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crispymerola's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty solid collection suffering from repetitive story elements. Thom gets vulnerable, his prose is absorbing and snappy, his story subjects vary but his characters always pulse with a quiet resilience.
Once-boxers, The Doors, dead fathers (usually by suicide, usually in a mental institution), harried Nam vets, copious references to Nietzsche/Schopenhauer - nearly every story in the collection contains these elements, to the point where some of the shorts felt like inferior versions of others. When Thom clusters three Vietnam stories in the opening of the collection, it's inevitable that I'm going to analyze them in relation to one another - what are they doing differently, what are they doing better?
There are some stories in here that meandered in magical, serendipitous ways (I Want to Live!, A White Horse), and others which spiralled tragically (Unchain My Heart, Mosquitoes, Wipeout). And then, the relative duds. None of Thom's writing is boring, but it's hard to feel much when he leans into his shtick and refuses to budge. All the war stories, 'As of July 6th...', even Rocket Man, to an extent - they felt unsurprising, sitting next to stories which utilized similar themes to greater effect.
Once-boxers, The Doors, dead fathers (usually by suicide, usually in a mental institution), harried Nam vets, copious references to Nietzsche/Schopenhauer - nearly every story in the collection contains these elements, to the point where some of the shorts felt like inferior versions of others. When Thom clusters three Vietnam stories in the opening of the collection, it's inevitable that I'm going to analyze them in relation to one another - what are they doing differently, what are they doing better?
There are some stories in here that meandered in magical, serendipitous ways (I Want to Live!, A White Horse), and others which spiralled tragically (Unchain My Heart, Mosquitoes, Wipeout). And then, the relative duds. None of Thom's writing is boring, but it's hard to feel much when he leans into his shtick and refuses to budge. All the war stories, 'As of July 6th...', even Rocket Man, to an extent - they felt unsurprising, sitting next to stories which utilized similar themes to greater effect.
cmiller0401's review against another edition
4.0
The short stories in this collection seem to all center around two types of characters--the egocentric opportunist (Part II), or the tragically screwed good person (the rest of the collection). The author incorporates several recurring themes in his stories (many of which draw on his own experiences), namely boxing, the military, epilepsy, quirky nicknames, famous songs, and a love for literature/philosophy.
A testament to his good writing is that I found myself enjoying the stories even when the subject matter wasn't interesting to me (or when the characters were detestable).
A testament to his good writing is that I found myself enjoying the stories even when the subject matter wasn't interesting to me (or when the characters were detestable).
ill_be_your_huckleberry's review against another edition
5.0
The human condition in dim lighting. You can't fault this greatness.
stevemcdede's review against another edition
4.0
some excellent stories...Would go 4.5 stars if possible
richard's review
My father-in-law recommended this book of short stories. Once again my father-in-law's book recommendations reveal the truly bleak nature of his nihilistic world view (also he is the nicest, most generous guy you will ever meet). Still these stories are great though and he's got excellent taste in literature.
kawai's review
3.0
I expected more bass on the critical reviews of this (as well as the Goodreads average rating). The writing is certainly engaging, with momentum in every story and a variety of colloquial styles and voices (at times similar to Denis Johnson in 'Jesus' Son', at times similar to Wells Tower's first-person stories, at times completely its own thing).
However, I found some of the subject matter stale (such as the Marine Vietnam War experience--man, have I read a lifetime's worth of books on THAT), and the narrative voices seemed to wallow in the most stereotypically 'masculine' perspectives on sex, violence, and spirituality. Women are either little more than sperm banks and punching bags, or else so lustfully aggressive it's hard not to read them as a male's projected fantasy.
Having said that, for many readers that are either a) unfamiliar with the aforementioned authors whom this work echoes or b) happy to read more and more and more about the Vietnam War or c) don't mind the stereotypically masculine preoccupations of these narrators, there's tons here to be happy with. It just didn't work for me.
However, I found some of the subject matter stale (such as the Marine Vietnam War experience--man, have I read a lifetime's worth of books on THAT), and the narrative voices seemed to wallow in the most stereotypically 'masculine' perspectives on sex, violence, and spirituality. Women are either little more than sperm banks and punching bags, or else so lustfully aggressive it's hard not to read them as a male's projected fantasy.
Having said that, for many readers that are either a) unfamiliar with the aforementioned authors whom this work echoes or b) happy to read more and more and more about the Vietnam War or c) don't mind the stereotypically masculine preoccupations of these narrators, there's tons here to be happy with. It just didn't work for me.
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