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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Didn't like the "zany" ones, most of them short shorts or, at least, shorter than the others. LOVED some of them, though, beyond reason: "Blazo" and "Oxygen" stand out in my memory.
I have really enjoyed the short stories in this book. Rather than reading straight through, I have hopped around a bit, even reading some aloud with my husband. The stories range from endearing to ridiculous, but they are all engaging and thoughtful.
He writes happy stories and happy endings like no one else I know, and writes about marriages where people love one another, and where the conflicts are the more complicated things that happen in a life, that especially happen in a life when you are bound by love to someone else.
It has it's moments. Some of the stories are excellent, many are just ok or good. the writing is almost always effortless and flows well. There is a distinct, modern 80's and 90's feel to them- clear, present and ever so slightly cynical or knowingly-jaded. Closing the collection and last pages of the book with a not-very-empathic or thoughtful depiction of sexual assault leaves a bad after-taste.
I felt ambivalent about these stories the whole time I was reading them. I think they're definitely for some people, just not for me. I didn't find the ones in the beginning interesting at all, but they were short enough for me to continue, which I guess was a good thing, as I then found some (mostly in the the middle) that sparkled.
I liked the more serious stories over the humorous ones (which says something about me, I know) and of those more serious, the longer over the shorter. The former seem more developed (which again says something about my tastes), yet I was almost in despair over the longest one that ends the book until the last two lines redeemed it for me. If not for that, this collection may have gotten one less star from me.
I liked the more serious stories over the humorous ones (which says something about me, I know) and of those more serious, the longer over the shorter. The former seem more developed (which again says something about my tastes), yet I was almost in despair over the longest one that ends the book until the last two lines redeemed it for me. If not for that, this collection may have gotten one less star from me.
The stories in this book were either way too short to allow any real attachment (5 pages??) or were of normal length but seemed to drag on and on way too long. The ideas behind the stories seemed so forced, like the author collected a bunch of writing exercizes together in a book. Entertaining enough to finish but I probably won't read any more by Carlson.
I learned of this book when "The H Street Sledding Record" was read on the Christmas episode of Selected Shorts. I loved this book so much. Ron Carlson shows that he knows the life of the everyday, ordinary guy, but that he also knows how to see the very most important and beautiful parts of an everyday, ordinary life.
I rarely read realistic novels by contemporary white American male authors about the everyday lives of contemporary white American men. It is a prejudice I didn't realize I had until I read these stories by Ron Carlson, who helped me make a place in my heart for the potential of white American men to be both lovable and interesting. He's a damn good writer.