Joseph Riippi: 2 books

In the thirty-four stories filling The Orange Suitcase, Joseph Riippi packs an intimate and powerful portrait of a young man’s life. From a childhood spent snipering neighbors with BB guns, to adulthood grasping at love and art in New York City, The Orange Suitcase shows us not only the way life is lived but perhaps more importantly how it is remembered.

In this fragmented, nontraditional narrative, debut author Joseph Riippi explores the aftermath of stories, rather than simply telling them: A music critic chants Susan Sontag quotes in a mental institution; a young girl looks to her starfish tattoo for regrowth; a disenchanted playwright flees divorce...