Winter Money: Stories

By Andy Plattner

Book Overview

The ten stories in Winter Money are set in rural Kentucky and West Virginia, in dim horse racing and river towns. The men in Andy Plattner's stories are tough and uncertain, the women independent and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820319589
• ISBN13: 9780820319582
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr
• Length: 157 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A promising and original debut

I was hesitant to award five stars to this book---since it seems a common practice to heap inordinate praise on books that are usually undeserving---but I give Winter Money five stars because of its originality and freshness of voice. Ostensibly, the theme is horse-racing and the track, but really this is a loosely-linked collection of coming-of-age stories. Plattner's prose is lean and unpretentious, sometimes almost bare-boned, but he turns phrases of simple elegance, putting me in mind of Richard Ford's style in Rock Springs. And the characters and voice also somewhat resemble Richard Ford's collection; if I were Plattner's writing professor, I would ask him, "You've read and learned from this book, haven't you?" Not that this diminishes in any way the power of the collection. The characters, situations, and dialogue linger long in the mind after reading, and it's a book you'll find yourself drawn to again.

It's good.

This is a hell of a good book. The person who wrote it knows something about people who race horses. And he can write.

Bet on the long shot.

Most likely you've never heard of this author or his stories--he's been published in a lot of smaller, literary journals. (A fact proving that a lot of good authors slip through the cracks at the bigger, more important magazines.) And if you're not a gambler or someone who frequents horse tracks or OTB parlors, you probably don't know firsthand about the pain and dazzling success that come from winning and losing--experiences that happen sometimes all at once. But Plattner and his characters have seen all of this. And whether you're a horse person or not, the dignity and grace that his characters achieve in a lifestyle that's dying around them is compelling. And hopefully, Andy Plattner will be a name you here about later.

wonderful sense of story, evocative sense of place

Plattner has a racer's eye for thorobreds and a Southerner's ear for good stories. Settle back in your easy chair with a good bottle of cheap bourbon and a few hours to spare, you'll need both.