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nomnomdeplume's review against another edition
5.0
Steve Almond is not only hilarious, but also writes with great insight into human failings and those things that make human connections run awry.
shinychick's review against another edition
1.0
I'm sad to say, that, halfway through, I am as yet unimpressed. This is a sad thing, because I'm now listening to [b:Candyfreak|50906|Candyfreak A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America|Steve Almond|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255571686s/50906.jpg|513080], and remembering just how funny Almond is. His pieces on Nerve are good and funny, too, but this collection of short stories just didn't do it for me.
bjr2022's review against another edition
4.0
The first five stories in this 2005 collection are vignettes, romantic sketches, and domestic slices of life—not as exciting, inventive, or daring as the full-bodied stories in God Bless America (2011), which was my second taste of Steve Almond’s work after discovering a story of his in Tin House. There are boyfriend/girlfriend, college teachers/students, kids at a baseball game scenarios . . .
Then came the sixth story, "Lincoln Arisen," which reads like a one-act surreal play (think Pinter or Beckett) with narrative cum stage directions describing action through a series of stream-of-conscious dreamlike scenes mostly between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I couldn't decide if I liked it, if it worked, if it was immature playwriting by a writer enamored with Lincoln or something more profound. In any case, it was different and reading it after reading Lincoln in the Bardo made me want to read a Lincoln biography. Not a bad outcome from reading a short story.
This was followed by a dated, somewhat sophomoric story about Michael Jackson; then a mature and moving story about the confused understandings between a widowed father and his teenage daughter ("The Problem of Human Consumption"); a gorgeous little story about love lost and then promised by an overworked computer repairman ("Wired for Life"); a nostalgic elegy to immature love ("Summer, as in Love"); then the hilarious and ultimately moving story about friendship and a really awful novel ("Larsen’s Novel"). This is Steve Almond at his funniest best and the reason to read this book. If he hasn't already done it, I wish he'd do a collection of stories that include shrinks, all of whom seem to be named Dr. Oss (I've read three so far); and the last story, fittingly titled "Skull," is a sexy look at real intimacy.
This book is a potpourri of well-written stories, some slight and immature, others a full meal, that don't belong together in a book except for the fact that they are written by Almond and portend the talent and skill that explode in the later collection (God Bless America). I understand he is now self-publishing, and maybe his even more recent work similarly throbs with the life and hilarity I cherish. It was interesting to see his beginnings in this anthology of his younger self's work, and it was wonderful to read the really good stories in the bunch.
Then came the sixth story, "Lincoln Arisen," which reads like a one-act surreal play (think Pinter or Beckett) with narrative cum stage directions describing action through a series of stream-of-conscious dreamlike scenes mostly between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I couldn't decide if I liked it, if it worked, if it was immature playwriting by a writer enamored with Lincoln or something more profound. In any case, it was different and reading it after reading Lincoln in the Bardo made me want to read a Lincoln biography. Not a bad outcome from reading a short story.
This was followed by a dated, somewhat sophomoric story about Michael Jackson; then a mature and moving story about the confused understandings between a widowed father and his teenage daughter ("The Problem of Human Consumption"); a gorgeous little story about love lost and then promised by an overworked computer repairman ("Wired for Life"); a nostalgic elegy to immature love ("Summer, as in Love"); then the hilarious and ultimately moving story about friendship and a really awful novel ("Larsen’s Novel"). This is Steve Almond at his funniest best and the reason to read this book. If he hasn't already done it, I wish he'd do a collection of stories that include shrinks, all of whom seem to be named Dr. Oss (I've read three so far); and the last story, fittingly titled "Skull," is a sexy look at real intimacy.
This book is a potpourri of well-written stories, some slight and immature, others a full meal, that don't belong together in a book except for the fact that they are written by Almond and portend the talent and skill that explode in the later collection (God Bless America). I understand he is now self-publishing, and maybe his even more recent work similarly throbs with the life and hilarity I cherish. It was interesting to see his beginnings in this anthology of his younger self's work, and it was wonderful to read the really good stories in the bunch.
library_brandy's review against another edition
4.0
There are some stories in this collection that will stick with me forever, and others I'd forgotten almost as soon as I'd turned the page. But that's any anthology, really. Almond's writing blends quirky characters and situations with a certain sensitivity to how people think and react--it all sounds very real, and even the funniest bits are tempered with a bit of sadness when you recognize just how true the reactions are.
belgianwaffle's review
4.0
Quite interesting, occasionally downright haunting, all these stories of longing to reach out and find another warm spirit and not be alone in the dark. I'm really glad this popped up on my radar.
karencarlson's review
4.0
Some terrific stories, but I couldn't handle the brutality. Detailed coments on all stories (with possible spoilers) at A Just Recompense
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