If the River Was Whiskey: Stories (Contemporary American Fiction)

By T. Coraghessan Boyle

Book Overview

In sixteen stories, T.C. Boyle tears through the walls of contemporary society to reveal a world at once comic and tragic, droll and horrific. Boyle introduces us to a death-defying stuntman who rides across the country strapped to the axle of a Peterbilt, and to a retired primatologist who can't adjust to the civilized" world. He chronicles the state of romance that requires full-body protection in a disease-conscious age and depicts with aching tenderness the relationship between a young boy and his alcoholic father. These magical and provocative stories mark yet another virtuoso performance from one of America's most supple and electric literary inventors.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140119507
• ISBN13: 9780140119503
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.6" x 5.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Sparkling as the day written

Written almost 20 years ago, these stories are still sparkling and fresh. Some of the plots are preposterous, but make you a believer. The human fly ties himself to airplane wings and the undercarriages of semis. The ape lady retires to Connecticut with an unruly chimp. Irv Cherniske meets the devil in the woods behind his house. A widow celebrates her overbearing husband's death by flooding her house. All of the stories are vigorous and imaginative. And Boyle's prose is crisp and apt. "Sorry Fugu" is flawless in its choreography. What a great mini-play or film it would make. Not a dud in the lot, though The Little Chill left me cool. It's evident that these are earlier stories than those in Tooth and Claw, but only because the youthful point of view shows through; certainly his writing talent was blazing even back in 1989.

If the river was whisky -- let me drown!

Boyle is one of the best short story writers around today. His short stories are enjoyable and varied. This compilation of short stories contains some of the most perfect gems that I've ever read. First published in 1989, none of these stories feel dated. They could easily have been published last year. So, they're good. They're really good. What's more, this is a great compilation to read if you're trying to write short stories. Many of them, especially the shorter ones like "Sorry Fugu" and "Hard Sell," have similar structure that worthwhile to consider when writing your own short fiction. I'm not suggesting that these are formulaic, anything but. However, if you read several of them, preferably in a row, you get a feel for Boyle's construction, which is that there is a situation with an antagonist, the POV character makes a decision to outflank the antagonist, and then a suggestion of what the outcome of that situation will be. Stories in this compilation: Sorry Fugu Modern Love Hard Sell Peace of Mind Sinking House The Human Fly The Hat Me Cago en la Leche (Robert Jordan in Nicaragua) The Little Chill King Bee Thawing Out The Devil and Irv Cherniske The Miracle at Ballinspittle Zapatos The Ape Lady in Retirement If the River Was Whisky TK Kenyon Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel

how can it be so funny and weird while the prose still sings

wow, this book will basically just blow your mind. it's so upseting and weird in Boyle's tradmark darkly comic way (think Coen Brothers wooing Flannery O'Conner) and yet -- hotdamn -- on the sentence level, this prose is just out of sight. Beautifully written and laugh-out-loud funny, too? It's the perfect cross of high and low culture, like the Simpsons or the Coen Bros, if you're a smart, engaged reader, there really is something on every level of funny and weird, but the focous doesn't eclipse tender or meaningful . . . no, instead this collection really does match the wickedness of the smart-..., knowing hipster with the empathetic tug of "literary fiction." The perfect kind of thing to turn people on to short stories, this collection ends each time with a knockout punch.

As a matter of justice, I must review...

...I don't have time to write much here, but the average customer rating is WAY too low for this great book of short stories. In fact, I'm here right now buying it for a friend. T.C. Boyle has such a unique perspective on the world, and I read this book 3 years ago and I still remember many of the stories like I just read them yesterday. Particularly "Sorry Fugu," the unforgettable opening story about a chef and his critic coming together through food. I'll also never forget the story about the adopted kid obsessed with bees. That one will freak you out. Ok, well sorry for not being eloquent here but this is a great book...

Up all night

My girlfriend was out of town for the weekend so I picked this up at the bookstore and started it around 10:00 when I got off work. I told myself, "Maybe I'll just read a few stories and then go to bed." No dice. The stories grab you with their spacey lyricism and surreal feel as Boyle's truly warped imagination leaves readers stranded in a fantasy world so fimiliar that they never want to leave. The stories go from the unimaginable to the undeniable in a matter of sentences, as Boyle disamrms readers with his bleak, obtuse sense of humor -- allowing the stories to unlock feelings of pain, regreat, isolation, nostalgia and revelation long ignored as a result of taking onesself too seriously. A truly novel collection of stories.