Officer Friendly: and Other Stories

by Lewis Robinson

Book Overview

The stories in this acclaimed debut all take place in the state of Maine--which quickly comes to stand for the state we're all in when we face the moments that change our lives forever. Two roughneck... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812972279
• ISBN13: 9780812972276
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

I Keep Coming Back To These Stories

Thrilled to see that this book is back in print. Lewis Robinson's short stories are on par with those of Richard Ford and Paul Auster. The prose is economical but never terse. It evokes the beauty, the mystery and the humor of Maine and life in general. I re-read these stories with great frequency; the stories and characters are complex enough to merit multiple "visits."

Where the hell did this come from?

First of all, this is clearly the work of an emerging American Master. Show me a short story published in the last five years that can hold up to Puckheads, and I'll give you a wet willy! Where in the Hayseus did this guy come from? None of these stories were ever published before this book came out? This simply astonishes me. the OilCan will go down as saying that this is the greatest book about Maine that ever was published. This includes this year's pullitzer, sorry Russo, but have you read this guy? Someone should ask Jason Fulford if he thought this Robinson would write a book twice as good as Delillo? the OilCan would rather have this hardback than HBO.

Don't Step on My Blue Shoes

I concur wholeheartedly with the previous reviewer. Though all connected by an ever present, and never static, sense of place, each of Robinson's stories stand as individually gripping flashes of storytelling brilliance. This is my favorite kind of short story collection. You know, the kind where after each story, you feel compelled to stop and enjoy the sense of being pleasantly adrift in the momentum of the telling, released at the end to coast and glide through unnameable emotions, delicate and poignant. As much as they are tied together in Point Allison and its surrounding areas, Robinson's characters also share residency in a wonderfully infectious sense of longing and reflection and unease. This reader's current favorites are "The Edge of the Forest..." and "Cuxabexis, Cuxabexis". Ah Cuxabexis! Robinson's gift for seemingly effortless natural puppetry with his characters (with place and location always acting as a character of the flesh) makes the collection seem at times like a wonderfully non-linear novel. I look forward to future offerings from this splendid new voice in fiction. This is only the beginning. Clearly Robinson comes from a gifted and talented family.

The finest debut collection of the twenty-first century

Flown past Darrin, and arguably passed Doug Flutie as the most talented Natickian of all time. This man is a biblio-superstar, giving us beautiful glimpses into ourselves through the Vacation State. If the people who give awards for debut fiction really read books, here you go -- Brilliant

A beautiful voice from a rising young author

Lewis Robinson is the only writer I know who can literally make me hold my breath while reading his stories. His characters speak in a voice so real I'd swear they could only be from Maine (even though I'm just the kind of outsider those characters think so little of). Robinson also has complete control of his pacing. His stories build methodically, relentlessly, and drove everything else from my mind until I finished each one. I remembered, and enjoyed, each story more than most novels I've read.