Last Night: Stories
by James Salter
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 257)
Wow. May I repeat myself? WOW!
Last Night is clearly the work of a writer with the perspective of years, the long view. The stories often focus upon those pivotal moments that, in retrospect, shape a life – missed chances, wrong paths taken, that one opportunity that a character did or didn’t take . . . Mysterious and evocative, and utterly beautiful in its language . . . Salter can toss off sentences that stop me cold in their lyric precision seemingly at will, two or three on every pag...more
Last Night is clearly the work of a writer with the perspective of years, the long view. The stories often focus upon those pivotal moments that, in retrospect, shape a life – missed chances, wrong paths taken, that one opportunity that a character did or didn’t take . . . Mysterious and evocative, and utterly beautiful in its language . . . Salter can toss off sentences that stop me cold in their lyric precision seemingly at will, two or three on every pag...more
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Read in January, 2007
I am a great fan of Salter's...I love his writing and these stories are understated and rich at the same time. Salter is especially good with relationships, what gets said and not said. A passage I like: 'There was a moth on the windshield as they headed back. They were going forty miles an hour: its wings were quivering in what must have been a titanic wind as it resisted being borne into the night. Still, stubbornly, it clung, like gray ash but thick and trembling.--What are you doing? she ...more
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Read in May, 2008
Salter is incredible. I found him through Ondaatje and admire them equally; both can throw in a simple phrase that will turn your heart over in the middle of a paragraph. The stories in this collection are about love and loss and the beauty that comes from life because – only because – of its imperfections. The message becomes despondent towards the end of the book– and I began to feel that all is hopeless in the world, that we are unable to actualize what we want. But the trick with Salt...more
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Read in July, 2007
I read this book in a day and a third. Although the subject matter is somewhat stale (marriages dissolving, bored women, drunk men thinking of past lovers),
the stories are absorbing, and the prose is lovely: clean, concise, and structurally pleasing and surprising--
"They had twin beds in the apartment off Venice Boulevard and also that summer in Malibu in a house rented from an actor who had gone on location for six weeks. There was a leafy passageway that led to the beach. She didn't...more
the stories are absorbing, and the prose is lovely: clean, concise, and structurally pleasing and surprising--
"They had twin beds in the apartment off Venice Boulevard and also that summer in Malibu in a house rented from an actor who had gone on location for six weeks. There was a leafy passageway that led to the beach. She didn't...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
lovers, breathers
Beautiful. There was not a story I wasn't impressed with.
Salter's prose is simple and gorgeous. His talented writing makes the stories more about the emotion than anything else. His stories embody love, passion, lust and the damage these feelings bring. The emotion within his stories is so incredible. I could see myself reading these over and over in the years to come; enjoying them in a different way each time.
There are so many wonderful things to say about these stories. But really, a l...more
Salter's prose is simple and gorgeous. His talented writing makes the stories more about the emotion than anything else. His stories embody love, passion, lust and the damage these feelings bring. The emotion within his stories is so incredible. I could see myself reading these over and over in the years to come; enjoying them in a different way each time.
There are so many wonderful things to say about these stories. But really, a l...more
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Read in May, 2008
Like any story collection, you win some, you lose some. Some of these were "beautifully rendered" as they say, but others rang false for me. The writing just wasn't as potent as that in A Sport and a Pastime. What made that work was the poetic virility of the sex scenes. The reader isn't nearly as affected by this collection, though Salter definitely knows how to write a piece of short fiction, and short fiction is often the hardest kind to write.
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If I were to judge by it's first three stories, I'd give it 5 stars.
"Eyes of the Stars" and "My Lord You" are impecable, and have moved me a
a little further along in understanding what a short story should be.
His language is sparse, taut and almost poetic.
However, when his stories fail, there is not enough language to keep them
from falling apart or into cliche.
The title story, sadly, is the worst example of this.
"Eyes of the Stars" and "My Lord You" are impecable, and have moved me a
a little further along in understanding what a short story should be.
His language is sparse, taut and almost poetic.
However, when his stories fail, there is not enough language to keep them
from falling apart or into cliche.
The title story, sadly, is the worst example of this.
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3 comments
I may yet upgrade this to 3 stars. I think he writes extremely well. It's just that I really didn't much care for, or about, most of his characters. The age-old question - should unlikeable characters bias one's review?
Certainly, in this instance, it is causing me to rate this book more negatively than it probably deserves. because he really does write beautifully. So, caveat lector, as far as this review goes.
Certainly, in this instance, it is causing me to rate this book more negatively than it probably deserves. because he really does write beautifully. So, caveat lector, as far as this review goes.
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3 comments
another short story collection where the title story by itself is worth the price of admission. most of the other stories don't have quite as good a hook as "Last Night" (i'm not giving away anything by saying that it involves a man helping his wife commit suicide), but they never fail to at least be interesting in their explorations of love gone mostly-bad.
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Salter can swiftly summarize the lives of his characters in the tautest, leanest prose you can imagine. The problems of Last Night's characters are distinctly adult (there's plenty of adultery Richard Ford-style) but the beauty of them is that their depth is so emotionally simple as to be sometimes overwhelming.
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Lovely, clean line of prose. In that way, Salter's collection reminds me of Barry Lopez's Winter Count, without as much attention to atmosphere and more to plot. I can't say these were characters I aligned with much, and the emotion was very distant, but it's hard to argue with the writing and plot formation.
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Read in May, 2005
There's something elegant in Salter's prose; a clean precision. It is almost as if he reduces the words, the narrative even, so as to get to the real story - or, what is really meaningful.
These stories, which are linked by the idea of consequences, are a great place to start reading Salter.
These stories, which are linked by the idea of consequences, are a great place to start reading Salter.
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Read in July, 2008
Salter is an astounding short story writer, a genuine master. Each story will moves with grace and leaves a stinging impression. Reading Salter is like smoking a Camel straight down to the embers - "Last Night", the title story in this collection is like smoking the entire pack.
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Read in July, 2007
Short stories about love, lust, and loss. Gorgeous prose. Complex characterization of the women almost makes up for them all being seen externally when it comes to sex.
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Read in March, 2008
It's very Salter, but where he danced around anal sex in "A Sport and A Pastime" he is much more graphic here. His writing has a bit more Carver to it. Worth reading.
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Read in January, 2007
Salter is truly a craftsman and this series of short stories a masterpiece. Hardly uplifting but encapsulates the human condition with such grace and ease.
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Wonderfully written and sad stories. My favorite was of the husband who gave up the love of his life to be with his wife and son.
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Read in September, 2008
Salter is meticulous. He hones each sentence and places it perfectly. He can give a clear impression of an entire life with a few short sentences.
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Read in April, 2008
insightful stories about passion. i am looking forward to reading more of salter's works.
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Read in January, 2008
Beautiful and haunting stories. My favorite one was a story called My Lord You.
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