Winner of the Trillium Award
Pasha Malla's extraordinary stories grant us entry into fascinating worlds: the complex world of children acting out half-understood fantasies of adulthood; the modern world of young couples navigating hairpin emotional turns; a near future world where Niagara Falls has run dry.
The Withdrawal Method is a remarkably inventive, assured, and smart collection from one of our best young writers, one who pairs emotional depth with great technical skill. These extraordinary stories peel back layers to reveal the strange, the wondrous, the unexpected.
Pasha Malla’s first novel, People Park, was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and was selected as an Amazon.ca Best Book. His first collection of short stories, The Withdrawal Method, a Globe and Mail and National Post book of the year, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He is the winner of an Arthur Ellis Award for crime fiction, two National Magazine Awards, and has twice had stories included in the Journey Prize anthology. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.
...Pasha Malla's debut collection signals the arrival of a talented newcomer to Canadian fiction.
...expertly handled...disturbingly credible...[Pasha Malla] never falters with various children's points of view, and his development of these uncontrived plots is seamless...These are strong stories that confront complex, irresolvable moral problems. Definitely worth reading.
...Pasha Malla's intriguing first short-fiction collection...reveal[s] his tenacious skill...Sophisticated and unpretentious...each story of The Withdrawal Method has been carefully layered to affect the reader in a similarly subtle and profound way, making a lasting impression with its integrity and narrative skill.
...devoted to the timeless narrative rewards of the fickle human heart...honest and confident stories...the bittersweet mixture of loss and humour bubble through.
...[The Withdrawal Method is] an astonishing and bizarre mix...Pasha Malla is an impressive young voice that gives one hope for a future of new Canadian writing talent...
A polished, confident storyteller...An invigorating mix of seriousness, humour, and candour.
Dazzling debut...written in a language that is fresh and imbued with great feeling.
[F]or my money one of the best young writers in Canada [is] Pasha Malla.
Like David Foster Wallace and Rick Moody, Malla often asks painful questions, revealing equally painful truths.
Malla's technical skills are...reminiscent of Munro...His handling of society's unfortunates is very Barbara Gowdy...Buy The Withdrawal Method.
Malla's style is sharp and funny...Malla manages to make us chuckle at the absurdity of life...the collection is amusing and affecting, an accomplished first book by a writer to watch.
...display[s] an engaging combination of imagination and emotion....splendidly creative....an absolute gem....Life is anything but ordinary in the hands of this gifted writer.
These stories are weird and wild and wonderful. Funny, too. Pasha Malla has a deft touch.
Pasha Malla's remarkable debut collection The Withdrawal Method is a sign (or warning) of things to come.
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