Reviews

The Graybar Hotel: Stories by Curtis Dawkins

emwerbeach's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

mschrock8's review against another edition

3.0

I read these 14 short stories one a day.

The writing is good; the subject matter is a bit rough. Good for me to shake things up a bit.

cgreenstein's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

I often find short stories to be pretentious, overly reliant on shock value, and fixated with death, but I didn't feel that way about these. None of these were happy-go-lucky tales by any stretch of the imagination, but they were all deeply human and honest, so when they did get into territory that was existential or brutal, it felt earned rather than like the author was grasping at straws to make an unrelatable story seem deep.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Animal death

aposthuma's review against another edition

4.0

I finished this book and audibly said, "Wow." It's written by a man who has an MFA but is serving a life sentence in prison for homicide. While these short stories are fictional, it's not a stretch to understand Dawkins' perspective and experiences in prison through the characters. It made me think about a lot of aspects of incarcerated life that I've never considered, although I did have a hard time following along with a couple of the stories.

donrepollo's review against another edition

5.0

Estos cuentos me gustaron mucho, creo que tienen una crudeza poética que los hace conmovedores y poderosos. A veces hay anécdotas graciosas, a veces otras son desgarradoras. Cada historia de las que compone el libro es un descubrimiento de los buenos.

citizen_noir's review against another edition

4.0

"The Graybar Hotel" is a wonderful short story collection by Curtis Dawkins, a convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence for a horrible crime he committed in 2004. I loved the amazing characters that Dawkins describes in these stories ("Italian Tom was a saucier until a Cadillac doing sixty hit him and knocked the recipes out of his head.") and the indelible details he gives about life in prison, such as the ingenious methods prisoners use to create tattoos: with a needle formed from sharpened guitar string attached to the motor of a tape cassette; ink mixed from soot, spit, and urine; and even the way prison art looks, "dull and faded on the flesh." As Dawkins explains about these artists, "It's the essence of prison ingenuity - that so much can be done with so little."

In a way that's how I feel about Dawkins, that so much creativity and sheer talent can come from a person who committed such a terrible and senseless crime. He only briefly mentions the crime in his Acknowledgements, but as I read each of these stories this was always in the back of my mind: how could someone so good at their craft do something so bad in their life?

chelseakamm's review against another edition

4.0

 I went into reading The Graybar Hotel without much knowledge of the book. I read the pitch and thought it sounded interesting and requested the ARC without much else going in. I am not a huge fan of short story collections, but this is definitely the best I have read. The stories were interesting and the writing was great. The details about what life in prison is like had me captivated and interested. I found myself thinking about them weeks after finishing the story. One in particular, about a man who would spend his days randomly calling phone numbers until someone answered, really resonated with me. After finishing the book and reading more about Curtis Dawkins, I love this book even more. I gave The Graybar Hotel four stars, but only because the pacing in some of the stories was a bit slow for my taste. I definitely would recommend this book. 

hanntastic's review against another edition

4.0

A really beautiful and moving collection of stories that illuminates a world too often ignored in American society.

papsmearino's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

mojostdennis's review against another edition

4.0

read harder challenge 2019: read a book written in prison