All Things, All at Once: New and Selected Stories

by Lee K. Abbott

Book Overview

Here are stories about fathers and sons, stories about men and women, and stories about the relationships between men by one of our most gifted story writers. The narrator of "The Who, the What and the Why," begins breaking into his own house as a sort of therapy after his daughter dies. In "The Human Use of Inhuman Beings," the main character realizes that his closest relationship is to an angel, who appears to him only to announce the death of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393330125
• ISBN13: 9780393330120
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Aptly titled, from a writer hailed by Ann Beattie, Richard Ford, Frederick Busch, and more.

Juno Diaz has said that he read short story collections by many writers and learned from every author. Abbott's writing is "hailed by the best minds in in American short fiction, among them Ann Beattie, Frederick Busch, and Richard Ford" per William Giraldi, who also says in "The Georgia Review" that Abbott is "a writer's writer, rarely reaching out to the middle-class white female," although I am one, and I love his stories -- his characters, his humor, his voice. Women, come see what you have missed. His humor, and as Giraldi says, "his mythmaking, his ecstatic vision of squalor and grandeur...should be at the center of our new-found zeal for the short story." Read Abbott for pure enjoyment, (or to learn) for his humor and pathos, and for demonstrating that we humans are lovable characters, especially when we are the most human, when wrong and when wronged -- that the human condition can be touchingly beautiful, tragic, and humorous all at once -- an aptly titled collection, indeed.

Best Story Collection I've Read in Years

I already own most of Abbott's story collections, so I was slow to pick up this New and Selected collection. Now that I have it, however, I'm more pleased than ever. The new stories in here are some of the best Abbott has written. "One of Star Wars, One of Doom" is amazing. And the selected stories really are the best from his previous collections (unlike other selected stories or poems collections I've bought). This collection is a great introduction to Abbott's work and probably one of the best story collections published in the past several years. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.

Covers the human spectrum

Lee K. Abbott's writing covers the human spectrum: generosity, greed, happiness, despair, beauty and ugliness. I alternately thought, "I know people like that," and "I don't ever want to know anyone like that." An unforgettable book!

Remarkable

Lee K. Abbot writes with clarity and authority about those odd spaces in our lives that are least discernable to ourselves and to others. His subjects and narrators tumble through the mental tumults of drunken stupors, layered confusions, daydreams and heartbreaking epiphanies, yet all the while, we as readers can see each moment clearly. It is one hell of a magic trick and Lee K. Abbot is one hell of a writer.

Read this book- learn how to write.

Lee K Abbott has written a stunning collection of stories; six new stories added to 18 previous stories. This collection serves as a primer for anyone who has aspirations of becoming a writer. The story 'One of Star Wars, One of Doom' is worth the cover price of the book. I was disturbed for an hour after finishing the story (about a Columbine style shooting). Several of these stories contain more emotional impact than most modern novels I read. Highly recommended!