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essayem's review against another edition
3.0
Instructions for a Funeral is the fifth short story collection from Man Booker-prize nominated author David Means. This new collection contains 14 previously published stories including “Two Ruminations on a Homeless Brother” (New Yorker, 5/17), “El Morro” (New Yorker, 8/11), “The Tree Line, Kansas, 1934” (New Yorker, 10/10) and the stand-out “The Terminal Artist” (Vice, 6/15). Part-journalism, if it were real, Means tells of the sudden death of a loved one from surgical complications, revealed years later as the probable victim of a serial-killing nurse.
Each story lives as it’s own beast – a testament to Means’ years of practice. In “The Chair” he tackles the tenderness and anxiety of new fatherhood; in “Fistfight, Sacramento, August 1950” a fist-fight unfolds in slow motion and resolves into a life-long love story and includes the hilarious, if awkwardly prioritized, sentence: “Punch me first, you two-bit dirt hopper, toss the first one at me and let’s get this started so I can get home and take a nice, long, warm bath.”
Means’ characters are hardened, sardonic, hopeful and full of worry – sort of distinctly American in their takes on the various situations life has thrown at them. In the titular story, a man leaves instructions for his funeral that reveal a compounding paranoia of organized crime and shady real estate ventures that reminds one of those hasty bad-parent obituaries.
Because there’s no unifying theme, this isn’t the kind of collection you can sit down and read it one sitting and really appreciate. The stories are layered and complex, as they should be, though to run through several might prove exhausting. Some, like “The Tree Line” did read easy until I’d read a paragraph a few times and even then, it wasn’t a favorite; others like “The Terminal Artist” resonated with me quickly. Don’t rush the stories into your own timeline – read and let them linger.
Netgalley provided this copy in exchange for review.
Each story lives as it’s own beast – a testament to Means’ years of practice. In “The Chair” he tackles the tenderness and anxiety of new fatherhood; in “Fistfight, Sacramento, August 1950” a fist-fight unfolds in slow motion and resolves into a life-long love story and includes the hilarious, if awkwardly prioritized, sentence: “Punch me first, you two-bit dirt hopper, toss the first one at me and let’s get this started so I can get home and take a nice, long, warm bath.”
Means’ characters are hardened, sardonic, hopeful and full of worry – sort of distinctly American in their takes on the various situations life has thrown at them. In the titular story, a man leaves instructions for his funeral that reveal a compounding paranoia of organized crime and shady real estate ventures that reminds one of those hasty bad-parent obituaries.
Because there’s no unifying theme, this isn’t the kind of collection you can sit down and read it one sitting and really appreciate. The stories are layered and complex, as they should be, though to run through several might prove exhausting. Some, like “The Tree Line” did read easy until I’d read a paragraph a few times and even then, it wasn’t a favorite; others like “The Terminal Artist” resonated with me quickly. Don’t rush the stories into your own timeline – read and let them linger.
Netgalley provided this copy in exchange for review.
chillcox15's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the stories are good (see "Fistfight") but too many feel like exercises, and as a result feel like unnecessary exercise for this reader. 2.5 stars.
sanmeow's review against another edition
slow-paced
0.5
i like long sentences. i like complicated sentences. but sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it doesn't fit the story / atmosphere. and that's what happened here. the sentences are so unnecessarily long and it ultimately takes away from one's enjoyment of the stories. the title intrigued me but i unfortunately had zero interest in the actual stories and none of them inspired anything in me emotionally.
miranda_is_currently_reading's review against another edition
2.0
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I really liked the IDEAS behind each of these stories, as well as their connecting theme of fatherhood. They all had the potential to be incredibly poignant and rememberable. Unfortunately, the execution of these ideas fell flat somewhere along the way, resulting in a series of hard-to-slog-through stories made overly complicated by an over-abundance of detail and a never-ending supply of extremely long run on sentences that never seemed to have a point.
I really liked the IDEAS behind each of these stories, as well as their connecting theme of fatherhood. They all had the potential to be incredibly poignant and rememberable. Unfortunately, the execution of these ideas fell flat somewhere along the way, resulting in a series of hard-to-slog-through stories made overly complicated by an over-abundance of detail and a never-ending supply of extremely long run on sentences that never seemed to have a point.
andrew61's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
The writing in this collection is intricately precise. Every word has meaning and the stories are diverse and compelling.
I listened to the final one in the book being read on the New Yorker podcast and it embodies the themes as we meet 2 versions of the narrators lost brother. The themes are stories of lost American men from ex veterans on the streets , to young men in a fist fight às the Korean war casts its shadow, and an imagining of the writers heroes Carver and Cobain.
Well told it left me wanting more .
I listened to the final one in the book being read on the New Yorker podcast and it embodies the themes as we meet 2 versions of the narrators lost brother. The themes are stories of lost American men from ex veterans on the streets , to young men in a fist fight às the Korean war casts its shadow, and an imagining of the writers heroes Carver and Cobain.
Well told it left me wanting more .
eayelizabeth's review against another edition
3.0
Not my usual read and so I struggled to connect at points but it was good reading on a commute and stylistically very interesting from a writing perspective.
mfiamoncini7's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75