Oates's compassion for the mysterious and luminous resources of the human spirit.

Review Quotes

"Vintage Oates." - Kirkus Reviews

"When it comes to the short story, there is probably nobody better. These stories are lovely; beautifully written.... This anthology is Joyce Carol Oates at the top of her game." - Buffalo News

"These are small, hard gems, full of the same rich emotion and startling observation that readers of Oates's fiction have come to expect...It is as if these pieces, by being smaller, are even sharper--as a small television's picture can seem unnaturally crisp." - New York Times Book Review

"The beauty and tragedy of each of these short stories is that they are all lost chapters of novels begging to be written." - New York Post

"I Am No One You Know is filled with stories that perfectly represent America's warped and undying fascination/repulsion with acts of violence and sex. In a single volume of stories of less than 300 pages, Oates says more about the human condition than most authors can communicate in a lifetime." - Denver Post

"As always, Oates' unflagging energy is an inspiration, and you can't help but marvel at how confidently she involves us in these often gothic, romantic, supremely American stories." - More Magazine