- Hardcover: 228 pages
- Publisher: Jefferson Press (Oct 1 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0980016436
- ISBN-13: 978-0980016437
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.7 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Chicago novelist McNally’s latest collection of stories resurrects Chicago icons such as Nelson Algren and Romper Room host Miss Betsy in fictional form. In one tale, Gene Siskel tires of the movie he’s watching and decides to taunt Roger Ebert instead." —TimeOut Chicago
"The ghosts in these stories are indeed haunting, but in the most profound, heartbreaking, hilarious and human ways. Cumulatively McNally's stories have the pulse and swagger of the finest sociological novel, but individually they have a wholly different effect. Lives are laid bare with stunning clarity in tales in which one moment, one exquisitely crafted turn of phrase has the power to reveal the truths and lies, disappointments and wonders of a lifetime, an era and a city." —James P. Othmer, author, The Futurist
Product Description
John Belushi, Walter Payton, Richard J. Daley, and Nelson Algren are some of the Chicagoans who inhabit and haunt this new collection of stories from a lauded American writer. In this first story collection since the award-winning Troublemakers, many of the stories deftly resurrect deceased Chicagoans or artifacts of Chicago pop culture, creating an impressionistic portrait of the city. Gene Siskel, impatient with the movie he’s watching, taunts Roger Ebert; Miss Betsy, the host of Romper Room, experiences her own awakening during the sexual revolution; railroad mogul George Pullman remembers his greatest triumph as he draws his last breath. Other stories tell of everyday people who must confront their own private ghosts—an accountant who falls in love with a woman who is in love with a man on death row; a boy whose fascination with movie monsters grows stronger as his mother’s pregnancy comes to term; a memoirist whose dark night of the soul leads him on a journey from which he may not return. Praised by writers as diverse as Richard Russo, Irvine Welsh, Elizabeth McCracken, T. C. Boyle, and Mitch Albom, John McNally is a voice to be savored.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting Excellence, Jan 17 2009
By Karza - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Ghosts of Chicago (Hardcover)
Person and place, past and present, living and dead, all intertwine in this nearly flawless collection of short fiction. These Chicago-centered narratives of hope and despair feature famous figures and regular nobodies trying to find their way. "The Goose," "Creature Features," and "Planetary Danger," are standouts. "Contributor's Notes" is another hilarious excoriation of academia from the author who brought us the polemic "Politics of Correctness" in his 2000 collection "Troublemakers." If you haven't read John McNally, you're missing out one one of the most artful and resonant writers today.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing but good stuff here..., Dec 19 2008
By T.D. Wingfield - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Ghosts of Chicago (Hardcover)
This is probably my favorite book of the entire year. Yep, that's right. I said it. There is so much to like about these tender, heartrending, perceptive stories.
Right off the bat, the first story, "Return Policy," is one of the best ones in the whole thing. A recently divorced man attempts to return everything he's ever received from his ex-wife to the friend or relative who originally gave them. Some more favorites were "Creature Feature," "I See Johnny," "The Mortals," and "Remains of the Night." "Remains of the Night" was really an outstanding story. I've never quite seen an author invent such incredible super heroes and villains, give them sidekicks with real emotions, paint a classic love triangle, give them all real life desires and motivations and set the whole thing up as a story within a story... seriously, I'm not even a fan of comic book fiction, but I can appreciate how hard it must have been to pull that off, and McNally does it masterfully.
I'm from Chicago, so I have to admit that I especially liked reading about places and characters I'm familiar with - Nelson Algren, the Fridge, Payton, Belushi, Wicker Park, etc. But I can't say that the fact that it centered around Chicago was my favorite part. For me, great fiction begins and ends with the characters. Sure, McNally's characters are sometimes warped or menacing or wounded or confused, but that's the good stuff, man, that's the real goods... That's the stuff that makes us human and any good literary writer worth his salt will go right at that stuff without any fear. You'll find a character (perhaps many) in this book that you've known, someone you can relate to, and you may just realize that you've learned something about yourself and your own fragile, "mortal" tendencies along the way, too.
McNally just continues writing beautiful stories that stand toe to toe with the very best stuff out there.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of this year's best, Dec 30 2008
By Dan Prazer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Ghosts of Chicago (Hardcover)
A beautiful short story is about much more than what happens next.
A really beautiful short story manipulates its reader. One minute, you're laughing out loud. On the next page, your shoulders slump as the wind gets sucked out of you.
In Ghosts of Chicago, John McNally has managed to pull together seventeen short stories that aim for--and hit--high literary art.
A divorcee who goes about returning all his wedding gifts. An eight-year-old obsessed with monster movies learns he's not going to be the only child in the family anymore. John Belushi walks hand-in-hand with his girl through acres of pot plants. The butler of a creepy superhero, The Silverfish, goes bowling with the hired help of his boss's arch nemeses.
None of these stories are what they seem to be. And that's what makes them great.
I loved Troublemakers, John McNally's first story collection, but with Ghosts of Chicago, he's cemented himself as one of the contemporary masters of the short story form.
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