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sasha_fletcher's review against another edition
4.0
honestly i am torn between the 4 stars and the 5 stars so i am just i guess going with 4. there are some amazing things, and also recurring characters, and i am a sucker for a book with returning characters, so there is that you guys, there really is.
jennyshank's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20130316-book-review-the-fun-parts-by-sam-lipsyte.ece
Book review: ‘The Fun Parts,’ by Sam Lipsyte
By JENNY SHANK Special Contributor
Published: 16 March 2013 11:26 AM
The warm reception for Sam Lipsyte’s most recent novels, Homeland and The Ask, enhanced his reputation for savage and profane satire. But if you’re the sort of reader who craves endearing characters along with wild scenarios and funny dialogue, Lipsyte’s stories might be the place to start.
The 13 stories in The Fun Parts delve into the lives of high school shot putters, teenage role-playing game enthusiasts and a male doula, or “doulo,” as he prefers to be called, a guy with “yellow teeth and ratty (vintage) buckskin jacket who wanted to make a positive and tremendous impact on [the] birth experience.”
Lipsyte is known for doughy, chronic-loser male protagonists, but in two of the strongest stories, he writes with sensitivity about women, without dulling his sharp humor. In “The Climber Room,” Tovah Gold is single and pining for a child as she ekes out a living at an upscale preschool called Sweet Apple in recession-era New York. She finds the parents more difficult to manage than the kids, particularly one father, Randy Gautier, whose name she aptly mishears as “Randy Goat.” Tovah was a poet before the pressures of making a living set in, and she learns that Randy, who made his millions in Silicon Valley, funds a poetry journal. When he offers her “a call girl’s fee” for a night of baby-sitting, her fantasies collide with unexpected realities.
Tovah returns as a minor character in “Deniers,” which takes place when she’s in her 20s and has just published a poetry chapbook. The story focuses on her friend Mandy, who teaches cardio ballet at the JCC while Tovah teaches memoir writing. Mandy is a recovering addict managing a thorny relationship with her father, a Holocaust survivor, who lives in a nursing home. She starts dating a guy named Cal, who reveals he’s seeking atonement for the time he spent in prison as a swastika-tattooed white supremacist. “Deniers” is sad and funny, outlandish yet plausible, and winds up with a wallop.
“The Republic of Empathy” is a nervy exercise in perspective-switching that begins as a story of domestic realism about William, a man who disagrees with his wife’s desire to have a second child. At work, William mulls the situation with Gregory, “a thoughtful, retired gay cop,” while they witness a rooftop brawl that sends one man plummeting to his death. The perspective then switches to Danny, Gregory’s son, a jaded wisecracker who says: “I sound like the narrator of a mediocre young adult novel from the eighties. Which is, in fact, what I am.”
The perspective passes like a baton from the men in the rooftop brawl to a wealthy retired banker to a surreal transcript of drone pilots targeting William in his backyard. It’s as though Lipsyte, who teaches creative writing at Columbia, tried to break as many story-writing rules as possible and prove it could still cohere.
“Nate’s Pain Is Now” satirizes recent faked memoir scandals — a James Frey-like recovered junkie finds his literary influence usurped by a JT LeRoy-like homeless gay hustler.
“Old to Oldcorn” is the sweet and funny story of high school shot putters devoted to studying the technique of Oldcorn, an Olympic shot put hero. “We were the fattest, strongest boys in our school,” Lipsyte writes. “We had nothing to do, nowhere to be. There’s not a lot of call for our type until the weather gets cold.” “Oldcorn” rises to hilarious absurdity, but along the way delivers a whiff of genuine, poignant high school sports rah-rah.
A few stories in The Fun Parts offer linguistic pyrotechnics, slash-and-burn comedy, and a return of Lipsyte’s fat, middle-aged loser, liberal-arts-degreed protagonists, like Milo Burke in The Ask and Lewis Miner in Homeland — but they’re the weakest in the bunch. Lipsyte has grown beyond his old shtick, and has become a writer who can empathize with the best of them.
Jenny Shank’s first novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award.
Book review: ‘The Fun Parts,’ by Sam Lipsyte
By JENNY SHANK Special Contributor
Published: 16 March 2013 11:26 AM
The warm reception for Sam Lipsyte’s most recent novels, Homeland and The Ask, enhanced his reputation for savage and profane satire. But if you’re the sort of reader who craves endearing characters along with wild scenarios and funny dialogue, Lipsyte’s stories might be the place to start.
The 13 stories in The Fun Parts delve into the lives of high school shot putters, teenage role-playing game enthusiasts and a male doula, or “doulo,” as he prefers to be called, a guy with “yellow teeth and ratty (vintage) buckskin jacket who wanted to make a positive and tremendous impact on [the] birth experience.”
Lipsyte is known for doughy, chronic-loser male protagonists, but in two of the strongest stories, he writes with sensitivity about women, without dulling his sharp humor. In “The Climber Room,” Tovah Gold is single and pining for a child as she ekes out a living at an upscale preschool called Sweet Apple in recession-era New York. She finds the parents more difficult to manage than the kids, particularly one father, Randy Gautier, whose name she aptly mishears as “Randy Goat.” Tovah was a poet before the pressures of making a living set in, and she learns that Randy, who made his millions in Silicon Valley, funds a poetry journal. When he offers her “a call girl’s fee” for a night of baby-sitting, her fantasies collide with unexpected realities.
Tovah returns as a minor character in “Deniers,” which takes place when she’s in her 20s and has just published a poetry chapbook. The story focuses on her friend Mandy, who teaches cardio ballet at the JCC while Tovah teaches memoir writing. Mandy is a recovering addict managing a thorny relationship with her father, a Holocaust survivor, who lives in a nursing home. She starts dating a guy named Cal, who reveals he’s seeking atonement for the time he spent in prison as a swastika-tattooed white supremacist. “Deniers” is sad and funny, outlandish yet plausible, and winds up with a wallop.
“The Republic of Empathy” is a nervy exercise in perspective-switching that begins as a story of domestic realism about William, a man who disagrees with his wife’s desire to have a second child. At work, William mulls the situation with Gregory, “a thoughtful, retired gay cop,” while they witness a rooftop brawl that sends one man plummeting to his death. The perspective then switches to Danny, Gregory’s son, a jaded wisecracker who says: “I sound like the narrator of a mediocre young adult novel from the eighties. Which is, in fact, what I am.”
The perspective passes like a baton from the men in the rooftop brawl to a wealthy retired banker to a surreal transcript of drone pilots targeting William in his backyard. It’s as though Lipsyte, who teaches creative writing at Columbia, tried to break as many story-writing rules as possible and prove it could still cohere.
“Nate’s Pain Is Now” satirizes recent faked memoir scandals — a James Frey-like recovered junkie finds his literary influence usurped by a JT LeRoy-like homeless gay hustler.
“Old to Oldcorn” is the sweet and funny story of high school shot putters devoted to studying the technique of Oldcorn, an Olympic shot put hero. “We were the fattest, strongest boys in our school,” Lipsyte writes. “We had nothing to do, nowhere to be. There’s not a lot of call for our type until the weather gets cold.” “Oldcorn” rises to hilarious absurdity, but along the way delivers a whiff of genuine, poignant high school sports rah-rah.
A few stories in The Fun Parts offer linguistic pyrotechnics, slash-and-burn comedy, and a return of Lipsyte’s fat, middle-aged loser, liberal-arts-degreed protagonists, like Milo Burke in The Ask and Lewis Miner in Homeland — but they’re the weakest in the bunch. Lipsyte has grown beyond his old shtick, and has become a writer who can empathize with the best of them.
Jenny Shank’s first novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award.
acinthedc's review against another edition
3.0
An amusing collection of short stories. There's a layer of cynicism throughout which enhanced some stories and detracted from others. Two stories stood out because of their quirky and sad characters- "Wisdom of the Doulas" about a male doula and "The Dungeon Master."
elsiemookow's review against another edition
2.0
I am struggling to come up with anything good to say about the collection... I finished it because it was short and sitting next to my bed, but I knew what was going to happen most stories pretty quickly. Probably should have stopped it after a few stories.
missnicelady's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked about half of the stories in this book, particularly "The Dungeon Master," "The Wisdom of the Doulas," and "Snacks." Sometimes Lipsyte's weird, knotty phrases were hilarious or insightful or heartbreaking. But sometimes the effort of deciphering his wadded-up word blobs just wore me out (WTF, "The Real-Ass Jumbo"?).
The punch in the gut:
"Really," the Dungeon Master calls again. "No hard feelings."
It must be the dumbest thing he's ever said. No hard feelings? What could ever be harder than feelings?
The punch in the gut:
"Really," the Dungeon Master calls again. "No hard feelings."
It must be the dumbest thing he's ever said. No hard feelings? What could ever be harder than feelings?
stevemcdede's review against another edition
5.0
Starts with some very sad, but brilliant short stories. Then it moves to the very funny stuff. The story about the male doula may be the funniest short story I have ever read.
abetterbradley's review against another edition
3.0
This was a really great collection of short stories. There are a little out there but really great.
sentient_meat's review against another edition
4.0
Darkly funny (often laugh out loud so) and twinged with tragedy. Lipsyte's prose is often strikingly beautiful. A very strong collection of short stories.