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Lynn Coady is mostly a fiction writer and essayist. She lives in Edmonton and is working on a novel about a futuristic adoption agency.
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“Painfully brilliant ... a polish and razor-sharp wit that takes no prisoners.”- The Calgary Herald
Earnest, small-town Lawrence Campbell is fascinated by his poetry professor, the charismatic and uncompromising Jim Arsenault. Jim appears to the green as grass young Larry as a beacon of authenticity - mercurial, endlessly creative, fearless in his confrontations with the forces of conformity. And he drinks a lot. Closely observed and deeply funny, it tells the story of Larry’s encroaching disillusionment as his narcissistic, hard-drinking idol spins hilariously out of control and threatens to take the young man’s cherished notions about art and poetry down with him. Mean Boy is Lynn Coady’s most polished and ambitious work to date.
"In the space of a couple of pages, Coady displays all the strengths that brought her first two books, the novel Strange Heaven and the story collection Play the Monster Blind, so much acclaim and so many readers. There's the documentary-sharp feel for the details of her chosen setting - the hardscrabble communities of Cape Breton - and for the speech patterns of its people. There's her empathetic knack for getting inside the heads of a wide range of extreme characters - alcoholics of all ages, bored teenagers of both sexes. Rarest of all, there's her uncanny ability to mine humour from seams lesser writers would exploit for earnest melodrama, a trick she pulls off without ever belittling the darker aspects of her characters and their lives." - The Montreal Gazette 
"Part of the delight and marvel of Coady's stories is their crazy energy ... Coady swerves with a hardy veteran's knowing - her work is among the most noteworthy in the country." - National PostAn exhilarating collection of short fiction, Play the Monster Blind showcases the remarkably original voice of Lynn Coady, the award-winning author of Strange Heaven. Funny, poignant and smart, full of unforgettable characters, these stories explore the violence of family, the constraints of small-town life and the elusive promise of escape.
"An astonishing fictional debut."- Globe and Mail
Lynn Coady’s 'Strange Heaven' burst on the Canadian Literary scene in 1998. Fresh, raw and utterly original it shot onto the best seller lists across the country and drew critical praise for its author. A new paperback edition is now available from Anchor Canada.
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Danforth Review
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Cape Breton Haikus