book data
45 ratings,
4.64
average rating, 14 reviews
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published
November 8th 2007
by sunnyoutside
binding
Paperback, 104 pages
isbn
1934513032
(isbn13: 9781934513033)
description
In Breaking it Down, Rusty Barnes lays bare the lives of the vulnerable as they traverse the difficult paths of love. Short and punchy, these stories ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 97)
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avg 4.64
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in December, 2007
I had the pleasure of meeting author Rusty Barnes at the Boxcar Lounge in the East Village recently. This was the first of a new reading series hosted by Tuesday Shorts' Shelly Rich. He read three stories from his book Breaking it Down, an excellent collection of 18 flash fiction stories in a handy pocket-size paperback.
It's truly amazing what Barnes can accomplish with so few words. A story is considered flash fiction if it is not more than 1,000 words, and Barnes uses even less tha...more
It's truly amazing what Barnes can accomplish with so few words. A story is considered flash fiction if it is not more than 1,000 words, and Barnes uses even less tha...more
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Read in December, 2007
I really liked this collection of flash fiction, and I was impressed by the variety here: one piece is humorous, the next is gritty/violent/depressing, the next slightly surreal, and then you hit the gut-wrenching finality of genius in 'The Crash." God, that one is brilliant. (That sounds like vague blah-blah, doesn't it? But I really don't want to spoil the surprise by giving away too much of the plot(s)!)
I rarely read a collection by a writer who seems comfortable in so many d...more
I rarely read a collection by a writer who seems comfortable in so many d...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone
Everything about this book will surprise you ~ from its slender, itty-bitty size to the way Rusty Barnes manages to craft 18 stay-with-you-forever stories in less than a hundred of those itty-bitty pages.
When the book arrived, I picked it up and thought I'd run through it quickly ~ in an evening, say. But as I read, I found myself wanting, NEEDING to slow down and wait before moving on. I read "What Needs to Be Done," for instance, and couldn't bring myself to just plunge...more
When the book arrived, I picked it up and thought I'd run through it quickly ~ in an evening, say. But as I read, I found myself wanting, NEEDING to slow down and wait before moving on. I read "What Needs to Be Done," for instance, and couldn't bring myself to just plunge...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone who can read
Rusty Barnes proves with this gritty collection two very important points. First, that the short story is most assuredly not a dead art form. People, you can stop spreading that lie. Second he firmly shows me, a very picky woman, that a man can write brilliantly in a female voice. Maybe, just maybe, this book has given me a little more hope for the souls of every man. It is vivid and raw, edgy yet classy. I recommend it to my tattoo artist as well as to my mother.
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Read in February, 2008
Breaking it Down is genius, sort of the drunken bastard child of Breece Pancake and Raymond Carver, and filled with drowned children, adultery, dead dogs and ultrasounds.
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
people who enjoy well-crafted, thought-provoking flash fiction
As I read—or more accurately, devoured—Rusty Barnes’ collection of flash fiction, I couldn’t help thinking of an exquisite Japanese Buddhist meal with its a tray of tiny dishes, each serving up a tidbit of austere, perfectly-crafted, and ultimately enlightening fare. Fresh images and elegant prose make a bracing contrast to the gritty and all-too-real characters who populate these brief tales. Often unable to inarticulate their desires and despair, they ultimately do find the strength to...more
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Rusty Barnes can slip into any skin. He inhabits God as He shakes some paternal passion into Pink--who's got a Harley parked outside the obstetrician's, a pregnant girlfriend in the stirrups, and an unwanted sonogram in his hand. "You are not moving, and I understand that, beause I'm finally getting through to you," says God, who could almost be leaning in the doorway with a beer, "the least little bit of knowledge has cracked your brainpan, and buddy…" Barnes inhabits a hu...more
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Read in February, 2008
The grit of these stories stays with you for a long time, and better yet, these well written micro/flash stories are moving as well as unforgettable. Things are often not what they seem but in very creative ways. They can be opposite of where the reader thinks they are going or completely over the edge of the cliff the reader is balancing on.
The story "Beamer's Opera," is an amazing tapestry of work which can be viewed in more than one way. It, as all 18 of the...more
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Many thanks to sunnyoutside for publishing a book I can carry in my back pocket, and to Rusty Barnes for writing such a wonderful collection of stories. The characters in Breaking it Down--a collection of 18 very short stories--live on rural farms as well as behind the facade of well manicured lawns. The writing is sharp and clean, the situations often tragic, and the endings leave me touched by the humanity of characters driven to cheat on partners, ignore phone calls that may be from their chi...more
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A small, but handsome, book of short and hard stories I really enjoyed.
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2 comments
Read in December, 2007
Measuring in at 4 ½ by 5 ½ inches, Barnes' little book tells 18 stories that are both poignant and memorable. Barnes is a master of Flash Fiction, who says more in a paragraph than can usually be found in a page. (Read more on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3RTTR0PY5O...)
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Read in February, 2008
A magnificent read. Barnes' characters are full of longing and hope, even as they stand in dark or bleak places.
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
EVERYONE
wonderful characters, great prose, READ!
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bookshelves:
flash-sudden-and-micro-fictions,
short-stories-by-one-author,
will-definitely-read-again
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