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tracey_stewart's review against another edition
5.0
This is yet another old and dear favorite which I haven't read in a decade or so. I was in my late teens when I bought this, I think; my edition was released in '86, and I bought it new, so… Wow. This isn't like me at all. I admit it: I was a prude. Probably could still be considered one, I suppose, compared to the universe in general, but me in my teens - ? Reading it now, not that it's graphic, but still – I can't believe I not only bought this book but read it, loved it, and have never had the least trace of guilt clinging to it despite sex, drugs, and booze… But that's Callahan's. That's Spider Robinson. Yes, there's a very '70's attitude toward the aforementioned sex, drugs, and booze – as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, go for it. Yes, there's raunchy humor, not usually to my taste … but this raunchy humor, unlike that in most "comic" movies made today for example, is funny. And underlying everything is an attitude that takes "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone" a few miles further. The purpose of Callahan's Place isn't simply not to hurt – it's a place of healing.
Callahan's Secret is actually the third book in the series, though it was my first experience of Spider Robinson. It was, as the introduction tells, the final book, at the time. It was, however, not a trilogy. Not. (I was jaded about trilogies for a very long time because of that introduction. Still am, I guess, really.) It made me want to open a bar. Seriously. I've never even hung out in a bar, apart from that one period when I worked at Barnes & Noble, and that was hanging out with friends, not hanging out in a bar – apart from that I don't know as I've even been in a bar. But after the high of the Callahan's books, I wanted to try it. However, the odds of even the geek bar I would open attracting an alien, a talking dog, or even a Jake Stonebender are beyond astronomical (even allowing for reality) – I am no Mike Callahan. You can't have Callahan's without Callahan. (Well, you sort of can, but that's another book.) Callahan's is not a place random people go to get drunk. From the Wikia: "Due to the location, walk-ins are rare and it's generally held that, with a few exceptions, people don't find Callahan's unless they're sent or they need to find it." ("The bar is described as being located on Route 25A in Suffolk County on Long Island in New York state. It is marked by a single sign and is set back from the road far enough to be easily missed." Clever of Spider – Rte. 25A pretty much runs the length of Long Island, all of which if I'm not mistake is Suffolk County. I wonder if not being able to find Callahan's (while it was still there to be found) meant that readers just didn't need it enough.)
The heart of Callahan's is what hooked me from the very beginning. The stories are laugh-out-loud funny, completely unpredictable, and never, ever shy away from deep emotion. The characters who fill the stools and throw the glasses and peanuts at Callahan's Place have evolved into a true community of folk who care about each other, and know what to do with that.
I just did a quick 'net search, and found a Callahan's Place … in Newfoundland. My mother comes from Newfie. Stephenville! You could fly in and head straight to the Place! We have family in Newfoundland still that could – and might well! – go there. I'll be grinning over this for a while. Wonder what that Place is like.
I need a Callahan's. I really do. I keep thinking I've found an online version – that's exactly what my problem has been. With TORn, with Goodreads, I thought I had found a group of people who might approach psychicness as the Callahan's regulars did. And now I realize that the reason I am so unreasonably and deeply disappointed when it doesn't turn out that way, when I'm the only one dumb enough to throw myself heart and soul into the thing hoping for others to meet me in the middle. Both groups referred to themselves as "family" – on TORn the common term was "TORnsibs" – and maybe by others' definitions they are families. However, I happen to have a great family whom I know is solidly behind me, supportive and caring and always there if I need them as I am for them. That's not, apparently, what others think of as family. And apparently what the Callahan's habitués consider friendship is a different species from how the online "friends" I've had define it.
It was interesting to read this when I did. As I've recognized the seeds for a lot of my opinions in things like M*A*S*H (views on war, for example, and my complete and utter lack of any desire to get drunk), so I can distinguish the seeds to my adult conception of friendship in the Callahan's Place stories. I've been blaming L.M. Montgomery and such – I've had and now have a small group of good friends, but never had a "bosom friend" quite like Diana Barry – and that is a big part of it. But it's here, where one Placer sees a friend's problem and goes off to bring someone back at gunpoint to fix it, where a friend's problems are instantly perceived with the immediate desire to listen as wanted and help as possible, where any one regular will do anything, literally, for any other – it's holding that up beside real life that I realize where I've gone askew. I expect – not simply "too much", really. I expect everything.
To be read either sarcastically or not, depending on your own inclination: Thanks a lot, Jake and Spider. Thanks heaps.
Callahan's Secret is actually the third book in the series, though it was my first experience of Spider Robinson. It was, as the introduction tells, the final book, at the time. It was, however, not a trilogy. Not. (I was jaded about trilogies for a very long time because of that introduction. Still am, I guess, really.) It made me want to open a bar. Seriously. I've never even hung out in a bar, apart from that one period when I worked at Barnes & Noble, and that was hanging out with friends, not hanging out in a bar – apart from that I don't know as I've even been in a bar. But after the high of the Callahan's books, I wanted to try it. However, the odds of even the geek bar I would open attracting an alien, a talking dog, or even a Jake Stonebender are beyond astronomical (even allowing for reality) – I am no Mike Callahan. You can't have Callahan's without Callahan. (Well, you sort of can, but that's another book.) Callahan's is not a place random people go to get drunk. From the Wikia: "Due to the location, walk-ins are rare and it's generally held that, with a few exceptions, people don't find Callahan's unless they're sent or they need to find it." ("The bar is described as being located on Route 25A in Suffolk County on Long Island in New York state. It is marked by a single sign and is set back from the road far enough to be easily missed." Clever of Spider – Rte. 25A pretty much runs the length of Long Island, all of which if I'm not mistake is Suffolk County. I wonder if not being able to find Callahan's (while it was still there to be found) meant that readers just didn't need it enough.)
The heart of Callahan's is what hooked me from the very beginning. The stories are laugh-out-loud funny, completely unpredictable, and never, ever shy away from deep emotion. The characters who fill the stools and throw the glasses and peanuts at Callahan's Place have evolved into a true community of folk who care about each other, and know what to do with that.
I just did a quick 'net search, and found a Callahan's Place … in Newfoundland. My mother comes from Newfie. Stephenville! You could fly in and head straight to the Place! We have family in Newfoundland still that could – and might well! – go there. I'll be grinning over this for a while. Wonder what that Place is like.
I need a Callahan's. I really do. I keep thinking I've found an online version – that's exactly what my problem has been. With TORn, with Goodreads, I thought I had found a group of people who might approach psychicness as the Callahan's regulars did. And now I realize that the reason I am so unreasonably and deeply disappointed when it doesn't turn out that way, when I'm the only one dumb enough to throw myself heart and soul into the thing hoping for others to meet me in the middle. Both groups referred to themselves as "family" – on TORn the common term was "TORnsibs" – and maybe by others' definitions they are families. However, I happen to have a great family whom I know is solidly behind me, supportive and caring and always there if I need them as I am for them. That's not, apparently, what others think of as family. And apparently what the Callahan's habitués consider friendship is a different species from how the online "friends" I've had define it.
It was interesting to read this when I did. As I've recognized the seeds for a lot of my opinions in things like M*A*S*H (views on war, for example, and my complete and utter lack of any desire to get drunk), so I can distinguish the seeds to my adult conception of friendship in the Callahan's Place stories. I've been blaming L.M. Montgomery and such – I've had and now have a small group of good friends, but never had a "bosom friend" quite like Diana Barry – and that is a big part of it. But it's here, where one Placer sees a friend's problem and goes off to bring someone back at gunpoint to fix it, where a friend's problems are instantly perceived with the immediate desire to listen as wanted and help as possible, where any one regular will do anything, literally, for any other – it's holding that up beside real life that I realize where I've gone askew. I expect – not simply "too much", really. I expect everything.
To be read either sarcastically or not, depending on your own inclination: Thanks a lot, Jake and Spider. Thanks heaps.
csdaley's review
3.0
This will be it for me and Callahan. Some of the stories are great but not enough to keep going.
bluejay1997's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
hcq's review
3.0
I fully admit to having a weakness for light, comic science fiction, as well as short stories that center around a bar or other cozy sort of spot where regulars congregate ([a:Arthur C. Clarke|7779|Arthur C. Clarke|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1357191481p2/7779.jpg]'s [b:Tales From The White Hart|149055|Tales From The White Hart|Arthur C. Clarke|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1226695451s/149055.jpg|143857] leaps to mind) and this ticks all the boxes. I'm sorry I had to start with the last book in what the author swears isn't a trilogy, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. I definitely want to go back and read the first two.
NB: This book features some shockingly bad puns. Fair warning.
NB: This book features some shockingly bad puns. Fair warning.
carol26388's review
3.0
The last in the trilogy about Callahan's. Puns are prevalent, and as a reader, they don't have any appeal for me. Some of Robinson's seem particularly tortured, so the extent where I was sounding them out out loud to try and get the joke. Since I read the trilogy in the omnibus edition, I might have also been reaching my limit on Callahan's bar.
"The Blacksmith's Tale," kind of a love story, unusual in the group. Poignant twist and philosophical musing. Quite emotionally wrenching.
"Pyotr's Story" had an interesting urban fantasy twist. There's a wake for the guitar Lady Macbeth, and Pyotr has to ferry more drunks home than usual. Clever twist.
In the edition I had, there's a short author interlude here discussing puns and a reader contest.
"Involuntary Man's Laughter" is partly set on Punday night--be warned. The bar gets together to solve the problems of a man with a speech problem.
"In the Mick of Time" a great secret of Callahan's comes out. Feels a little preachy and contrived. Closer to novella.
"The Blacksmith's Tale," kind of a love story, unusual in the group. Poignant twist and philosophical musing. Quite emotionally wrenching.
"Pyotr's Story" had an interesting urban fantasy twist. There's a wake for the guitar Lady Macbeth, and Pyotr has to ferry more drunks home than usual. Clever twist.
In the edition I had, there's a short author interlude here discussing puns and a reader contest.
"Involuntary Man's Laughter" is partly set on Punday night--be warned. The bar gets together to solve the problems of a man with a speech problem.
"In the Mick of Time" a great secret of Callahan's comes out. Feels a little preachy and contrived. Closer to novella.
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