Tales of Accidental Genius - by Simon Van Booy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"She believed it was a gift to never truly know the self. We are not who we think we are, nor how others see us. Long before death, we die a thousand times at the hands of a definition."

A master storyteller's vision reawakens us to the human experience in this diverse, haunting, and unexpectedly humorous new collection of short fiction from Simon Van Booy--his first since Love Begins in Winter, winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.

In his first book of short stories since Love Begins in Winter, for which he won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award), bestselling author Simon Van Booy offers a collection of stories highlighting how human genius can emerge through acts of compassion. Through characters including an eccentric film director, an aging Cockney bodyguard, the teenage child of Nigerian immigrants, a divorced amateur magician from New Jersey, and a Beijing street vendor who becomes an overnight billionaire, Tales of Accidental Genius contemplates individuals from different cultures, races--rich and poor, young and old--and reveals how faith and yearning for connection helps us all transcend darkness of fear and misfortune.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Illusion of Separateness: "The uncanny beauty of Van Booy's prose, and his ability to knife straight to the depths of a character's heart, fill a reader with wonder. . . .There are so many wonderful sentences in this book, a reviewer groans for want of room to list them." - San Francisco Chronicle
"Masterful prose. . . . From minimalistic sentences he wrings out maximum impact, stripping away artifice and elaboration in favor of stark, emotional clarity and honesty." - Boston Globe
"His writing is consciously poetic and at times aphoristic, and he deftly portrays his characters' raw emotions." - Wall Street Journal
"Using restraint and a subtle dose of foreshadowing, Van Booy expertly entangles these disparate lives; but it's what he leaves out that captures the imagination. Full of clever staccato sentences bookended by snippets of inner monologue--obvious, but ripe with meaning, the writing is what makes this remarkable book soar." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Praise for Everything Beautiful Began After: "A powerful meditation on the undying nature of love and the often cruel beauty of one's own fate. This is a novel you simply must read!" - Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of Townie
"Already a new-generation master of the short story, Simon Van Booy has now emerged as a newly minted master of the novel as well. . . . Van Booy is a writer whose work I will forever eagerly read." - Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"One of the beauties of all Van Booy's stories, including in his two prior stories collections and in two novels, is that he tells his stories without affectation, but ever so effectively as a stylist and a devout humanist. One amplifies the other, making his stories literary treasures." - Portland Press Herald
"The stories of Love Begins in Winter are stylistically brilliant and emotionally beautiful. I found myself gasping, literally gasping, at surprises so perfectly attuned as to be inevitable. Simon Van Booy is an extraordinary writer, and this is a book to be read and reread again and again." - Binnie Kirshenbaum
"Beautiful . . . each of these stories has moments of sheer loveliness." - Publishers Weekly
"One of the best living short story writers gives us a collection of six beautifully written stories and a novella that search for the genius in common places and everyday deeds by way of poetic prose." - Kansas City Star
"There is a deep and abiding humanism to these stories: people assisting others because the alternative is too grim to contemplate...For all of the globe-trotting and experiments in storytelling found here, there's also a very human core to these stories--a humanistic reminder of the connections we all share." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Tales of Accidental Genius proves to be a moving, humorous and engaging look at the ways people lean on and support one another. The first six stories fit together like houses on a street... [an] enthralling collection." - Paste Magazine
"Tales of Accidental Genius proves to be a moving, humorous and engaging look at the ways people lean on and support one another. The first six stories fit together like houses on a street, each one slightly different but with a sense of continuity that maintains the whole of this enthralling collection." - Paste Magazine
Praise for The Secret Lives of People in Love: "Breathtaking . . . chillingly beautiful, like postcards from Eden . . . Van Booy's stories are somehow like paintings the characters walk out of, and keep walking." - Los Angeles Times
"Van Booy's writing rings with the proverbial pithiness of Oscar Wilde, the elegance of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the clarity of Graham Greene, and the wit of Evelyn Waugh, conjuring a strong voice full of poetic, timeless grace of which much of the contemporary literary scene is starved." - San Francisco Examiner
"Van Booy shows an uncanny ability to create intense moods and emotions within the space of a few poetic paragraphs." - Booklist
Praise for Love Begins in Winter: "Simon Van Booy knows a great deal about the complex longings of the human heart, and he articulates those truths in his stories with pitch-perfect elegance. Love Begins in Winter is a splendid collection, and Van Booy is now a writer on my must-always-read list." - Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"Simon Van Booy seems to start with a story in mind and then to turn it into a poem without losing its narrative power. Love Begins in Winter is an exquisite show of force." - Roger Rosenblatt
"Love Begins in Winter brings to life the wistfulness of youth and the possibilities of young love with clear and graceful prose." - Jamie Saul