Copy Cats: Stories

By David Crouse

Book Overview

Featuring seven stories and a novella, David Crouse's powerful debut collection depicts people staring down the complicated mysteries of their own identities. "Who are you?" a homeless man asks his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820327468
• ISBN13: 9780820327464
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

We Are Real

I think of that line, taken from a Silver Jews song, because it describes this book fully. These are real people--fringe, or whatever you want to call them. There is something true about this book that some people may not want to admit. The sometimes broken nature of our selves that plays out in unsuspected ways runs rampant through these stories--they are stories about here, about now. Buy this, you need it. Also, look for a fun little story by Crouse in the Dark Horse Book of the Dead.

Copy Cats

When one reads Copy Cats it is little wonder why Mr. Crouse was selected to receive the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. In this collection he peoples his stories with characters that have one foot in 'normalcy' and the other firmly embedded on the fringe. In other words while most all of them are eccentric they are still identifiable to the reader and it becomes very easy to understand their motivations even when (if taken out of context) their actions would seem bizarre. This opens a door to the reader and lets them into a world that isn't so far removed from their own, one that lies right under the surface of their day to day lives. In my opinion this is his greatest strength as a writer. More importantly perhaps is Mr. Crouse's dedication the form. Short fiction rarely gets its due and as a genre is flooded with works by authors established in other mediums who are merely dabbling. However from his stories it is obvious that Mr. Crouse has dedicated himself whole heartedly to the short story and is well on his way to becoming one of the champions of the style.

Notes from critics

A winter walk with a part-time prostitute on Salisbury Beach. A confrontation with a homeless man on Boylston Street. A never-ending party with aging burnouts inside a tattered old Victorian in Lawrence. David Crouse excels at placing his readers within the "serene suburban quiet" that makes it "feel like something horrible [is] going to happen." In his debut short-story collection, Copy Cats (University of Georgia Press), the 38-year-old native of Haverhill presents stark stories in which the bleak and the beautiful are tethered by tender, tenuous strings - all within the outskirts of Boston. The collection of seven stories and one novella - which won a 2005 Flannery O' Connor Award for short fiction - effectively walks a tightrope between dark and light, the bleak and the bright. -Nina Maclaughlin (The Boston Phoenix) The characters in the seven short stories and one novella that make up ''Copy Cats" share a discomfort, a disconnect -- sometimes traceable to some defining trauma, sometimes not -- that will be apparent to readers of short-story masters from Franz Kafka to Richard Yates. There's also more than a hint of the stomach-clenching despair that marked the stories of another Haverhill writer, the late Andre Dubus. -James Sullivan (The Boston Globe) This collection of stories is the 2005 winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, but don't read it just for that. Read it because Copy Cats offers eight of the most captivating, well-written, and intellect-inspiring stories you're likely to read all year. Crouse captures people at the breaking point. People on the verge of madness, of losing jobs or walking out on them. People who ruin relationships or families. People who tell lies or appropriate things that don't belong to them. People who have lost: loves, family members, beliefs. People who have secrets they need to get out. In "Kopy Kats," Anthony is a copy shop worker both repulsed and intrigued by an old customer he called Yorick. When Yorick falls ill, Anthony feels the need to look for him, to find him, to take care of him; the old man's needs are secondary. In "Morte Infinita," Kristen skips school to go to horror film fests with her mentally imbalanced father. To explain away his illness, her dad makes up stories: the reason her mother left, historical predictions. As his stories collide with reality in a way that is both painful and illegal, Kristen begins to see him for what he is. The longest story in the collection, "Click," is a thoroughly captivating tale of Jonathan, an out-of-work photographer, who makes a down-on-her-luck junkie/hustler the focus of a photography study. He begins to idealize her in ways that threaten his impending marriage to the understanding, empathic Stephanie: He hadn't planned to go by her place, but he had been in the neighborhood, and he had his camera with him, and he was worried about her. She had opened the door and smiled as if she expected him, although she was dressed

Mind Blowing Short Story Collection

I loved every single story in this collection. My favorites were "Swimming in the Dark" and the story another reviewer mentioned, "Crybaby". I'm not sure what the reviewer from Publisher's Weekly was going on about but if these character's are "shadowy" it is because they are complex and rendered with a subtle touch. You have to do some work "reading between the lines" with these stories but I think an intelligent reader will find a lot to like. The book reminded me of a cross between Alice Munro and Chuck Palahniuk-which is not as crazy as it sounds. I hope this guy has a novel come out soon.

WOW!

Copy Cats is an incredible read. David Crouse captures the nuaces of complex characters figuring themselves out in everyday life. In Crybaby, Crouse shows the inner workings of his characters by interlacing their present lives with memories and past influences. All of the above work to create a rich and mesmerizing story that effects the reader long after the book has been shut. A must read.