The Night in Question : Stories

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly ironic and insightful...
Review: I've only read Tobias Wolff's short stories--both this book and the ones from "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs"--but this collection has continually left me speechless. Story after story focuses on the everyday happenings of mostly "ordinary" people with an attention to detail that reminds me of eastern poets. Yet Wolff blends his take on things with a distinctly "American" flavor--that is, he's an American writer at his best. Stories like "The Chain" and "Bullet in the Brain" are emphatic in their declarations of the human condition. After reading many of them, I couldn't wait to share some particular passage or insight with a loved one--or a stranger, for that matter. In this collection, moreso than "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs", I got the distinct impression of a vibrant, funny, quietly wise writer who--as Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye" might have said--I really wish were a personal friend.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly ironic and insightful...
Review: I've only read Tobias Wolff's short stories--both this book and the ones from "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs"--but this collection has continually left me speechless. Story after story focuses on the everyday happenings of mostly "ordinary" people with an attention to detail that reminds me of eastern poets. Yet Wolff blends his take on things with a distinctly "American" flavor--that is, he's an American writer at his best. Stories like "The Chain" and "Bullet in the Brain" are emphatic in their declarations of the human condition. After reading many of them, I couldn't wait to share some particular passage or insight with a loved one--or a stranger, for that matter. In this collection, moreso than "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs", I got the distinct impression of a vibrant, funny, quietly wise writer who--as Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye" might have said--I really wish were a personal friend.

Rating:
Summary: Best collection yet by Mr. Wolff
Review: If I could start this review with words like "great", "Wolff's knack for nailing our common humanity in the heart", or "previous reader" (which I am), I would. But out of genuine concern for YOU (the reader)--for repetitive reading disorder is as serious as carpel tunnel syndrome--I would like to point to the synopsis on the back of this book that best sums up Mr. Wolff's gift, and it's consensus and brilliant expression in all the stories of this collection: (NOT VERBATIM:) In this book, the facts--the when's, where's, how's...etc--are as dangerous as lies. They are like Hemingway's icebergs: from afar, you can rely on them as hard, cold, inert points for your judgement. Get closer, as Wolff remarkably guides us so well, and you feel the collision, never realizing the but's and if's of each fact. You are immersed into the cold night sea, your heart pounds, you cannot stand on ground. What's great is that you know not to reach for the cold chunks of ice, but just to swim and stay alive. You learn to savor the steam that accompanies each breath, the feeling of your limbs, the oscillating waves that lift you. Case in point: The Chain. A series of events--a dog's mobbing of a little girl, the dog's assasination, a minor dent-job, a fatal crowbar blow to a young boy's head--these are all chained by the Biblical philosophy of "Eye for an Eye." Wolff shows us these events, each transition shade by shade, and in the end asks us, "When will it ever end?" PS "Lady's Dream" and "Bullet in the Brain" stood out to me for their originality in style. Both are, in effect, dreams. The way Wolff tells them is simply amazing. READ THIS BOOK!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Wolff Pack
Review: If this book were written by many contemporary American writers, it would be by far their best. However, when you're Tobias Wolff, you've got to be cognizant of the fact that you've done better. While this collection demonstrates the range of Wolff's talent, his ability to shed light on so many different individuals, and his mastery of the short story form, his true gift of articulation is more evident in earlier works, specifically, In the Garden of North American Martyrs. If Nabokov's writing is like someone dumping gooey chocolate syrup and crushed Oreos on a dollop of vanilla ice cream, Wolff's prose is as clear as a glass of water. Hemingway might have aimed at such clarity, but Wolff got it in Martyrs. The Night in Question warrants rereading no doubt. Some of his sentences are just gems and do things that any writer knows it's tough to make language do. Wolff also manages to create whole characters in 3 inches of print (and none of his books have more than 400 words to page) and makes their dialogue resonate with disturbing familiarity. The Night in Question, like all of Wolff's work - The Wolff Pack - will bite you, but if want to be consumed, check out some of the earlier stuff.

Rating:
Summary: The Wolff Pack
Review: If this book were written by many contemporary American writers, it would be by far their best. However, when you're Tobias Wolff, you've got to be cognizant of the fact that you've done better. While this collection demonstrates the range of Wolff's talent, his ability to shed light on so many different individuals, and his mastery of the short story form, his true gift of articulation is more evident in earlier works, specifically, In the Garden of North American Martyrs. If Nabokov's writing is like someone dumping gooey chocolate syrup and crushed Oreos on a dollop of vanilla ice cream, Wolff's prose is as clear as a glass of water. Hemingway might have aimed at such clarity, but Wolff got it in Martyrs. The Night in Question warrants rereading no doubt. Some of his sentences are just gems and do things that any writer knows it's tough to make language do. Wolff also manages to create whole characters in 3 inches of print (and none of his books have more than 400 words to page) and makes their dialogue resonate with disturbing familiarity. The Night in Question, like all of Wolff's work - The Wolff Pack - will bite you, but if want to be consumed, check out some of the earlier stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Wolff's stories in Russia
Review: Reading the stories from "The Night in Question", I noticed close similiraties of his works to the ones of Anton Chekhov. Especially the first one, "Mortals". To tell the truth, I always thought that today's American Literature has only a-la Stephen King and Sydney Sheldon authors. It turned out otherwise. Tobias Wolff's book is so nice to read, that I even caught myself wishing to try and translate it into Russian. I'm sure Tobias Wolff is an international author.

Rating:
Summary: Witty, charming and churning. Wolf gives us ourselves.
Review: Simply, THE NIGHT IN QUESTION, is filled with quick witted, short stories, that subtly asks and answers the small questions of all our lives. The actions of the characters are filled with a regularity that we all can be empathetic towards, and yet also be surprised in the turn of events that face those characters with the questions of mortality, fear, and solitude. This is an easy read, and yet thought provoking. I would recommend to anyone who truly enjoys short stories.

Rating:
Summary: Best Wolff collection yet, and nearly as good as his memoirs
Review: These stories are far and away the best Wolff short stories to date. The breadth of subjects and points of view, the hilarious and touching situations they describe, the purity of his language and clarity of his imagery--all of it is unrivalled in his previous writing. Moreover, many of the stories pack the emotional wallop of his THIS BOY'S LIFE, a book that this reader thought would never be equaled in that department

Rating:
Summary: Spare and strong writing that seizes the power of ordinary
Review: This is a carefully crafted set of stories by a master. The prose is sinewy and firmly grounded in the real experiences of real people. Wolff has the short story teller's gift of transforming ordinary, mundane events into revealing glimpses into the human condition. Many of these stories deal with a generation of wanderers who came of age in the seventies and eighties in America. Regular people whose unremarkable lives suddenly jump out of an uninteresting pattern. These stories show the reader, if not the characters, how the smallest events and details can suddenly shape our experience of life and our understanding of ourselves

Rating:
Summary: A master of the quiet art
Review: Tobias Wolff's 14 stories in this collection is quiet, spare, measured - and absolutely stellar. Wolff can take a mundane, everyday experience and thru his meticulous craftsmanship dig into the depths to mine it for every nuance of emotional significance. Nothing is present in any of his stories that doesn't serve a purpose: not a dog, a twig, a sweater, or a smile. Everything moves the stories forward and shows us more about each character and his/her relationship to others. "Firelight," a story I've now read several times, is my favorite: a boy and his single mom, stranded in a university town, spend their weekends looking at houses and apartments for rent, knowing they can't afford any of them. At the end of the long day, they're invited inside the last house, one where a university professor lives with his wife and daughter. The story, told from the boy's POV, is bittersweet and focuses on a sense of being an outsider to the comforts of home, the warmth of the fireside - but he realizes that all is not as it appears within this family that he still envies.
Absolutely wonderful collection.