Jobs & Other Preoccupations: Stories

By Daniel Coshnear

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1884235344
• ISBN13: 9781884235344
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Helicon Nine Editions
• Length: 213 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

My Current Favorite Collection

I love this book. There was a profound sinking in my belly when I finished it - what, no more? Then, I devoured the acknowledgements, the back cover - there must be more. Coshnear is an amazingly gifted writer - from the heart, from the head, his prose is sensitive without being superficial, gritty without being showy, colorful without trying too hard. A well-balanced collection of short stories that will sit on my favorite shelf in a permanent position, I have no doubt. While reading, I had this feeling of honor - to be privy to such emotional openness and with such a deft hand. A gorgeous piece of art that the cover does not provide adequate justice. Read it yourself and while you do, I'll be envious that you're reading Coshnear for the first time.

Extraordinarily good collection: sincere, funny, unpretentious, and richly human

Daniel Coshnear's brilliant gifts as a short-story writer are various and in abundance in Jobs and Other Preoccupations. I read these stories a couple of years ago, and then again more recently, and as is consistent with the most enduring fiction, they refract new beauties and poignancies with a second reading. The clarity and precision of Coshnear's language make for direct, unpretentious prose. But it is his astonishing skill with character and narrative that distinguishes these stories from other first collections I've read recently. He has a keenly observant eye for psychological detail, an unerring ear for dialogue, and a compassionate humor that never, ever feels forced or manipulative. His characters are seekers of truth in themselves and each other, but the endings are never contrived epiphanies. The resolutions linger and always subtly honor human complexity. The stories investigate madness, many kinds of love, the work-day life, family (nuclear and otherwise), personal desperation, and coming of age. Always close by is Coshnear's eloquent empathy. He is adept at sustaining a unique and intelligent humor. What I admire again and again is the way in which he effortlessly entertains with such precision and skill and then guides the reader into the surprising reaches of his characters' true pathos. The stories' structures are also inventive: "How We Remember You," is told through the collective journal entries that a staff of a group home writes to themselves and each other. The architecture of the story challenges the reader to follow the emotional routes of each character, and finally shows how each responds to a sudden, tragic event. It's heartbreaking and human. In that story as in many others Coshnear also often reveals in a single, focused brushstroke what it would take lesser writers many pages to show. "The Amateur Ventriloquist" demonstrates his ability to illuminate the sorrow and regret of a relationship in just a few paragraphs. At least half a dozen of these stories brought me tears. "The Full Six" tells of failure and yearning in a young wrestler's life and ends with a pain that carries within it beautiful sorrow, dignity, humanity, and longing. The collection shows great range, wisdom, and formidable talent. Coshnear is a remarkably gifted writer. Some passages in this book are as affecting and true as anything I've read lately in contemporary fiction. I eagerly await whatever Coshnear will do next. This is one of the best short-story collections I've read in years. It re-invents and redeems the art. It was awarded the 2000 Willa Cather Fiction Prize, selected by Rosellen Brown, and it indeed deserves to be read for decades to come.

Short, but sweet

I picked this up on a whim from the local library, and was intrigued by the back cover. Given the short length, I was finished in a few day, but even so, I didn't feel that the stories lacked substance. There are a lot of stories in this volume, and as such the longest isn't more than 10 or 15 pages. By and large the stories are well thought out, little slices of life of a wide variety of people. One story in particular that grabbed me was "How We Remember You," especially in the way it was told, through the notes and charts of a group of employees at a homeless shelter. The first story in the book, about a young veterinarian performing her first house call euthanasia, is particularly touching. My least favorite of the bunch was "The Resolution of Nothing," mentioned in the editorial review above.Despite some of the stories lacking any real punch or direction, most of them are very well-written, with characters that reach out and grab you, make you care about them for five or ten pages. I would recommend this to anyone interested in a short but very substantial read, or to anyone interested in realistic fiction. Cheers!