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    Get In Trouble: Stories
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    Get In Trouble: Stories
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    Get In Trouble: Stories
    Audiobook9 hours

    Get In Trouble: Stories

    Written by Kelly Link

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    She has been hailed by Michael Chabon as "the most darkly playful voice in American fiction" and by Neil Gaiman as "a national treasure." Now Kelly Link's eagerly awaited new collection-her first for adult readers in a decade-proves indelibly that this bewitchingly original writer is among the finest we have.
     
    Link has won an ardent following for her ability, with each new short story, to take readers deeply into an unforgettable, brilliantly constructed fictional universe. The nine exquisite examples in this collection show her in full command of her formidable powers. In "The Summer People," a young girl in rural North Carolina serves as uneasy caretaker to the mysterious, never-quite-glimpsed visitors who inhabit the cottage behind her house. In "I Can See Right Through You," a middle-aged movie star makes a disturbing trip to the Florida swamp where his former on- and off-screen love interest is shooting a ghost-hunting reality show. In "The New Boyfriend," a suburban slumber party takes an unusual turn, and a teenage friendship is tested, when the spoiled birthday girl opens her big present: a life-size animated doll.
     
    Hurricanes, astronauts, evil twins, bootleggers, Ouija boards, iguanas, The Wizard of Oz, superheroes, the Pyramids . . . These are just some of the talismans of an imagination as capacious and as full of wonder as that of any writer today. But as fantastical as these stories can be, they are always grounded by sly humor and an innate generosity of feeling for the frailty-and the hidden strengths-of human beings. In Get in Trouble, this one-of-a-kind talent expands the boundaries of what short fiction can do.

    Read by a Full Cast:
    "The Summer People"… read by Grace Blewer
    "I Can See Right Through You"… read by Kirby Heyborne
    "Secret Identity"… read by Tara Sands
    "Valley of the Girls"… read by Robbie Daymond
    "Origin Story"… read by Rebecca Lowman
    "The Lesson"… read by Cassandra Campbell
    "The New Boyfriend"… read by Ish Klein
    "Two Houses" … read by Susan Duerden
    "Light" … read by Kirsten Potter

     
    Advance praise for Get in Trouble
     
    "Kelly Link is the author whose books I would take to the proverbial desert island. Link's work is always darkly funny, sexy, frightening, and truly weird-she can dismantle and remake the world in a paragraph. Get in Trouble offers further proof that she belongs on every reader's bookshelf."-Karen Russell
     
    "Get in Trouble contains some of Link's best writing yet. These are not so much small fictions as windows onto entire worlds. This is a brilliant, giddying read."-Sarah Waters
     
    "Kelly Link is one of my all-time favorite writers. You know who else would love her? Kafka and Lewis Carroll. Like them, she knows the things the rest of us don't. But she also knows how to make well-known heartbreaks glow with strange new lights."-Arthur Phillips
     
    "Kelly Link's prose is conveyed in details so startling and fine that you work up a sweat just waiting for the next sentence to land. This is why we read, crave, need, can't live without short stories."-Téa Obreht
     
    "Kelly Link is inimitable. Her stories are like nothing else, dark yet sparkling with her unique brand of fairy dust. This is the most marvelous kind of trouble to get in."-Erin Morgenstern
     
    "Every one of the stories in this collection is like a one-of-a-kind jack-in-the-box. How does Kelly Link understand our pains and longings and memories and even our futures so well?"-Yiyun Li
     
    "Close your mouth and get out of the way, because here comes Kelly Link, than whom no one is better."-Peter Straub

    "The stories in Get In Trouble confirm once again that Kelly Link is a modern virtuoso of the form—playful and subversive required reading for anyone who loves short fiction.”-Jeff VanderMeer

    Editor's Note

    A MacArthur Genius…

    In this mesmerizing collection of short stories, Link again turns her highly-attuned ear to the otherworldly, adroitly dancing both with elements of the uncanny & expectations of the genre.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 3, 2015
    ISBN9780553399554
    Unavailable
    Get In Trouble: Stories
    Author

    Kelly Link

    Kelly Link is the author of four collections, including Pretty Monsters and the Pulitzer finalist Get in Trouble. She is the cofounder of Small Beer Press and lives with her husband and daughter in Northampton, Massachusetts. Visit her at KellyLink.net.

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    Reviews for Get In Trouble

    4/5

    285 ratings52 reviews

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    • 4/5
      weird, blurry, surreal, beautiful
    • 5/5
      The cover says it all: the world is turned on its head in these quirky, smart stories... highly recommended!
    • 3/5
      Perhaps I just read and heard too many good things about this, but I was a little underwhelmed. My favourite story was probably the opener, "The Summer People" - a post-Gaiman fairy tale kinda deal.

      After that, nothing really leapt out at me. Some pop-cultural references, some comic book references, some Buffy the Vampire Slayer stuff. Nothing too scary, nothing too startling. I'm struggling to understand what exactly inspired the rave reviews I've read and the devotion to Ms. Link I've encountered.
    • 4/5
      A pleasing collection of memorable and often quite moving short stories. Link is something like a cross between George Saunders and Neil Gaiman. Personal favourites were "The Lesson" and "The New Boyfriend".
    • 4/5
      Hmm... after reading "Pretty Monsters" and then hearing about the release of "Get in Trouble" I was excited for more from Kelly Link. So I ordered the book and bought it on Audible the same day. This review reflects the Audible version, so some of my reaction could be to the narration, but this collection just felt so... "cutesy"? It lacked the venomous undercurrent most of the stories from Pretty Monsters seemed to contain. The characters were just felt so much like generic "everyday, ordinary" type people, and the scenarios were increasingly convoluted with less and less payoff as the book wore on. I do have to credit the author with a clever imagination, but so many of the stories involved all these clever little things going on and whimsically named products and outlandish situations for the characters to interact with while we, the reader, have no idea what is going on, and to be honest, it got a bit tedious. I will give the physical book a chance to change my opinion when I get around to actually reading it, but right now I'm fairly unimpressed, especially for coming in with such high expectations.
    • 5/5
      Quirky, very left field short stories. Reality not as we know it. Yet enough real to make the unreal mess with you as you venture warily further into each story.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful stories - masterful plots that unfold like strange presents from other realities. Characters are vivid and memorable. Especially liked the first and the last stories, "The Summer People" and "Light".
    • 4/5
      I originally received 'Get in Trouble Stories', by Kelly Link, as an advance reader's copy, and was eager to read it. Because of school and work demands however, I've had to hold off several months for the opportunity to do so, and I'm sorry it's taken so long. Kelly Link's highly readable short stories remind me of those written by Karen Russell. I had read Russell's 'St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves', and enjoyed the book for it's originality. I feel the same way about Link's collection. These wonderful short stories, 9 in all, cover a wide range of subject matter from the real life of superheroes, to a girl's infatuation with a realistic, life-size doll. From experiencing life in ancient Egypt, were it to take place in the modern day, to the pressures experienced by a gay couple preparing for the premature birth of a baby they hope to be adopting, and all the difficulties associated with that. There were also stories that I found too difficult to describe, that cover multiple genres such as horror, fantasy, serial killers and love. At no time did Link feel a need to follow the constructs of any one genre and provide stories that were stable and predictable. What I really enjoyed about these stories, was that I never knew what to expect, and what the outcome would be. It was so refreshing to have a book in my hands that provided me with really well written stories that had no walls and created their own worlds in ways most writers never think of. If you're looking for some original, entertaining material, you should pick up 'Get in Trouble Stories' by Kelly Link, and see what true, unpredictable reading can be like.
    • 5/5
      Loved this collection of bizarre and beautiful short fiction.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely adore everything Kelly Link writes and she gets better with each collection. If you are looking for someone who writes like all of the literary greats but uses more playful, creepy, interesting themes and characters in her stories then look no further.
    • 5/5
      Loved this collection of bizarre and beautiful short fiction.
    • 3/5
      Strange and well written but the stories don't grab me.
    • 5/5
      LOVED it. My favorite story was the first one, The Summer People. Can't wait to hand-sell this title in February. Kelly Link's prose is amazing. I savored every phrase while also racing through the pages.
    • 5/5
      Kelly Link always amazes me with both the contents of her head and the way she tells us about it. Superheroes and pocket universes -- literary fiction that is not limited to the strictly real -- all in a dizzying and compelling read.

      Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.
    • 3/5
      Interesting ideas and great writing. I liked the 'weird factor' or surrealism of most of the stories, especially the ones based a bit more in the paranormal.
      I feel I'm not really a fan of short stories with original characters, though, because I felt almost all were either too short to really convey the idea Link was trying to or just didn't have a cohesive structure a story needs to be satisfying. I plan on reading Link's other collections but I'm not sure I'd as yet call myself a fan.
    • 4/5
      A fascinating collection of stories about love, dating, friendship, and ghosts. Some stories are fantastical, but most are set in a futuristic world. These stories are unique, beautifully crafted, and haunting. In one collection, Kelly Link demonstrates her mastery of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror. A truly masterful author.
    • 5/5
      Kelly Link writes stories like no other. Every one is different, but they're all linked by a curious magic and a sense that you have no idea where you're going, but it's going to be worth the ride.
    • 4/5
      I bought this a month or so ago when it was being advertised on Goodreads because it seemed right up my alley. I wasn't disappointed by it. Though I started off reading "Origin Story" and "Secret Identity" separately, I quickly followed them up with picking up this collection. For me it's just really interesting how Link weaves her short stories together and gets you invested in characters that you only get to experience in a very short amount of time. But the wit behind the stories is that whatever she ends up winding you through, you get a very condensed picture in that short time and it hooks you. Plus, I found "Origin Story" extra interesting because it's just a fun game to play- thinking up origin stories for classic characters or random people you come across.
    • 3/5
      Intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying. I love her creativity and was constantly unsettled by the unpredictability of the stories. But just when they would get going and interesting, they would end. I wish she had expanded each of them into a novel -- there is so much rich content, all wasted by the format. Favorite bit: "Her chest feels very tight, as if she's suddenly full of poison. You have to keep it all inside. Like throwing yourself on a bomb to save everyone else. Except you're the bomb."
    • 4/5
      Science fiction-ish short stories, each a little bit odder than the last. From the space travelers who are woken every few years, to the two-shadowed woman who created her own twin when a shadow broke free, to the caretaker of the odd house just outside town--each story features some sort of paranormal/dystopian/post apocalyptic thread, which often comes out after the story feels "normal". My favorite was "The New Boyfriend".
    • 4/5
      Kelly Link has a reputation of bringing a literary sensibility to speculative fiction, and this collection doesn't disappoint. Fans of Angela Carter will appreciate the dark, fairy tale-like feel to her stories, which seem to create their own mythologies while simultaneously drawing on our collective cultural memory, a skill which renders her work both alien and hauntingly familiar at the same time. I think my favorite story in the collection was "The Summer People." In it, Link draws on folklore, history, and fae myth to create something altogether beautiful and strange. A must-read for those who like speculative fiction that leaves the reader with simultaneous feelings of longing and foreboding.
    • 4/5
      As always, Kelly Link's short stories are satisfying. You have to be prepared for almost anything to happen, but isn't that true of all fiction, whether realistic or not?
    • 4/5
      Link has many strengths as a writer. She has a vivid imagination, a knack for being able to pull apart cliches to make them into something fresh, and an incredible gift for digging out the pains her characters try to hide away. Her prose is crisp and poignant, and she flawlessly weaves together the fantastic with the mundane in ways that will leave you aching for a more magical world while also realizing that even magic will disappoint you. If Link's writing contains any flaws, it lies with her endings. They often feel tacked on and/or too abrupt and/or inappropriately optimistic. Most of the endings simply can't carry the weight of her story. I found myself disappointed more often than not with the endings, which is not something a reader should walk away feeling. Of course, some of this dissatisfaction stems from my personal distaste for happy(ish) and "lesson-taught" type endings. Yet, I don't think much objectivity is required to say that her endings--thematically--often don't fit the rest of the story.I Can See Right Through You is, by far, my favorite story in this collection. It may be a masterpiece of modern short fiction. If you only want or can only read one story from this collection, read I Can See Right Through You.
    • 4/5
      I met Kelly Link once and found her to be a wonderful and engaging person. You would never know what thoughts must go around in her head. This is a delightful collection of quirky short stories that defy description. Is it fantasy, magical realism, sci fi, romance -- I just don't know since it dips into them all and transcends them all while remaining completely relatable. If you are looking for something fun and really, really different from the mainstream, this is for you.
    • 3/5
      I must start by saying that I have never had the pleasure of reading any of Kelly Link's previous work. It was fun to discover this author and the interesting stories that she was able to create. The first story had me captivated and ready for more. As the book progressed, I found that some of the whimsical of these plots were very hard to swallow. However, overall I thought the stories were unique and not one left me without wanting.
    • 4/5
      Kelly Link's books are always enjoyable, and she's the master of her particular genre. Some of the stories in this collection have a truer aim than others, which felt a little more like work; the recurrent themes made some of the stories seem like they'd be much better in different books, or just in magazines or journals, than side-by-side, where they end up being too many helpings of jellybeans. Of course, I get picky. The first story was the best, and set a high bar.
    • 4/5
      Got this book thru the Early Reviewer program at LT. It is Link's latest collection of stories. I first read her in Magic for Beginners. Her stories are not quite fantasy, not quite scifi. I've heard the term magical realism bandied about and the "kids" call it slipstream.Overall, the 9 stories in the book are quite satisfying. A couple were misses for me, but on the whole and excellent read. From an ageless vampire who is an aging movie star, to a society where rich girls spend their parents money building their funeral pyramids, to a great ghost story on a space ship out in the vast interstellar skyways, there's a great mix of stories. One takes us to a hotel where a conference for superheroes clashes with one for dentists.Definitely worth your time.A couple quotes..."What you deserve and what you can stand aren't necessarily the same thing""Now fill up the lobby with dentists and superheroes. Men and women, oral surgeons, eith dimensional entities, muntants, and freaks who want to save your teeth, save the world and maybe end up with a TV show too."8/10S: 2/23/15 F: 3/13/15 (19 Days)
    • 4/5
      Get in Trouble provides yet further evidence as to why Kelly Link is one of my favorite living short story writers. These tales are raw and human, with interweavings of the speculative, sometimes in subtle ways.In "The Lesson," the only hint of magic or the scientifically strange is a stuffed, clawed creature said to be long extinct, despite strange rustlings in the night. Where the magic comes in is how the story unfolds. Two men, awaiting the birth of of an adoptive child through a surrogate mother, take a trip to an isolated island to attend the wedding of a friend they haven't seen in years. Through the bride's wonderfully weird version of party celebrations and the discomforts of being disconnected from news from the mainland, it becomes clear that these two men love each other deeply and that that love is being strained by the stress of adoption. It also becomes clear that the decadence of their youth no longer appeals to them. "The Lesson" is a beautiful tale and my favorite in the book.Other stories reveal a young woman who serves as an uneasy caretaker for the mysterious beings that live up on the hill ("The Summer People"), an aging movie star, formerly known as the demon lover, who seeks out his ex-girlfriend while she's on a ghost hunting expedition ("I Can See Right Through You"), and a girl attempts to meet an older man she catfished online at a hotel where dentist and superheroes are both having conventions ("Origen Story").Another story that lingers with me long after I read it is "The New Boyfriend," which explores the complicated mess of teenage friendship and young love in unsettling ways. When her friend received her third animatronic boyfriend, a girl enacts a plan to steal it for herself, convince he can love only her.
    • 5/5
      The stories of Kelly Link have been on my to-be-read radar for ages, that first collection sadly sitting on the shelf, waiting for years. Somehow I've been comparing the writing of other authors (ie: Karen Russell, Sharma Shields) to Link without having read a word of Link's (which I really shouldn't be doing.. comparing without reading!) I'm very happy to know that Kelly Link's writing is exactly as I thought it was! Quirky, fun, magical, weird, spooky, haunting, glittery. All of the stories here are captivating with fascinating concepts, featuring fun ideas like antagonistic unicorns, pyramids built for rich teenagers, comics featuring writers like Thomas Mann, conventions with actual superheroes, pocket universes with invasive species (mermaids), animatronic robot boyfriends, decaying Land of Oz amusement parks, ghost stories in outer space, weddings in which those in attendance wear horrible wedding dresses and walk around an island. Reoccurring themes feature superheroes, vampires, ghosts and technology, usually a combination of those, but used in the best way possible. One story was a little confusing (Valley of the Girls) maybe because it was the shortest in the book and could have used a little more depth. The average length of each story here is around 30-40 pages. There aren't any clunkers here but sometimes the endings of a couple stories are a little vague and unsatisfying. Some weirdness could use a little more explaining. But I'm very pleased that a writer that has been on the shelf for far too long is exactly as awesome as I thought. I'm not much of a short story reader, but this collection is certainly a favorite. I'm looking forward to the other collections!
    • 4/5
      It is difficult for me to describe this particular collection of short stories. Phrases which come to mind are stylistically inventive, charming, magical, inconsistent,disparate. Some of the stories were absolutely wonderful, "Summer People" definitely my favorite. Some seemed to ramble on too long and I lost interest. The most striking traits were the creativity in terms of style and the moments in which the magical charm was immeasurable. The most common theme amongst the stories were coming of age conundrums faced by most, if not all, adolescents, such as the tensions of breaking away from family and lifelong expectations to become an individual. This collection is worth the read, yet be prepared for something of a roller coaster ride.