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- ISBN: 1-894692-09-8
- $19.95
- Fiction
- 144pp
- 2004
Cleanly minimalist and keenly insightful, Greg Kearney's humorously acerbic short stories challenge the conventional earnestness of redemption narratives, often examining grotesque realities of the human body. With no subject taboo, Kearney's crisp prose looks at the clumsy sexualities and embarrassing daily details of his delightfully aimless characters. Standing alone in their simplicity, the characters in Mommy Daddy Baby walk through his stories in all their grumpy and bizarre humanity without judgment. Raymond Carver meets David Sedaris, Mommy Daddy Baby is a long-awaited collection from an established Toronto queer icon.
"Greg Kearney kills me. This, his first book, is everything any book should be: funny, feeling, daring as hell. In story after stunning story, he shows us our world, our shopworn world, its worn-down welcome mats, its flower gardens full of butts. In Kearney's hands, the everyday seems exotic: sad, scary and shockingly new. Mommy Daddy Baby is wicked. And wonderful. What more could you want?"
Derek McCormack
"The characters in these stories are not the folks of mainstream fiction. They're too frank, raw, and off-kilter. But it's the genius of Kearney's narrative positioning that they're not marginalized. They inhabit the centre of their world as any of us does; a world of sadness and despair, humour and hope. The writing style is spare; Kearney has learned well that it's ok to leave stuff out. But the result is a teeming geography, a rich environment supported by Kearney's strong but never overt affection."
Jean McKay