Share for friends:

Read A Stranger In This World: Stories (1995)

A Stranger in This World: Stories (1995)

Online Book

Author
Genre
Rating
3.96 of 5 Votes: 3
Your rating
ISBN
0679763945 (ISBN13: 9780679763949)
Language
English
Publisher
vintage

A Stranger In This World: Stories (1995) - Plot & Excerpts

Published: First Vintage Contemporaries Edition, August 1995“There is no other life… the person that you are is the person you’re going to be. Though it was tempting to pretend.”tKevin Canty’s A Stranger in this World is full of stories about people in many different walks of life. Age, gender, disease, and drug abuse- it’s all covered within the book’s pages. The reader is granted the opportunity to take a look into the life of strangers, a life they may know all too well or may never experience. Life is a complicated matter and there is not one person who can be summed up by just one description. Canty reveals all of the beautiful flaws that shape human naturetCanty’s characters range from 15 year old sex-driven boys to grandfather’s looking back on life as they die from cancer. They all have different stories, different frames of mind but they all have one thing in common- they are complicated. Each character may have a main flaw, such as a girl going with her perfect boyfriend to meet his family for the first time. However, she still has feelings for her ex, who may or may not be dead- it is never made clear. Because of these frustrations she hooks up with his brother, who reminds her of her ex. Feeling bad about her actions- she steals the brothers car and leaves him stranded at a bar, with no pants. Actions they make no sense to a reader come to are brought to life within the text of A Stranger in this World. Canty carefully crafts his characters to be intriguing, whether it is in a positive or negative way. The reader becomes hooked on the plot, but keeps going because of the inside stories; they don’t stop because they want to know what makes the character tick, and Canty fills them in.tThe strengths of A Stranger in this World lay within Canty’s character and situation development. Readers become attached and feel as if they are living vicariously through the main characters. Canty creates scenarios within his stories that may seem uncommon to most, but all to common to many. Readers cannot deny the opportunity to live a life so drastically different from their own (but a little too similar for comfort). Some may find Canty’s stories to be a little underdeveloped, often times they open in the middle of a scene- no real introduction. However, it also works as a strength by leaving readers wondering why characters are acting they way they are, it leaves the reader wanting more. Even Canty’s weakness can be a strength.tThroughout A Stranger in this World Canty focuses on one key theme- life is complex. You think you know someone, but in reality we are all strangers. Everyone has secrets, something deep within us, some far gone experience that leads us to act as we do. Some people are involved in drugs, some are dying of an illness and some have been in close relationships with some really bad people. No matter what the story of the character the theme of complexity and complication is always relevant. Young adults and older will all benefit from reading this novel. It brings to front truth about life and the people around us- we will never really know what is going no. It may even shine some light on what makes us tick.

There’s very little BS with Canty’s writing. It’s terse, effectual and doesn’t have any need for lofty words and dictionary-grabbing adjectives. It works well for the context of are highly unromantic, bleak and anxious stories. His got a serious grip on his prose and it comes off smooth and easy. But then there are those stories, those seriously ridiculously, B-movie suspense flick-like stories and it bums me out. I can hear a voice-over, like for a trailer to a bad movie, when reading some of these. You know the ones; the guy with the deep voice who annunciates every word just a little too well:“THE VICTIM”: “It was just another night at the beach with her lover. Until one accident would change their lives forever!””JUNK”: Parker was a small, town man with a jaded past just trying to get his life straight. BUT what happens if the past comes TO YOU??Then there are other stories, like “Moonbeams and Aspirin” or “Elephant” that just feel incomplete. Not all is for a loss, though. There are a couple gems in here where the uninspiring, monotony of life’s letdowns leads to brief, fleeting moments that satisfy but never completely. In these stories, Canty’s quick, witty layman’s prose works perfect. Its just when he tries to do too much, (or too little) that things go awry.

What do You think about A Stranger In This World: Stories (1995)?

Kevin Canty gives the his admissions of humanity in A Stranger in This World. This a book of 10 individual short stories. Each story contains different characters and different events, while maintaining an overall theme of strife and personal reflection. The stories contain drug addicts, alcoholics, sexual desires, and everything dirty in the world. He contradicts this with human emotions, compassion, and beauty. There is blunt honesty oozing through the pages. Usually his main characters are those caught in the middle. They are the sons of alcoholics and runaway parents, girlfriends caught in life or death situations, youth on the brink of adulthood trying to make the grown-up decisions, middle-aged attempting to peace together broken lives, and a dog killer. They all face traumatic events, circumstances that would leave a person to choose a path. Some characters are faced with a fork in the road, they can either choose to keep on in the way they were, in sadness, behind bars, or free themselves of burden and responsibility. Most are just honest people trying to understand the world and deal with the problematic lives they’ve been thrown into (humanity).tThe book begins with, “King of Elephants,” about a teenager, Raymond, with two alcoholic parents. In a story where the roles of parent and child have been reversed, Raymond is burdened with the volatility of his unpredictable and irresponsible parents. As he explains his mother, “we passed her around like the black queen in a game of hearts, the cops to the hospital, the hospital to my father, my father to me. I was the one who could not pass her on.” He dreams of a life far away and without them. “The Victim,” centers around a teenage girl, her insecurities and her half-caring boyfriend. When she’s put in a life or death situation and finds out a little more about herself. In these stories you get to feel what the main character feels. “Junk,” is a story about a middle-aged man, who is trying to live a less chaotic life now. With a new, strait-edge, girl with less dramatic hobbies. He’s turning a new leaf when the past catches up with him. Canty takes you on a wild ride, drinking, doing drugs, high speed chases avoiding gun wielding bikers, pistol toting drunks, car accidents. Each story is perfectly crafted with specific details sparking your five senses. The language pulls you into the story world with images of mountain tops, the smell of waxy band-aids, the feeling of a breath on the back of your neck. You are in the car with a blind man behind the wheel. You are standing in a tipped over mobile home, grabbing beers out of a refrigerator on its side. You are in the kennel, feeling the insanity of constant barking. You are in a dark room, unaware of your surroundings. Canty paints the picture, surrounds us with the story, its inhabitants, its dangers, and its kindness. The language is brutally honest. Some stories are told in first person and some in third person, but all are so detail oriented and well crafted that you believe you’re reading non-fiction, actual accounts. His stories are fiction, but they become real and somewhat personal.
—David Breedlove

Each of Kevin Canty's short stories from this collection is so unique and completely different from the previous one. He is realistic, but in the same way that YA conemporary books tend to be realistic but optimistic: his stories are realistic but pessimistic, often in the worst-case-scenario. He shows that life is far from perfect. There are bad marriages. There is sadness. Not everyone likes themselves or their lives.For me, the stories of this collection did not resemble anything in my life at all, but I was still able to acknowledge the messages they were sharing. It is not quite universal, in that not every theme can apply to everyone, but that is because these aren't meant to be fables or moral stories, they are fictional short stories that resonate well with the reader. At first I thought the stories were all about boys, but I soon figured out that they could appeal to people of any age, male or female. Canty's characters come from all walks of life, so I'm sure each person will get something different out of this book. Kevin Canty perfectly evokes the human voice of imperfection.
—Owen

Write Review

(Review will shown on site after approval)

Read books by author Kevin Canty

Read books in category Humor