Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance

By Matthew Kneale

A well-intentioned English family unwittingly becomes complicit in state violence while traveling through China. A ploddingly respectable London lawyer chances upon a stash of cocaine and realizes it offers the wealth and status he's always hungered for. A salesman in Africa gets caught up in a riot, and a Palestinian suicide bomber has a moment of self-doubt. Kneale transports readers across continents in a nanosecond, reaching to the heart of faraway societies with rare perceptiveness. With wry humor and razor-sharp satire, these twelve thought-provoking stories illuminate the moral uncertainty of our time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 18, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307427793

Matthew Kneale

Matthew Kneale was born in London in 1960, the son and grandson of writers. He studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford. He has written five novels, including English Passengers, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and two nonfiction books. For the last fifteen years he has lived in Rome with his wife and two children. Visit him at MatthewKneale.net. 

Reviews for Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance

[jennyo_587543 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Matthew Kneale's ENGLISH PASSENGERS is one of my favorite books ever, so I was excited to see his new collection of short stories. I like short stories, but my favorites might never make one of Updike's lists of bests; I love H.H. Munro, not so wild about Alice Munro. These stories seemed to fit the bill perfectly for me.Kneale's title is well-chosen as several of the characters are, to some degree, reprehensible. As I read the stories, I had this sort of internal dialogue running:"I'd *never* do anything like that. Ever.""You might, if pushed.""Nuh-unh. Not me.""You never know..."Many of the characters left me feeling just a bit oily. But, the stories were very well told, and the settings were interesting, as many were exotic to me.