The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze: And Other Stories (New Directions Classic)

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Summary: Saroyan's first book of stories.
Review: A masterful work. Most of them written in a thirty day period, in which Saroyan promised to send the editors od Story magazine a story a day for thirty days. He proceeded to do this and this book made Saroyan an instant celebrity.

Saroyan eventually went on to win the Pulitzer for his play "The Time of You Life", but turned it down.

This book was a stunner when it first appeared. The simple yet poetic language ran against the trend of the times.

Saroyan is a nearly forgotten genius, yet his influence is evident in even his enemies, like Ernest Hemingway.

Buy this book, read it, and then give it to somebody. They will thank you and so will I.

Rating:
Summary: It was the best book I read in the right time.
Review: I think there are not many books, that can change your life. This is one of them. I was sixteen when I read this book for the first time. I was not very happy in that time and I was rather confused by life but it has changed. In these short stories I could read about thoughts and feelings, that were similar to mine, but I had not be able to express them. But angle of wiev was new. It made me to live in spite of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Creatively crafted -- never a dull moment.
Review: Saroyan has a rare sense of language usage and introduces thoughts and ideas causing you to stop and realize how the grind of everyday life can be refreshing, moving, and humorous. His writings represent a slice of life in everyday America as well as amusing insights into the wacky right braininess of a writer. Once you get through the first chapter and can stand up again, the rest of the book is one deeper-than-real-life-story after another. Like Edith Wharton, Saroyan has a command of the craft of writing that seems lost in today's works.