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Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

Written by: Maile Meloy
Narrated by: Kirsten Potter, Bronson Pinchot
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Publisher's Summary

Award-winning writer Maile Meloy’s return to short stories explores complex lives in an austere landscape with the clear-sightedness that first endeared her to fans.

p>Eleven unforgettable new stories demonstrate the emotional power and the clean, assured style that have earned Meloy praise from critics and devotion from readers and listeners. Propelled by a terrific instinct for storytelling, and concerned with the convolutions of modern love and the importance of place, this collection is about the battlefields—and fields of victory—that exist in seemingly harmless spaces, in kitchens and living rooms and cars. Set mostly in the American West, the stories feature small-town lawyers, ranchers, doctors, parents, and children and explore the moral quandaries of love, family, and friendship.

A ranch hand falls for a recent law-school graduate who appears unexpectedly—and reluctantly—in his remote Montana town. A young father opens his door to find his dead grandmother standing on the front step. Two women weigh love and betrayal during an early snow. Throughout the book, Meloy examines the tensions between having and wanting, as her characters try to keep hold of opposing forces in their lives: innocence and experience, risk and stability, fidelity and desire.

Knowing, sly, and bittersweet, Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It confirms Maile Meloy’s singular literary talent. Her lean, controlled prose, full of insight and unexpected poignancy, is the perfect complement to her powerfully moving storytelling.
©2009 Maile Meloy (P)2010 Blackstone Audio
Anthologies & Short Stories Literary Fiction Genre Fiction
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What the critics say

“[Meloy] is such a talented and unpredictable writer that I’m officially joining her fan club; whatever she writes next, I’ll gladly read it.” ( The New York Times Book Review)
“Meloy’s lean, targeted descriptions and her ultimately compassionate eye make this journey hurt so good.” ( Los Angeles Times)
"[R]eads like a Bruce Springsteen album sounds: raw with a tender wildness and loaded with adolescent ache.” ( O, the Oprah Magazine)

What listeners say about Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

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Profile Image for Yao Lu

Touching Short Stories

This collection of ~11 short stories, each around 30 mins long, is easy to listen to before bed or as a short break. The language is frank, concise yet powerful. The feelings are relatable and touching. I enjoyed the listening.

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