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Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
by
Tobias Wolff
“One of our most exquisite storytellers” (Esquire) gives us his first collection in over a decade: ten potent new stories that, along with twenty-one classics, display his mastery over a quarter century.
Tobias Wolff’s first two books, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs and Back in the World, were a powerful demonstration of how the short story can “provoke our ama...more
Tobias Wolff’s first two books, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs and Back in the World, were a powerful demonstration of how the short story can “provoke our ama...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
March 25th 2008
by Knopf
(first published January 1st 2008)
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Tobias Wolff is the acknowledged master of the short story form, and I would argue memoir as well. After briefly meeting the author for the first time, I know that the gravitas and succinctness of his language is balanced by an equally perceptive mind and a quickness of intelligence that seems to catch the slightness shimmer in the light of human discourse. It is here he pounces and finds the meat of these startling and gripping stories. There are new stories in this collection, reflecting the w...more
By MARC WEINGARTEN
When it comes to mapping the calibrations of the human heart, no writer working today is as exacting a cartographer as Tobias Wolff. Bucking the modernist tide, Wolff writes shapely short stories with structural integrity about ordinary people with desperation haunting their souls. No meditative drift or open-ended conclusions for this writer; he’s an old-fashioned storyteller in the best sense of that word.
As amply demonstrated in Our Story Begins, a brilliant collection of hi...more
When it comes to mapping the calibrations of the human heart, no writer working today is as exacting a cartographer as Tobias Wolff. Bucking the modernist tide, Wolff writes shapely short stories with structural integrity about ordinary people with desperation haunting their souls. No meditative drift or open-ended conclusions for this writer; he’s an old-fashioned storyteller in the best sense of that word.
As amply demonstrated in Our Story Begins, a brilliant collection of hi...more
Tobias Wolff writes a short story the old-fashioned way: beginning, middle, end, with a climax and some resonance in there somewhere. In that he resembles luminaries like Flannery O'Connor and Jhumpa Lahiri, as well as more mechanical writers like O. Henry.
You could say he specializes in unreliable narrators, but I think that's too narrow a characterization. Wolff's narrators are all lacking in common sense and self-awareness, often to the point of being tragically oblivious. In fact, you could...more
You could say he specializes in unreliable narrators, but I think that's too narrow a characterization. Wolff's narrators are all lacking in common sense and self-awareness, often to the point of being tragically oblivious. In fact, you could...more
Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Acclaimed writer Marianne Wiggins notes in the Los Angles Times: "When it's done well, the economy, the rigor, the precision that the [short story] demands are hardly noticed by its consumer. But it is more difficult to write, in its line-to-line execution, than any other narrative conceit. And Tobias Wolff is a genius at it." That assessment sums up the general opinion of Wolff's many reviewers, who praise his mastery of the form, his compassion, and his openness to life's many twists and turns
...more
¡Odio las mudanzas! Llegas a tu nueva casa y no sabes dónde está nada. Te has de acostumbrar a la nueva distribución de habitaciones y de muebles. Las primeras noches apenas duermes porque no acabas de adaptarte a las nuevas vistas desde la cama. Y así con todo hasta que no pasan unos días o semanas. Pues para mí leer estos cuentos (y casi cualquier antología) me ha supuesto una mudanza constante. Comienzo el cuento, conozco a los personajes, unos empiezan a gustarme más que otros. Me adentro en...more
As a general rule I tend to shy away from books with photos of the author on the back cover. This one has an author photo on the front cover! Ahhh! At least his name isn't in larger font than the title....
I had not read anything by Tobias Wolff before this, and found the entire volume to be very satisfying. One of the reviews on the back cover compares him to Chekhov, which is funny because I just so happened to be reading Chekhov concurrently. I see the similarities the reviewer points out, but...more
I had not read anything by Tobias Wolff before this, and found the entire volume to be very satisfying. One of the reviews on the back cover compares him to Chekhov, which is funny because I just so happened to be reading Chekhov concurrently. I see the similarities the reviewer points out, but...more
I may be a little bias on this one, cause if you ask me (go ahead, ask!) I'll tell you that I think Tobias Wolff is the greatest living American writer. This greatest hits collection has all of his best stories: "In the Garden of North American Martyrs," "Hunters in the Snow" (one of my all-time favs) "Flyboys," "The Other Miller," "Smorgasbord," "The Night in Question," and "Bullet in the Brain" (another all-time great.)
Reading Wolff is like taking a graduate level writing course on literary fi...more
Reading Wolff is like taking a graduate level writing course on literary fi...more
A great collection, on the whole. There are many gems here, to be sure, but there also seems to be a lack of impact in some. Firelight, for example, has a slow and haunting resonance, as do The Other Miller and Bullet in the Brain-- others seem to miss the mark, leaving me without (as one reviewer put it)"the distant, gradual ache of understanding" I've come to expect from Wolff. So great is my faith in Wolff's skill that I find myself flipping back through those works that seem to disappoint, p...more
I skipped around and read about half of the stories, maybe a little more, but I'm ready to be done now. The stories strike me as well-crafted in a traditional sense, but they're incredibly depressing. Wolff seems to writing more from a morally instructive perspective than a loving perspective, i.e. "Look at the decisions THESE people are making, look at what this couple thinks passes for a conversation, can you BELIEVE these people?!?!" It doesn't make for fun reading, and I can't imagine it was...more
1 like · like · see review
Feb 20, 2010
Adam Lubin
added it
It has become clearer lately that, until spring is fully here (along with its hours spent reading in the Park), short stories are my best bet. I think I finally read one too many interesting reviews of mr wolff, so I had to give him a try. So far, we're getting along quiet well, though I am finding them a bit *too* short. Clearly not flash fiction, but almost seems to be hitting the same note for me: art for art's sake. How few words (here: paragraphs) can he use and still call it an enjoyable s...more
This was the first time I'd read anything by Tobias Wolff, although I've undoubtedly read some of his pieces in The New Yorker without really realizing they were by him. You know, you read The New Yorker, you read a lot of great stuff and then you go to next week's issue. That's a careless mistake I won't make again, I'll be on the lookout for anything he writes.
A friend suggested I read one of the stories in the collection, one about a brother and sister who were abused as children, and the sis...more
A friend suggested I read one of the stories in the collection, one about a brother and sister who were abused as children, and the sis...more
Aug 30, 2012
Eliza Victoria
added it
The bullet is already in the brain; it won’t be outrun forever, or charmed to a halt. In the end it will do its work and leave the troubled skull behind, dragging its comet’s tail of memory and hope and talent and love into the marble hall of commerce. That can’t be helped.
- “Bullet in the Brain”, Tobias Wolff
Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain” is one of those stories that, no matter how many times I read it, will always bowl me over. Here, Anders, an obnoxious critic waiting in line inside a bank, is...more
- “Bullet in the Brain”, Tobias Wolff
Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain” is one of those stories that, no matter how many times I read it, will always bowl me over. Here, Anders, an obnoxious critic waiting in line inside a bank, is...more
These stories are carefully crafted, almost flawless. Wolff is an obvious mature writer who handles difficult topics deftly, raising tension but keeping the text smooth and safe. That is—if you do not feel safe in the story, you feel safe in the way the story is told, trusting that you will get to each point solidly as the story progresses. Immediately, I think of the story “Say Yes,” a quick piece with a couple washing dishes, and the subject of interracial relationships comes up. The husband a...more
Tobias Wolff is one of the finest short story writers alive today and I was eagerly awaiting his latest collection Our Story Begins. I was a little disappointed to see that it was “new and selected stories”-mostly selected stories. But it turns out that he has re-edited the selected stories and there were several from the one collection I have yet to read: In The Garden of North American Martyrs. This includes the excellent title story, which was the first Wolff story I ever read in an anthology...more
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news...
Master of the craft
Wolff's greatest hits so far share precision of language, humor, moral complexity
By Jenny Shank, Special to the Rocky
Published March 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
If any short story writer working today has earned the right to release his greatest hits, it's Tobias Wolff.
Wolff has been at the top of his game for a long time - so long that many young writers have probably grown old watching him hit homers while they sit on the bench, waiting for...more
Master of the craft
Wolff's greatest hits so far share precision of language, humor, moral complexity
By Jenny Shank, Special to the Rocky
Published March 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
If any short story writer working today has earned the right to release his greatest hits, it's Tobias Wolff.
Wolff has been at the top of his game for a long time - so long that many young writers have probably grown old watching him hit homers while they sit on the bench, waiting for...more
Toby Wolff is one of those writers--Richard Ford, Alice Munroe, Ian McEwan, and Phillip Roth are others--who always set me back on my heels with their unflinching, clear-eyed view of human aspiration and failure. This collection of Wolff's stories can be read front to back, and in every piece I found something to think hard about. There are some classics from Wolff's earlier work. "Hunters in the Snow"and "Desert Breakdown, 1968," for instance, are sobering reminders how characters can talk them...more
On the back of my copy of Tobias Wolff’s Our Story Begins, there is one blurb from the San Francisco Chronicle that proclaims his stories as “sublime art.” Now, for me at least, when you toss that one around (“sublime art”) you’re getting into code words for Chekhov. Now, Chekhov is Mr. Sublime himself. The fact that this sublimity can continue to exist through the filter of translation is nothing short of astounding. That said, let me lay this marker down, Wolff is no Chekhov. What you’ll find...more
I've been pecking away at this book for about half a year now and finally finished it. I would give Wolff five stars easily for his best stories ("Hunters in the Snow" and "Bullet in the Brain" are true gems of the genre; and his first collection, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, is truly great), but I have to say I was underwhelmed at times here, especially by the more recent stories. They are a mixed bag; some, like the final "Deep Kiss," have a lot of depth, yet in too many cases...more
I listened to this on audio cd. It is read by Anthony Heald, who did not do Tobias Wolff's stories any justice! However the stories were so well written that it actually made it easier to ignore Heald's flaws.
Very few of the stories were a little over my head, but I got the jist of them (i.e. Lavaithin).
The short stories in this book are:
-In the Garden of the North American Martyr
-Next Door
-Hunters in the Snow
-The Liar
-Soldier's Joy
-The Rich Brother
-Lavaithin
-Dessert Breakdown 1968
-Say Yes
-Morta...more
Very few of the stories were a little over my head, but I got the jist of them (i.e. Lavaithin).
The short stories in this book are:
-In the Garden of the North American Martyr
-Next Door
-Hunters in the Snow
-The Liar
-Soldier's Joy
-The Rich Brother
-Lavaithin
-Dessert Breakdown 1968
-Say Yes
-Morta...more
This is an amazing collection of short stories that anyone would enjoy. Wolff is capable of writing from the perspective of a diverse range of people of various ages, genders, stations in life, etc. with a true and natural voice. He can remember precisely what it was like to be a kid interacting with inscrutable and fallible parents, or a young parent, or a young lover, both the wronged and the wrong-doer. Some themes -- the military lifestyle, single-parent households, the death of a loved one...more
Wow, nearly all of them little polished gems. I liked the older ones better than the new ones, I think, and would like to sit down with some of my favorites and really look at the construction of each. They feel built, not in any artificial way but in a very careful structural fashion that works on a lot of levels at once. For short story folks, highly recommended.
1 like · like · see review
This book is so-so. Some of the stories aren't the best, and there is repetition from other collections of his. I enjoyed the new stories, though.
Here's one passage I underlined, from "Mortals," about an obituary writer. It kind of capture my mood a lot lately.
"Since I was still on the bottom rung in metro, I wrote a lot of obituaries. Some days they gave me a choice between that and marriage bulletins, but most of the time obits were all I did, one after another, morning to night. After four mo...more
Here's one passage I underlined, from "Mortals," about an obituary writer. It kind of capture my mood a lot lately.
"Since I was still on the bottom rung in metro, I wrote a lot of obituaries. Some days they gave me a choice between that and marriage bulletins, but most of the time obits were all I did, one after another, morning to night. After four mo...more
I attended a wonderful performance by Word for Word, a San Francisco-based professional acting troupe that narrated/acted out three of Tobias Wolff's short stories from this collection. An inspired performance that inspired me to pick up this book. Actually, I'm listening to the stories on audio during my commute (downloaded from the Northern California Digital Library/Overdrive - available for free from our Library).
I'm about half way into this collection of stories. The narrator (Anthony Heald...more
I'm about half way into this collection of stories. The narrator (Anthony Heald...more
Dec 02, 2011
Bill Phelps
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
to-read-research-narrative
Not a bad collection, but not one of the better ones I have read. It contained too many stories that end right when people "change direction" in life without a real indication of that new direction. Most of the stories also seem to indicate an underlying ideal that major life changes are affected mostly by responses to accidental and external factors. The best story in the collection was "A Mature Student", and perhaps I connected with that one because of my current academic enviornment.
I foun...more
I foun...more
These are piercing stories. Many of them are told by or about children of different ages, adolescents, but also adults. They usually start out in a state of hopelessness and are driven to despair by the end of the story, possibly elated by it.
Many stories juxtapose two different events, states or processes in the lives of their protagonists. This juxtaposition, in a subtle, irrational way defines precisely the person in question, like two points define a line. These people may be "unreliable", b...more
Many stories juxtapose two different events, states or processes in the lives of their protagonists. This juxtaposition, in a subtle, irrational way defines precisely the person in question, like two points define a line. These people may be "unreliable", b...more
A solid collection of stories from the one and only Tobias Wolff. Comprised of old and new, Wolff renders his stories in a voice so genuine and unselfconscious that you feel, at times, that the man is sitting right across from you, drinking a beer. My first encounter with Wolff was "This Boy's Life," and if you loved that memoir, you will most certainly enjoy this collection.
What I most admire about Wolff is his precision of the human psyche, of each character. He is disciplined, restrained, an...more
What I most admire about Wolff is his precision of the human psyche, of each character. He is disciplined, restrained, an...more
This new (2008) collection is a quarter century of Tobias Wolff, one of the country's greatest short story writers. His attention to details and subtle characterization make the moments here fascinating and heartbreaking. His characters feel more real and more genuine than most characters you will encounter in fiction. Wolff's compassion for them is evident, and it's hard for readers not to feel the same way about them. It's also hard not to identify with them, no matter their backgrounds. Styli...more
A completely satisfying collection of short stories. These are stories you sip slowly and savor while wrapped in a warm blanket on a rainy day. These stories are not specific, A to B type stories. These do not stop at mere plots and characters, or even surprise twists. Wolff manages to write about those moments you felt no one else has experienced, understood, or felt deeply about. These are stories you don't "get", there is no concrete lesson to be learned, but stories that trigger old, forgott...more
I loved this collection. I'd previously only read the novella "The Barracks Thief" - which I thought was superb and perfectly formed - so I was looking forward to reading some of Wolff's selected earlier stories (from anthologies I already wanted to check out, and still do) as well as the precious newer offerings.
Others here have reviewed more eloquently what you might find intriguing and beautiful in these many little gems of contemporary literature. I don't think I disliked a single one, but t...more
Others here have reviewed more eloquently what you might find intriguing and beautiful in these many little gems of contemporary literature. I don't think I disliked a single one, but t...more
Here's a speedy way to judge a short story collection. Scan back over the titles and see if you can recall the plot of each. If the stories were worth their weight in pulp, a few juicy scenes, images, or lines will bubble back up. I think time will bear out that I have taken a slight karmic tick upwards after finishing this. The best of these stories will find ample room in my spacious skull to stay for a while. Many of the stories by this strapping denim-clad man are damn near perfect. I would...more
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Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is a writer of fiction and nonfiction.
He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.
Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writ...more
More about Tobias Wolff...
He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.
Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writ...more
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“Reasons always came with a purpose, to give the appearance of a struggle between principle and desire. Principle had power only until you found what you had to have.”
—
3 people liked it
“You can’t be selfish. But we men-it’s a wonder we forget ourselves long enough to buy a birthday card. As for love... we can love, but we’re always forgetting.”
—
2 people liked it
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Oct 10, 2008 09:32am