Fortune Smiles: Stories
Adam Johnson
Paperback
(Random House Trade Paperbacks, Oct. 4, 2016)
The National Book Awardâwinning story collection from the author of The Orphan Masterâs Son offers something rare in fiction: a new way of looking at the world. âMASTERFUL.ââThe Washington Post âENTRANCING.ââO: The Oprah Magazine âPERCEPTIVE AND BRAVE.ââThe New York Times Throughout these six stories, Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson delves deep into love and loss, natural disasters, the influence of technology, and how the political shapes the personal, giving voice to the perspectives we donât often hear. In âNirvana,â a programmer whose wife has a rare disease finds solace in a digital simulacrum of the president of the United States. In âHurricanes Anonymous,â a young man searches for the mother of his son in a Louisiana devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. âGeorge Orwell Was a Friend of Mineâ follows a former warden of a Stasi prison in East Germany who vehemently denies his past, even as pieces of it are delivered in packages to his door. And in the unforgettable title story, Johnson returns to his signature subject, North Korea, depicting two defectors from Pyongyang who are trying to adapt to their new lives in Seoul, while one cannot forget the woman he left behind. WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE ⢠A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Miami Herald ⢠San Francisco Chronicle ⢠USA Today AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post ⢠NPR ⢠Marie Claire ⢠St. Louis Post-Dispatch ⢠BuzzFeed ⢠The Daily Beast ⢠Los Angeles Magazine ⢠The Independent ⢠BookPage ⢠Kirkus Reviews âRemarkable . . . Adam Johnson is one of Americaâs greatest living writers.ââThe Huffington Post âHaunting, harrowing . . . Johnsonâs writing is as rich in compassion as it is in invention, and that rare combination makes Fortune Smiles worth treasuring.ââUSA Today âFortune Smiles [blends] exotic scenarios, morally compromised characters, high-wire action, rigorously limber prose, dense thickets of emotion, and, most critically, our current techno-moment.ââThe Boston Globe âJohnsonâs boundary-pushing stories make for exhilarating reading.ââSan Francisco Chronicle