- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press (September 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0870744321
- ISBN-13: 978-0870744327
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
NPR commentator, novelist, memoirist and short-story writer Cheuse has an impressive command of many voices. His new collection of 10 short narratives and one semi-autobiographical "story from memory" ranges from the disillusionment of an unusually tall young woman struggling to break into Washington's political life ("The Tunnel") to the helplessness of the first Jew sentenced by the Mexican Inquisition in the 16th century ("Hernando Alonso"). Cheuse's characters are loners: divorced or far from home, they have difficulty making friends and finding love. Jackson, in "Man in a Barrel," imagines telling a woman, "You got cats? I got herpes." In his best stories, Cheuse's characters reluctantly realize that their lives will probably never change unless they decide to make them worse. In the weaker ones, the language and plot do not gather momentum and the narrative ends before the characters come into focus. "An Afternoon of Harp Music in Lake Charles, Louisiana," a tale of the tense reunion of two sisters, ends awkwardly in an abrupt metaphor of a turtle eating a carp. However, "On the Millstone River," in which Cheuse writes in the first person about his parents, his two wives and his three children, gracefully uses images of water to unite its segments. The evocative, elegiac prose is seductive, revealing Cheuse's own character and shedding light on the stories that precede it.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Many readers will be familiar with Cheuse (The Tennessee Waltz and Other Stories, LJ 2/15/90), a commentator for National Public Radio's All Things Considered. His new collection offers superb stories for those who can endure Cheuse's sometimes gloomy and wounded narrators. All have suffered disappointment and loss, e.g., loss of children through divorce ("Man in a Barrel") or the betrayal of an unfaithful spouse ("Dreamland"). Yet Cheuse's skill as a writer makes it hard not to be drawn into each dreary, bleak existence and to exit without feeling transformed. The collection's most powerful piece is the moving, semi-autobiographical "On the Millstone River: A Story from Memory," which chronicles the life of a nameless American writer. For most collections.?Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Libs., Eugene
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely fabulous! This collection exudes greatness.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lost and Old Rivers: Stories by Alan Cheuse (Hardcover)
Perhaps it is because as the literary commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" Cheuse reviews the finest literature in contemporary English language, that his own writing is of the same caliber. His lush use of language in his stories draws the reader in just the same way that his deep, engaging voice does on the radio. No person of literary tastes should be without this collection.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unsympathetic characters who never learn,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lost and Old Rivers: Stories by Alan Cheuse (Hardcover)
Characters all seem cut from the same clueless cloth (except for the title character in "Hernando Alonso"). They are unable to understand the people around them, and sex seems to be their only metaphor. By contrast, Karen Joy Fowler's stories in "Black Glass" show great variety in character, style, tone, and structure.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely fabulous! This collection exudes greatness.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost and Old Rivers: Stories by Alan Cheuse (Hardcover)
Perhaps it is because as the literary commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" Cheuse reviews the finest literature in contemporary English language, that his own writing is of the same caliber. His lush use of language in his stories draws the reader in just the same way that his deep, engaging voice does on the radio. No person of literary tastes should be without this collection.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unsympathetic characters who never learn,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost and Old Rivers: Stories by Alan Cheuse (Hardcover)
Characters all seem cut from the same clueless cloth (except for the title character in "Hernando Alonso"). They are unable to understand the people around them, and sex seems to be their only metaphor. By contrast, Karen Joy Fowler's stories in "Black Glass" show great variety in character, style, tone, and structure.
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