Who I Was Supposed to Be - by Susan Perabo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Both sardonic and moving...Perabo clearly recalls how to hit home runs." --The New York Times Book Review

"A stunning collection of short gems, revealing a world both foreign and familiar." --Chicago Tribune

Behind every face in Who I Was Supposed to Be is a singular quirk to explore, a peculiarity to celebrate. In Susan Perabo's world, nothing can be taken for granted: here, a retired grocer takes up jewel theft in his twilight years; a data processor squanders her inheritance on one of Princess Diana's gowns; a mugging victim feigns amnesia to win back his wife.

In the tradition of Lorrie Moore, Susan Perabo's slightly off-center lens looks hard at the banal and the bizarre, and at the human condition, where she finds extraordinary magic within the smallest of gestures. Sharply written and overlaid with a mischievous wit, Who I Was Supposed to Be is an unforgettable homage to laughter, love, and wonder.

Review Quotes

"Both sardonic and moving...[Perabo] clearly recalls how to hit home runs."
-- Dana Kennedy, The New York Times Book Review

"Cleverly mixes the ordinary and the odd...a stunning collection of short gems, revealing a world both foreign and familiar."
-- Cassandra West, Chicago Tribune

"In this deft collection, Perabo explores the weight of disappointment in our lives and how we try to avoid it by assuming new faces."
-- The New Yorker

"There's only one way to read Susan Perabo, and that's breathlessly. Each story in Who I Was Supposed to Be crackles with narrative electricity, and every one made me want to stand and cheer."
-- Richard Russo, author of Nobody's Fool and Straight Man