Rating: 
Summary: my favorite book by the world's best short fiction writer
Review: Tone perfect. As fine of writing, word for word, as I've read. In my opinion, Wolff is the best short fiction writer who has lived. I've taught creative writing at several universities. Other very fine pieces of writing (my all-time faves, in no particular order): BACK IN THE WORLD, Tobias Wolff; ROCK SPRINGS, Richard Ford (easily Ford's best -- and the only one I find particularly readable); THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI: A FATHERS AND SONS MEMOIR, Davis Miller (a remarkable, dreamy, beautiful nonfiction novel by a fairly unheralded writer); THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, Tim O'Brien (transcendent, jaw-droppingly well written); TRACKS, Louise Erdrich (for me, the best -- and most real-world mythical -- in her interrelated series of novels). I can't imagine a better written, more entertaining group of books than the ones I've listed above. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: my favorite book by the world's best short fiction writer
Review: Tone perfect. As fine of writing, word for word, as I've read. In my opinion, Wolff is the best short fiction writer who has lived. I've taught creative writing at several universities. Other very fine pieces of writing (my all-time faves, in no particular order): BACK IN THE WORLD, Tobias Wolff; ROCK SPRINGS, Richard Ford (easily Ford's best -- and the only one I find particularly readable); THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI: A FATHERS AND SONS MEMOIR, Davis Miller (a remarkable, dreamy, beautiful nonfiction novel by a fairly unheralded writer); THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, Tim O'Brien (transcendent, jaw-droppingly well written); TRACKS, Louise Erdrich (for me, the best -- and most real-world mythical -- in her interrelated series of novels). I can't imagine a better written, more entertaining group of books than the ones I've listed above. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Like taking a course in short fiction
Review: Using the leanest of prose to create searing imagery and unshakable truths, Wolff has outdone even himself. The best thing about these stories is the clarity. You understand the characters and their resolutions the first time through. There is no literary treasure hunting here. Wolff is one of the great short story writers of this century.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece; the written language at its best!
Review: Why can't you give certain titles 40 stars??? Then again, even that wouldn't be enough. These are wondeful explorations of the human psyche and spirit. No two are similar yet they are all a piece of the whole. The whole: exactly what we humans are, what we do and why. I recently bought Back In The World and I can not wait to finish it and read it again and again, just as I have with The Night In Question. M.J. Iuppa, thank you so much for assigning this to us to read for class, it was beautiful and imaginative and I just can't get enough. Read it, read it, read it!!! Especially Powder. It's so innocent yet so daring, so intriguing yet so secretive. Then again, all of them are, trust me. It doesn't get much better than this.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece; the written language at its best!
Review: Why can't you give certain titles 40 stars??? Then again, even that wouldn't be enough. These are wondeful explorations of the human psyche and spirit. No two are similar yet they are all a piece of the whole. The whole: exactly what we humans are, what we do and why. I recently bought Back In The World and I can not wait to finish it and read it again and again, just as I have with The Night In Question. M.J. Iuppa, thank you so much for assigning this to us to read for class, it was beautiful and imaginative and I just can't get enough. Read it, read it, read it!!! Especially Powder. It's so innocent yet so daring, so intriguing yet so secretive. Then again, all of them are, trust me. It doesn't get much better than this.
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