Natural Shocks

Written by one of America’s finest contemporary novelists, Natural Shocks is a witty, wonderfully intelligent novel about a successful journalist who suddenly finds himself jolted by the natural shocks of his private life. A new foreword by James Schiffer relates the novel to our time and describes the mastery which in 1985 won Stern the Medal of Merit for the Novel given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. One reader writes, I read Natural Shocks as a student, and this novel has stayed with me over the years. I recall the poignant pain-pleasure I experienced in reading of the approaching death of an 18-year old woman from melanoma, and the protagonist’s unaccountable love and grief…rereading the novel, I am better able to place this moment within the book’s deeper themes about writing, responsibility, accountability, betrayal, and love.