- Paperback
- Publisher: Daedalus Books (June 1988)
- ISBN-10: 9991659250
- ISBN-13: 978-9991659251
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Dubus, known as one of our most accomplished storytellers, has in his own life recently experienced some of the terrible things that customarily happen in his fiction (last year a car accident cost him a leg). In this fine collection of 23 stories, an iron-pumping hothead terrorizes and rapes his ex-wife; ("The Pretty Girl"); a sadistic Marine sergeant destroys a green recruit; ("Cadence"); a drunken youth kicks his girlfriend to death and leaves her body in the snow. ("Townies"). "New Hampshire is also a redneck state," observes one character. Yet the disorderly lives of these small-town or suburban denizens are rendered in a calm, richly textured, minutely detailed style. Dubus gets under the skin of a 19-year-old baseball pitcher whose wife ditches him for her dentist, a waitress emotionally scarred by her husband's death in Korea, an obese woman who rationalizes her secret gorging on sweets, a divorcing disc jockey coming to terms with his misogyny. Many of these tales are set in his favorite fictional territory northwest of Boston, yet an equal number span the map from Virginia to Texas to California. With unflinching candor Dubus explores the uneasy accommodations of marriage and adultery, the self-deceptions of middle age and the terrors of childhood.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
What John Cheever did for upper-middle-class suburbs the equally talented Dubus does for the blue-collar manufacturing towns of Massachusetts. The most compelling of these finely crafted stories depicts the inhabitants of fading communities struggling to maintain stability as factories close and customary ways disappear. They don't often succeed. "Townies" juxtaposes the ideal of a posh women's college with harsh local realities. A young couple in "Anna" robs a drugstore to achieve a pathetic parody of material success. Characters commit violence for love or revenge without hope of redemption. Often graphic, never unbelievable, the tales are dense with the dark side of the American dream. Recommended. See below for review of a work by Dubus's son. Ed. Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Dubus is THE storyteller of our time
Aug 11 2002
Format:Paperback
Not to dismiss acknowledged contemporary story writers like Updike, or Carver, or Doyle or Oates or a dozen others you may have read in school or out, Andre Dubus is BREATHTAKING! He captures the angst of the internal, the behavior of the external, the glint of the physical detail, the subtlety of emotion like NO other contemporary writer. After reading hundreds of short story writers, I have never been so moved and learned so much about he human heart. Put down your DSM-IV, therapists, put away the existential tracts of Camus & Sartre, and PLEASE put away that post-modern numbing theory. Learn about life through the characters, places and situations you shall discover among these brilliant tales. Now, here is a true anecdote. I had read a story in this collection "Killings," and said to myself, this would make a FABULOUS film. I was all set to translate fiction to the screenplay genre. It was going to be a stunning work no studio would turn down. Then low and behold, it was all in vain. This story became "IN THE BEDROOM," the award-winning film. So obviously, my intuitions were confirmed. Read these stories for confirmation of what it means to be alive, for here you will discover the principle behind Joseoph Campbell's remarks about the meaning of myth: "Life is struggle; life is pain, but by God, you know you're ALIVE!
How I discovered Andre Dubus
Mar 6 2002
Format:Paperback
I was 17 and a senior in high school when I came across an article in the paper about a series of benefit readings that were being held to raise money to pay for the medical bills for Andre Dubus. I called a number and got a schedule, and then agonized over which Saturday reading I would attend - should I go to hear Kurt Vonnegut and E.L. Doctorow or John Irving and Stephen King? I ended up choosing the latter (mainly because I had a crush on John Irving!)
In the weeks leading up to the reading, I thought it might be a good idea to find out more about this Andre Dubus, so I went to the bookstore and bought Adultery and Other Choices. I was astonished. I immediately borrowed every Andre Dubus book that was available at the library and devoured every word. I'm a New Englander and was raised in the Catholic church, and I related to Mr. Dubus' stories.
At the reading that Saturday, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Dubus. He was in a hospital bed, and was obviously still suffering from the accident, but he was smiling and seemed to be a little surprised at the size of the crowd. He was gracious when I thanked him for his stories. It makes me sad that there will be no new Andre Dubus stories, but I am so grateful for the ones he gave us while he was here, all too briefly.
Short stories at their best.
Jan 11 2002
Format:Paperback
I return to Andre Dubus whenever I get hungry for a really good short story. However, after recently experiencing a Matt Fowler's revenge in the movie, "In the Bedroom," I revisited this 1996 collection of short stories. That movie is based on one of the twenty-three, stunning stories collected here, "Killings." Novelist Barbara Kingsolver has said that "a good short story cannot simply be Lit Lite." Rather, "it is the successful execution of large truths delivered in tight spaces." Confronting issues including a bereaved father's revenge ("Killings"), abortion ("Miranda over the Valley"), difficult relationships ("Adultery," "The Winter Father," "Voices from the Moon," "The Pretty Girl," "The Pitcher," "Leslie in California"), religion ("If They Knew Yvonne"), obesity ("The Fat Girl"), fatherhood ("A Father's Story"), rape ("The Curse"), sexuality and death, Dubus triumphs in delivering profound truths in these "tight spaces." You won't find happily-ever-after endings here. Rather, these are emotionally compelling stories that feel too real to be fiction. And they will leave you coming back for more.
G. Merritt
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Most recent customer reviews
a real pleasure to read
Dubus sets his tales along the Massachussets/New Hampshire border and seems to have turned it into his own Yoknapatawpha County. Read more
Published on Oct 13 2000 by Orrin C. Judd
Giant Among Writers
Forget the minimalist wastelands created by Ray Carver. The real genius working in the past quarter-century (and getting much, much less acclaim) was Andre Dubus. Read more
Published on Oct 9 2000 by David R. Long
The best short stories I have ever read
At this point in my life, I have one major regret. I never sent Andre Dubus the letter I started to write many times, telling him how important his work was to me. Read more
Published on May 19 1999
Don't miss this book!
This book contains the most amazing stories that I have ever read. Dubus writes about people of all ages dealing with issues like death, religion, and relationships; yet this... Read more
Published on April 24 1999
A core sampler of the late author's work.
Andre Dubus died in late February, 1999. Through NPR, I was introduced to his work the day after his death, and I was intrigued by the way his words worked. Read more
Published on Mar 1 1999
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