Stay Awake: Stories
by Dan Chaon | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0345530373 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0345530373 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
This is an advanced uncorrected proof (ARC) I won from the Early Reviewer program on LibraryThing. I received this book in the mail on 1/3/12.
I was very impressed with this book of Dan Chaon's short stories. It makes me sorry that I haven't read any of his other books yet, but that's something I'm going to remedy.
This is a book of engaging short stories which focus on different characters in a vaiety of locations. All of them involve difficult or even bizarre family situations. There is a great deal of pain that the each of the characters is working through. The author uses words so well. By stringing them together the way he does, he is able to depict what wants to say in a way that is sharp but full of irony at the same time.
"Take This, Brother, May it Serve You Well" is my favorite story of this collection. It tells of a lawyer whose wife has died of cancer and he becomes lost in the rain while bar-hopping. The person who shelters him from the rain takes him into what appears to be a warehouse but then seems to take on the aspect of a place of danger rather than relief.
Here's a line from "Take This, Brother, May It Serve You Well" ...
Aargh!" he cries aloud, and his anguished cry echoes against the side of the buildings, the sounds bouncing back and forth and shrinking at last to a whisper imperceptible to human ears.
"Slowly We open Our Eyes" is my second favorite story. O'Sullivan is a man who lived a pretty messed-up life until he reached the point at which he needed to return home to California. He did so by hitching a ride with his truck-driving brother. On the road, the two became involved in a strange road accident that seemed to have been caused by a deer.
This is a terrific book and one sure to fulfill a desire to read short stories that are a bit different.
This is a book of engaging short stories which focus on different characters in a vaiety of locations. All of them involve difficult or even bizarre family situations. There is a great deal of pain that the each of the characters is working through. The author uses words so well. By stringing them together the way he does, he is able to depict what wants to say in a way that is sharp but full of irony at the same time.
"Take This, Brother, May it Serve You Well" is my favorite story of this collection. It tells of a lawyer whose wife has died of cancer and he becomes lost in the rain while bar-hopping. The person who shelters him from the rain takes him into what appears to be a warehouse but then seems to take on the aspect of a place of danger rather than relief.
Here's a line from "Take This, Brother, May It Serve You Well" ...
Aargh!" he cries aloud, and his anguished cry echoes against the side of the buildings, the sounds bouncing back and forth and shrinking at last to a whisper imperceptible to human ears.
"Slowly We open Our Eyes" is my second favorite story. O'Sullivan is a man who lived a pretty messed-up life until he reached the point at which he needed to return home to California. He did so by hitching a ride with his truck-driving brother. On the road, the two became involved in a strange road accident that seemed to have been caused by a deer.
This is a terrific book and one sure to fulfill a desire to read short stories that are a bit different.
Journal Entry 3 by 
SqueakyChu
at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia USA on Saturday, January 28, 2012
SqueakyChu at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia USA on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Released 12 yrs ago (1/28/2012 UTC) at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
For release at a BookCrossing Meet-Up (the one to bid farewell to LittleWhiteBird - as she moves out of this area).
Picked it up this afternoon at the BCinDC meetup. This book came highly praised, so I hope I find the stories as intriguing as SqueakyChu did! :)
