One of the rules from Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, that indispensible little writing guide, is "Omit needless words." A rule from the humorous list "How to Write Gooder" is "Understatement is always best. And exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement." If all these dictums are essential to good writing - and they are - it is also a truly great writer who knows how to break the rules properly. And T.C. Boyle knows.The fifteen stories in this book are unbelievably good. When you finish each story, you'll sit in open-mouthed wonder, book in your lap, wondering to yourself what kind of imagination thinks up these scenarios. Boyle certainly has a hyperactive imagination, and a penchant for bombastic language. But he also has a keen awareness of what's going on in the world around him. The stories range from the touching to the absurd, and sometimes a combination of the two, but they're all plausible, and Boyle has a knack for making them all seem perfectly normal. Strunk and White are probably howling in their graves over this man's love of synonyms and his exaggeration-laced writing, but Boyle is a gifted storyteller, who understands probably better than anyone since Shakespeare that comedy and tragedy are not that dissimilar.
A fabulous collection of shorts, and a good introduction into TC Boyle's writing. Having read one novel of his ("A Friend of the Earth") previous to this and enjoying it quite a bit, I was happy to find this collection via a bookring, and I enjoyed all 16 tales included here but my favorites were:"Hard Sell" (ad ad exec and his 'difficult' clientele) "The Hat" (Winter in the mountians - killin' time and killin' bears)"The Devil and Irv Chemiske" (A deal is a deal)"The Miracle at Ballinspittle" (An American 'Irish' tale)"The Ape Lady in Retirement" (You can dress a chimp in clothes, but that won't make him human)
What do You think about If The River Was Whiskey (1990)?
TC Boyle has become one of my new favorite authors with this one collection. His characters are haunting, even when his writing is less than inspired. But about half of his collection are true stand-out stories, especially the piquant "Sorry Fugu", the poignant "The Ape Lady in Retirement", and the hilarious "Modern Love." In a short story, you don't expect to encounter characters with pasts as complicated and varied as in Boyle's writing. Marked by remorse, each of Boyle's protagonists take on unique individual stands against conformity and their supposed fate, challenging the elements, the Devil, and the law. No stand is too small to bear witness in Boyle's collection of ragtag humanity, who seek indelibly to assert themselves. While not all of his characters succeed--"The Hat" is frankly just boring--TC totally won me over. What sold me on this book--the opening line of the second story, "Modern Love".
—Siobhan
