{"product_id":"i-am-my-country-and-other-stories-9780593449462","title":"I Am My Country: And Other Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"A powerful and provocative debut collection\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e) by \"a startling talent who can seemingly do anything\" (Anthony Marra) that explores the lives of ordinary people in Turkey to reveal how even individual acts of resistance have extraordinary repercussions.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eI Am My Country\u003c\/i\u003e employs many different literary styles and voices to dazzling effect.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFINALIST FOR THE PEN\/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE \u003c\/b\u003e- LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE - AN \u003ci\u003eELECTRIC LIT \u003c\/i\u003eAND \u003ci\u003eLIBRARY JOURNAL \u003c\/i\u003eBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Spanning decades and landscapes, from the forests along the Black Sea to the streets of Istanbul, Kenan Orhan's ​playful stories ​conjure dreamlike worlds--of talking animals, flying houses, and omniscient prayer-callers--to ​examine humanity's unfaltering pursuit of hope in even the darkest circumstances. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA determined florist trains a neighborhood stray dog to blow up a corrupt president. A garbage collector finds banned instruments--and later, musicians--in the trash and takes them home to form a clandestine orchestra in her attic. A smuggler risks his life to bring a young woman claiming to be pregnant via immaculate conception across the border with Syria. A poor cage-maker tries to use his ability to talk to birds to woo his childhood love just before the 1955 Istanbul pogrom. These characters are united by a desperate yearning to break free from the volatile realities they face: rising authoritarianism, cultural and political turmoil, and staggering violence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRanging from the absurd to the tenderhearted, the stories in \u003ci\u003eI Am My Country \u003c\/i\u003eilluminate the constant force amid one country's history of rampant oppression and revolutionary progress: the impulse to survive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKenan Orhan\u003c\/b\u003e is a Turkish American writer and a recipient of the O. Henry Prize. His stories have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMassachusetts Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePrairie Schooner\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Common\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere, and have been anthologized in \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Short Stories\u003c\/i\u003e. Orhan received his MFA from Emerson College and lives in Kansas City.\u003ci\u003e I Am My Country\u003c\/i\u003e is his first book.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50673890066706,"sku":"9780593449462","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_56dee171-9be9-4e7e-bb9f-1e9400ce16e1.jpg?v=1733846588","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/i-am-my-country-and-other-stories-9780593449462","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}