A review by stephen_coulon
I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A collection of short stories, all bleak southern grotesques, by Tennessee author William Gay.  Gay exhibits an exacting style at the sentence level that sharply outlines the symbolic effect his vulgarly organic southern settings have on characterization and themes. You can smell these stories: sweat, grime, gasoline, barnyards, and nursing homes. His thematics commiserate the grim realities of poverty, ignorance, and aging, especially for society’s helpless. A forbidding sense of fate hangs over every tale. The characters are interesting but certainly not likable; some are outright repugnant, but all elicit at least some empathy under Gay’s hand. The author isn’t a misanthrope, but a realist, a naturalist in Thomas Hardy’s tradition. The best story in the collection is The Paperhanger, first published in 1999. It’s a truly haunting modern southern gothic with an ending that will punch your gut. It’s worth checking out the collection for that story alone.