Exquisitely crafted, deeply cynical stories about shallow human beings.
351576
There's no doubt Salter can write. His writing is so addictive I couldn't help devouring the entire collection in two sittings, even though with each story I felt a little more demoralized about the prospect of finding anything noble, enduring, or profound in the realm of romantic relationships. This is incredibly negative work. I can't understand why Salter wrote these stories. They are largely about middle-aged, often married men, fixating on young, physically attractive women for no reason other than that they are young and physically attractive. Their entire existence seems to center on this. There's nothing inherently wrong with writing about pathetic human beings. In theory one could create fascinating works with such subject matter (Nabokov, anyone?), but it would be helpful if there were some point to it, some irony that offered the reader an interesting new perspective. But to simply allow these creeps to air their innermost feelings is just indulgent and socially completely irrelevant. I can't help suspecting that Salter is using his formidable skill in writing to get validation or compassion for his own immature tendencies. Personally I'm done indulging him.
3376210
Id read Person a few years ago and ended up selling it at my garage sale before moving to Istanbul. Someone did buy it for 1$, but my dislike of it seems baffling in hindsight after reading this magnificent collection of anti-stories entitled Hurt Others.

The style is deceptively simple; at first, it seems slightly juvenilebut then, every so often, Pink will dash off a line that is casually brilliant, cryptic, or a sentence that contains a circular thoughtforever spiraling and leaving unanswered what was never in fact a question in the first place.

Sam Pink is the kind of writerlike Bukowski, Fante, Moravia, Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and Frederick Exleythat takes you into their personal life, but the crystal waters of reality at first depicted are soon sullied and blurred as the painter goes to work with his bloody brush.
1997776
After reading these seven stories and one novella, I want to reach out to all my reading friends and say, THIS is how its done! Samrat Upadhyay, a chronicler of Napalese fiction, creates fictional worlds so seamlessly that he makes short story writing look easy. And of course, its not.

The theme that binds all eight of these mini-works together is identity  identity that evolves and shifts as a result of changing landscapes and conflicts of self. Lets start with Dreaming of Ghana, by far the longest in page count.  Aakash  a young man who is a profound disappointment to his parents  begins to have strange dreams about Ghana, suspecting that his dream was a lie, like the circus elephants.  That is, until a young, very dark woman appears, the personification of his dreams and a means of writing a new reality. The way the story plays out  on a surface level, the changes that the meeting evokes in Aakash and his roguish well-to-do friend and on a deeper level, the destruction of dreams and imagination  held my attention to the final gasp-worthy sentence.

The eponymous story Mad Country is my second favorite. In this one, a Type A Naalese businesswoman named Anamika inadvertently is held in detention by police after attempting to discover the belongings of her neer-do-well son. At first put-out by being inadvertently labeled a political prisoner and forced to mingle with the riff-raff of society, Anamika values and identity undergo an astounding transformation.

Other stories also are compelling: Beggar Boy, for example, where a privileged young man named Ramesh develops an obsession with the poor, even donning filthy old clothes and taking on their identity.  And America the Great Equalizer  the only story set in the United States  where a promising Nepali graduate student learns the reality of being a black man in America.

Truly, this is an impressive collection. Nepal itself becomes a character of sorts, permeating each of these brilliant stories.
899057
This collection of stories runs the gamut of human emotions, from A to B. Serious, no not seriously, Patrick Morris has come up with a wildly eclectic group of stories that provide a portrait of a young man defining himself. Is he the little kid growing up in the Appalachian backwater of West Brookfield or the sophisticated young hipster treading water with all the other young hipsters in Brooklyn? The answer is ... both. Whether he is stinking up the dance floor at the appropriately named Camp Downer or spending an agonizing half-century self-consciously waiting in line at Starbucks, Patrick will pull you right along with him as he follows the crooked path from kid to adulthood. The stories may not be polished prose, but they are heartfelt and genuine, with lots of hidden gems that will make you smile, laugh, and occasionally wince. "Rich With Pizza" is well worth the treasure hunt.
589194
"When It All Went To Hell" is a solid collection of short stories that will undoubtedly leave you satiated and amused. Diverse enough to appeal to a wide range of readers, each new story introduces beautifully flawed characters, that you'll likely have varying degrees of empathy for, with narratives that visit the depth of the human psyche, often with dark hilarity.
3256569
These stories are quite something. Dark fables written in a prose that reads like a modern spelling of some Old English prose romance, rich in symbolism and filled with beautiful, haunting imagery. They are akin to eerie dreams translated into prose, ones that sometimes steer into pure nightmare territory.
Very first story already serves as excellent example of this, as it is eerie and dreamlike from the very begging, and gradually transforms into truly chilling nightmare. Quite a few of these stories achieve that, this gradually growing feeling of dread and of inevitable tragedy, and they achieve it such a manner that their peak points are all the more potent for it. Not all of Lady Dilke's fictions are like that, not always will things end on this dark and tragic note for the men and women that haunt them, but they are always permeated by ethereal eeriness. Darker ones are dark indeed though, the relentless bleak tragedy of "The Serpent's Head" or "The Outcast Spirit" can be almost exhausting in its own way. Even the positive ones are best enjoyed slowly tho, one at a time.
Most of them are short affairs, these small morsels of dark beauty. But longer stories are also the most striking, most potent ones.  "The Hangman's Daughter", "Triumph of the Cross" and "The Mirror of the Soul" are rightfully pointed out, as they alone would justify the price of admittance. Every single story here is a gem in its own way though.
Get this if you appreciate uniqueness, quality and dark beauty, ie. everything that is sorely missing from so much of our modern macabre fiction.
4732368
I read this book and have to say these are some of the best short stories I've read in the last decade. While the facetious title was probably a marketing mistake in its connotations of lite "chick lit," the stories themselves are profound meditations. The point to the essential loneliness of the self, whether in or out of love. Some of the stories show men and women in strife, trying to make contact through thick walls inadequate words. Others like "The Secret of his Sleep" show the wounded self retreating into private dreamworlds, abandoning the project of love altogether. For all that, the book does not promote despair, but rather a stoic kind of release.
4691253
What a treat to read such a gifted author!  Her short stories are distilled into the essential.  She makes seemingly everyday lives into deep, dignified drama.  She has incredible insight into the human psyche.  Her characters are flawed, the endings are not happy, simple or trite.  They are complex, interesting & draw you in as a mystery might.  A few stories are like O'Henry stories, with a twist.
1333060
Exquisitely written, thoroughly engaging, and deeply character driven. A brilliant collection of moving stories about diverse and beautifully drawn individuals.
1641824
Aphinarland, an engaging and crisply written collection of short stories and caustic essays, is above all a devastating blow to the solar plexus delivered with a martial artists precision to trust fund babies, mercenary lawyers, pretentious ivy league posers; and, the apathetic, entitled generation of post- Mariel Cuban remoras who have attached themselves to the soft underbelly of South Florida [Sons of Fidel].

Most of the tales, told in first person narrative form, speak of the daunting adventures and unnerving misadventures of a Cuban-American character named Henry as he struggles to overcome myriad obstacles in his path to success at the prestigious Columbia School of Law. In addition to parrying with obnoxious classmates, bedding flirtatious co-eds, and being pointlessly humiliated by biased, hypocritical law professors, Henry must rise above a tragic childhood loss, his prickly self-doubts; and an unfortunate tendency to anger people  [Im Glad You Got here First].  Henrys endearingly romantic and uncompromising refusal to sell out on his ideals; play the whats in it for me game or through flattery and sycophancy make influential connections bode ominously for his future law practice. Advocating a philosophical approach to life espoused by the 19th century poet Arthur Rimbaud, Henry attributes his success at Columbia Law School to a meticulous adherence to its principles. Rimbauds description of his method also perfectly describes the study of law... a searching out and taking advantage of every opportunity... a rational derangement of the senses" as a way of attaining the supreme savant state of enlightenment. A corollary of the method would seem to involve standing and delivering the stupidest, nastiest things in action and word to anybody who crosses him or affects an attitude of superiority. Henrys refusals to suffer fools gladly lead him to a Pyrrhic victory: a Magna Cum Laude Degree from Columbia eclipsed by a mean spirited blackballing by the powers that be. This setback leads him away from the Big Apple to Alaska [The All] and finally back to his childhood home in Hialeah [The Home in East Hialeah]..

In between peregrinations, a mistrustful and insecure Henry takes up the role of street guitarist in the superb story, Duane Allmans Guitar," a tale which leaves you wondering what is the true source of Henrys inexplicable and sudden virtuosity: is it the fluid magic of the Danelectro Silvertone guitar's former rock icon owner or is Henry actually the next, undiscovered Eric Clapton? When a local rock band and an attractive, sophisticated, and wealthy mature woman express interest in him, Henry cant believe his good fortune; yet, his uneasiness betokens a perverse force at work in Henrys universe, a force that will not allow him to fully triumph or to be happy for long.

In Fat Craven and The Little Coconuts War childhood lessons are learned about lifes unfairness and how bullies prosper and the compassionate and peaceful are bloodied, even if by unripe coconuts.

The title story Aphinarland is about a mysterious place and people and a type of Olympus, a fabled dwelling of divinities, a characters quest for enlightenment which pushes him to a surreal, hallucinogenic self-destruction.
1043240
The stories in this collection run the gamut from brutal super-realism to mordant satirical fantasy, but a dark vision and black humor pervade them all. Aside from two short tales in which she chronicles the exploits of a diabolically contemporary Satan (stories that probably account for the comparisons some critics have made between her and Twain), Proulx utilizes the alternately bleak and beautiful Wyoming landscape as her stage-set and she peoples it with characters who thereupon meet their destiny--and often their doom.

It's a world whose very elements can turn upon one mercilessly in a flash; a world that doesn't suffer kindly the presence of the foolish, the rash, the unprepared or the inexperienced and that, tragically, doesn't spare the innocent either. Pioneer homesteaders, unwed mothers, old cowboys in retirement homes, prehistoric Native Americans--they all make an appearance in this collection of nine stories. There's even a western "ghost story" featuring a blood-thirsty giant sagebrush.

Proulx shows her range in "Fine Just the Way It Is," but I prefer the gritty realism she exhibits when she limits herself to tracing the hardscrabble lives of contemporary  "cowboys" and ranchers and the women who live and work alongside them. Proulx makes of these simple folks the unlikeliest, if most realistic, of heroes even when they are at their worst (which is often); for even at their worst they wring a grudging sympathy from a reader who can't help but be affected by their all-too-often tragic struggle simply to survive.

Whether painting a landscape or limning the psychology of a character, Proulx writes with an observational precision that is startlingly vivid, often breathtaking. Though not every story is a gem, "Fine Just the Way It Is" is a solid collection overall and well-worth the reading for what  true gems you'll find among the shiny, if somewhat less valuable, semi-precious stones.
3152169
I loved this book. The stories are deceptive in their seeming simplicity, but deeper than dark oceans of thought, equal measures twisting and spiraling and haunting. Even downright bone-chilling at times. Despite a whimsical facade they pack a punch and will leave you staring at the last word for a while wondering what the hell just happened and, perhaps, how did we get here?
4370694
One may safely conclude that this rich harvest of stories, How I Taught My Grandmother and Other Stories is marked by fidelity to truth and beauty. Like a proverbial Indian sage, she overpowers the readers with her convincing view of life. All the stories are morally elevating and told with catholicity of stance towards life. The picture of grandmother, the pathetic story her teacher, her husband, Nayana Murthy's initial trials and financial stringency to come up in life, her variegated experiences in her classroom and the rest of her stories - 35 in all - make us wonder at the tender human being amalgamating all the diverse experiences

In all the stories she harks back to past and takes us aloft with her. Each story has a liberal dose of morality about it and she deftly makes it an inalienable part of the story. In fact, they stories are hallowed in reality, is the impression one would get, even if you randomly take up a story. The cover picture is attractive and price is reasonably placed. I recommend this for all for young and old.
212883
I loved this collection, and wish more people would read it. Hydes stories are connected by the idea of utopia (which, as she explains in the acknowledgments, paradoxically means both good place and no place)  all of these characters are looking to create better worlds, either by embarking on a new beginning or consciously choosing an ending. The stories jump from Adam and Eve to a 19th-century Shaker settlement to a futuristic community of Americans on Mars. Hyde avoids the possible tackiness of some of these set ups through her insightful, deadpan writing, and shes equally talented at all the different styles she attempts. And although there's plenty of witty detachment in here, in the majority of stories there are also undercurrents of intense emotion - above all, a longing to find a place to rest. Collectively, the stories suggest that well probably never reach the good place of our imagined utopias, and that we might make ourselves ridiculous along the way, but that thered be something even more ridiculous about never trying. Highly recommended.
3382336
Breaking the boundaries between literary and genre fiction, Gregory Bernard Banks' Phoenix Tales:  Stories of Death and Life is a stunning collection of short stories that confronts the meaning of life and death with beautiful bravery.  Part science fiction, part philosophy, with a little horror thrown in, this collection should be on everyone's reading list.

Each tale is a wonder in and of itself, and combined into a collection, creates a dramatic and insightful tool with which to uncover our own thoughts and fears on the subject matter.

Banks opens the collection with "Escape Velocity," a telling and frighteningly pertinent story of the price of heroic life saving efforts when the government, not the people themselves, decide if they should be allowed to die.  With "Touched," he delivers a futuristic Pinocchio tale involving a genetically enhanced boy who learns what it means to be human.  While the stories have a strong science fiction bent, the reader always feels they are in a familiar place.

"An Elysian Dream" tells the story of a young woman who quickly discovers that paradise without freedom is nothing more than a prettier version of hell.  A man learns it's never too late to make amends with the past in "Home Going."  In the hands of another writer, these stories may have come out as either empty nihilist tales or shallow reaffirmations.  But Banks has a knack of taking what might otherwise be considered morose story concepts and turning them into uplifting, insightful, and poignant life lessons.

With "Living with Mrs. Klase," an abused woman and her children find Christmas with a retired farmer and his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.  "The Soul Man," a story involving a person who seems to be the savior of abused children, is part flash fiction, part poetry, and part modern myth.

There are seventeen stories in this collection and every one of them elicited strong emotions in me as I read them.  These are incredible stories that need to be read.
2563351
By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, these stories have humanity in mind in all its frailness and sometimes, beauty. Intelligence in every line of this stunning collection of stories. Looking forward to more from this writer!
3798558
Author of the superb, award-winning EINSTEIN'S BEACH HOUSE, Jacob M. Appel offers eight more solid and exceptional stories of ordinary people in often extraordinary circumstances. The opening paragraphs of each story unfold in addictive divine details of characters, settings, and situations. Eight stories ranging in perspective and age of the main characters, from the seven-year-old boy vulnerable to the possibility of a flat earth to that topless widow in late life possibly tipping into being a comedic geriatric. Instantly engaging and imaginative, ripe with perfectly placed and often dark wit, compact (and devoid of lazy adverbs) yet stuffed with delicious descriptions (they'd been driving...greased with cheer, the Michelangelo of poor judgment and second-rate ideas, she studied that pathologically diffident quasi-giraffe, the okapi), consistently original, the stories entertain and enthrall the reader. At times the writer takes us to an edge, be it one close to parody, tragedy or emptiness, but he knows brilliantly how to craft a storys beginning, middle and always that perfect ending.

Each time I read a book of short stories by Jacob M. Appel, the sense that this is the apex of his publications, perhaps even of the genre in modern time, worries me - much like his risk-list-making character in Bioethics for Dunces. And Im wrong; the next book comes out and expectations are exceeded.

Mr. Appels writing seems effortless and fluid, a style readers can instantly find comfortable and enticing. He sets his stories possibly with threads from his own world and his vast knowledge, but not apparently in that heavily interwoven pattern (such as John Updikes). He stands back from his characters (and any pedantic writing) and lets them take form. How does he write with the sensitive understanding of those lives of quiet desperation, especially those late in life no longer facing options as burdens and finding acceptance as an uninvited guest?

Eight stories. An accomplished writer (as well as lawyer, doctor, polymath, bioethicist, kind responder to fans, and licensed New York City sightseeing guide) holding innumerable higher education degrees and countless writing awards and giving us book after excellent book. We are fortunate readers.