Male of the Species

By Alex Mindt

Book Overview

Alex Mindt on Fathers and Sons The title story of this highly praised book, about a small-town Texas science teacher threatening to flunk his high school’s brilliantly talented football star, sets the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1883285283
• ISBN13: 9781883285289
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Delphinium Books
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

One of the best story collections I've read in a while...

This is a stunning collection of stories. Unlike most authors who have a standard setting for their writing, Mindt is amazingly facile. Each story is set in an entirely different locale--not just geographic locale but psychological locale. He writes as convincingly in the voice of a Vietnamese immigrant who does Elvis impersonations in Vegas as he does in the voice of the son of hospitalized schizophrenic encyclopedia author as he does in the voice of the wife of the nerdy science teacher who flunks the high school football star. Every story offers the unexpected. This author is someone to follow....

Great for Father's Day

This book appealed to me for a Father's Day gift, but before I sent it along, I had to read it. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down! The stories were so varied and so human that my curiosity was piqued for each character. My Dad said he enjoyed it too and my Mom read it in one day!

Excellent

A copy of this was given to me as a gift, and since then I have passed on the favor, purchasing a half-dozen and giving them to my friends who enjoy well written and powerful short stories. There is not a weak story in this collection. Terrific, and highly recommended.

Its great!

I am so into this book. Every story is great. Every voice in this book is believable. Its funny, it made me (almost) cry, i totally connect with the characters. In fact the stories are so enjoyable that when they end i cant help but think the next has to be a dissapointment but everytime im proven wrong. It may be my favourite collection of short stories. Thats it, thats my review.

America's Lonely Tribes

A collection of eleven stories, Male of the Species contains powerful renderings of America's lost souls who, through their narrow-minded tribalism, succumb to loneliness and despair. In my favorite story, "Sabor a Mi," a grandfather left to die in a rehab home pities himself as he contemplates his "ungrateful" children and is appalled that his daughter, recently divorced, is marrying a lesbian. The story's revelation is authentic and never feels forced. In another story, "Male of the Species," a high school teacher is demonized for flunking the school's football playing superman as the story shows how football mania can be a sort of tribalistic religion. In "Reception" a hopelessly lonely father is matched with a neighboring woman through the savvy manipulations of the father's son who writes "letters" that are supposed to be from the father. One of the book's common themes is the alienation between parents and their children and Mindt never relies on sentimentality or nihilism to deal with his attempt to look at loneliness and alienation in America. A good companion collection of stories dealing with the themes of loneliness and lost innocence is Natasha by David Bezmozgis.