Dusk and Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: Not Always Uplifting But Tremendous Nonetheless
Review: I feel well written short stories are exceptional, and with, "Dusk And Other Stories", Mr. James Salter again demonstrates that his skills are not diminished when the length of his stories are. Short stories are often complete thoughts or fully played out events, however fragmentary they may be. Others tend to stop. They end. You wonder why. Those in the latter group I tend to dislike as a reasonable ending, even if vague, does not seem to be a great deal to ask. Some that I have read simply stop because the idea stopped. Some find this stylish I find it weak.

Mr. Salter offers up the complete and the not so final in this book and they all are enjoyable. Even those that end abruptly like, "Am Strande von Tanger" feels less casually abrupt as the penultimate sentences or perhaps the paragraph brings closure. The remarks that are the final sentence seem less critical. In other stories like, "Dusk", the finality and completeness is almost brutal. The imagery of lost love and a dying bird in a field is poetic as writing and vicious as to the emotion it describes.

If you have read any of this Author's other work you may find bits of characters that you have encountered in the past, or similar locales they have transited. The familiarity real or imagined is welcomed as it brings back other great moments in this man's work. I have read 4 of his novels and this collection of short stories, all are excellent some more so than others. If you were looking for a new Author you would be hard pressed to find higher quality writing than this.

Rating:
Summary: Interiors of stranded souls
Review: I love the opening story of this collection "Am Strande von Tanger". From the opening scene setting sentences,"Barcelona at dawn. The hotels are dark. All the great avenues are pointing to the sea." To the last sentences which tie all together perfectly this story shows three lives mostly in the details and matter of fact happenings of a day trip to the sea. Nico is the central figure though and hers is the life we are focused on. We watch her struggle all through the story and realize she lacks what the others have, some connectedness to life or center, and she by stories end realizes it. As in many great short stories there is a key moment or epiphany where all in a moment is revealed to someone and that is the case in several of these stories. In "Twenty Minutes" a fallen rider has that much time to sum up her life. And in the title story "Dusk" a divorced womans loneliness is made all too poignant by Salters writing as the moment has come in her life that she realizes she will probably always be alone. Other memorable stories include a study of a film company which is told by the alternating voices of the players including scriptwriter, actor, actress, director, producer, and assistants. This stories kaliedoscope of voices is very fun to read as each player has a different take on what is going on in the production and each players personal insecurites effect that individual view of the overall picture. A very well crafted story that reminds one of a Fellini movie like La Dolca Vita in miniature where the sacred and profane compete for top billing. The military reunion story as well as the last story are forgettable. But "Foreign Shores" about a divorced woman's suspicions is a very good portrait of paranoia caused by suppressed personal anxieties. And the story "American Express", though about two unlikeable types who make a load of money and take a European tour together, is one of the better examples of gaining the world only to lose ones soul in the process(a film of this story will soon appear on PBS). Also three stories deal with failed artists, though each in a very distinct way. Hard to find a better collection than this.

Rating:
Summary: Interiors of stranded souls
Review: I love the opening story of this collection "Am Strande von Tanger". From the opening scene setting sentences,"Barcelona at dawn. The hotels are dark. All the great avenues are pointing to the sea." To the last sentences which tie all together perfectly this story shows three lives mostly in the details and matter of fact happenings of a day trip to the sea. Nico is the central figure though and hers is the life we are focused on. We watch her struggle all through the story and realize she lacks what the others have, some connectedness to life or center, and she by stories end realizes it. As in many great short stories there is a key moment or epiphany where all in a moment is revealed to someone and that is the case in several of these stories. In "Twenty Minutes" a fallen rider has that much time to sum up her life. And in the title story "Dusk" a divorced womans loneliness is made all too poignant by Salters writing as the moment has come in her life that she realizes she will probably always be alone. Other memorable stories include a study of a film company which is told by the alternating voices of the players including scriptwriter, actor, actress, director, producer, and assistants. This stories kaliedoscope of voices is very fun to read as each player has a different take on what is going on in the production and each players personal insecurites effect that individual view of the overall picture. A very well crafted story that reminds one of a Fellini movie like La Dolca Vita in miniature where the sacred and profane compete for top billing. The military reunion story as well as the last story are forgettable. But "Foreign Shores" about a divorced woman's suspicions is a very good portrait of paranoia caused by suppressed personal anxieties. And the story "American Express", though about two unlikeable types who make a load of money and take a European tour together, is one of the better examples of gaining the world only to lose ones soul in the process(a film of this story will soon appear on PBS). Also three stories deal with failed artists, though each in a very distinct way. Hard to find a better collection than this.

Rating:
Summary: The lost art of writing
Review: I'm not sure where to begin with Salter. His felicity of style, his simple, yet simply luminous prose, his ability to expose ourselves without ripping away the veil, but rather to slowly and deftly unweave it, in a manner so mesmerising that you are entranced by the process, and only upon completion do you realise that the true rapture is the face, naked to your gaze.

He isn't afraid to say what he wants, and that can be a little shocking sometimes, to our politically-correct selves. Lines like "He was part of that great, unchanging order of those who live by their wages, whose world is unlit and do not realize what is above" may sound pretentious, but it feels like through reading his work, one is gaining access to that state of grace.

I could wax lyrical further -- and compare him to a pair of Rodin hands -- where there is the masterstroke from the distance, and the minutae that complete perfection. TO do so, would waste space. I simply exhort you to read him.

Also try Andre Dubus, if you are a short story person...

Rating:
Summary: "Vocabulary like fingerprints ..."
Review: Ironically, in an age when we're addicted to quick-fix, the short story gets a bum deal. In Europe especially (from whence this review comes), the doorstopping half-ton ballsless, plastic-heart-filled novel dominates, leavened by the odd Amis, Rushdie or Booker-flavored new boy. Short stories collections are outsiders and it is sad, because the form is a commanding and tricksy one, and hugely rewarding in the hands of real craftsmen. James Salter is a superb wordsmith, a craftsman nonpareil. In this deceptively brief collection, published on the heels of his terrific memoir, Burning the Days, he is at his controlled best. These are stories of insidious strength - not fauvist-bright, but quietly luminous - that steal up on you and enter your dreams. They are special, because they are assembled with the paradox of magic: at once forceful, yet ephemeral. A story called Via Negativa, about the insanity of a failed writer, is so overwhleming in its lean language and concurrent obscurity as to be almost - appropriate to its goals - unbearable. Many of the other tales gathered here read similarly, and you find yourself tip-toeing through them, taking immense care to "get" them. This is a book to take time over - Salter is a writer to take time over - and might well be his best.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Beautiful
Review: James Salter's use of our language is so brilliant and original, it inspires awe. In one brief turn of a phrase he is able to illuminate entire lives, and yet his words are simple and direct. These stories are like beautiful Chinese puzzle boxes, with a rich lustre that only hints at the intricate mechanisms hidden deep within. "Twenty Minutes" and "Akhilno" will break your heart; each says more in eight or nine pages than most novels. What can I say? This guy kicks ass!

Rating:
Summary: Sad, meditative characters flashing back
Review: Reading James Salter makes one appreciate the power of brevity, for his style is indeed terse and moving. Every word counts and every story abounds with a subtle grace. I quickly realized, after the first couple of stories, that Salter needs to be read in the morning when the brain is alert. Try reading him at night and you will quickly become lost in his quick changing of scenes, his sharp thrusts of dialogue, and his dexterous symbolism. I often had to re-read previous paragraphs for clarification. And when I thought Salter had erred in his writing, I realized instead that it was I who had erred in my reading.

Dusk won the prestigious Pen-Faulkner award in 1989. It is composed of eleven stories whose scenes take place in both national and foreign settings. If you love hard-boiled action scenes, don't read James Salter, for his stories are the opposite: subtle and meditative. The characters, well, they do a lot of thinking. They ponder during their times of loneliness and defeat. Displacement and malcontent consume their thoughts and for them the better days lie in the past, days when they weren't old or divorced or estranged. I felt like whispering in their ears, saying "Hey, it can't be all that bad. Take a Zoloft and you'll be fine." Highly recommended book.

Rating:
Summary: Shocked at my disappointment.
Review: Was very suprised how disappointed I was. Figured the book would be work the read but it defintely wasn't worth my- [money]. Very short lived. The book isn't unclear, just seems to be written at a juniors level. Not sure where the other reviewers came up with 5 stars, I was lucky to come up with two.

Rating:
Summary: Shocked at my disappointment.
Review: Was very suprised how disappointed I was. Figured the book would be work the read but it defintely wasn't worth my- [money]. Very short lived. The book isn't unclear, just seems to be written at a juniors level. Not sure where the other reviewers came up with 5 stars, I was lucky to come up with two.