The now-classic, utterly unique voice of Ann Beattie is so dry it throws off sparks, her eye endowed with the emotional equivalent of X-ray vision....
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reviews
Sep 20, 2009
Jim
rated it: 
I have yet to read an Ann Beattie book that I don't like. Part of me wants to give this 4 stars, some stories are definitely that, and some are 3's, maybe one 2 and one five also. My first preference of Ann Beattie's workse are her novels. Her short stories are powerful, tightly written, very brief. She reaches one or two layers into the character while her books are very fully revealing. If someone else attempted to write her characters stories it would be a depressing read. Her stories are lik
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Oct 24, 2008
Matt
rated it: 
I think I mentioned this somewhere else, but I'd never read Beattie, even though it feels like I spent most of the nineties in writing programs trying to figure out what to do with the legacy of dirty realism (the programs and me both trying to figure it out-- syntactic ambiguity can be your friend). I'm not sure what I expected out of this, but since Susan Lohafer seemed so enamored with her, I thought I'd give Beattie a whirl, and I'm glad I did....
The stories aren't what I expecte More...
The stories aren't what I expecte More...
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Aug 11, 2010
Heather
rated it: 
For years I've been hearing what a master of the shorty story Ann Beattie is. This was my first foray into her fictive realm, and it was disappointing (I confess I did not read the entire collection). All the stories were about privileged white hetero couples whining about their relationships. Not too different from what you'd find in ABC primetime. Skip it.
Aug 11, 2010
Jody
rated it: 
This is the book that made me want to write short stories. Every story in it is perfect, fully formed. I wish Beattie's other collections and novels (the ones I've read, at least) came close to the achievement of this one.
Jul 11, 2009
mark
rated it:
people in the middle of changes. like reading a collected review of assorted slow burning mid-life crises, put to the page by a dry-eyed, not-exactly sympathetic observer. humans are sad!
Oct 03, 2008
Laura
rated it:
"i believe all the wicked fairy-tale crap. your heart will break. your house will burn." -ann beattie
this book is THE BOMB. it was published the year i was born. i got a really old used copy at a bookstore in virginia. it is all about people in their late 20's and early 30's. they smoke pot, get divorced, die in motorcycle accidents, have dinner parties, and love affairs. each story has about three characters too many. the sentences are weird and confusing. the endings More...
this book is THE BOMB. it was published the year i was born. i got a really old used copy at a bookstore in virginia. it is all about people in their late 20's and early 30's. they smoke pot, get divorced, die in motorcycle accidents, have dinner parties, and love affairs. each story has about three characters too many. the sentences are weird and confusing. the endings More...
Apr 16, 2009
Elizabeth
rated it:
The best story in this compilation of short stories was "Playback." Insanely good.
Nov 25, 2011
robert
rated it:
the stars are only for the title story. greenwich time merits 3, cinderella waltz 1, and the rest were unread by me
Mar 24, 2008
Erin
rated it:
Best stories in my opinion are "Greenwich Time" and "The Burning House," which happen to be the last two.
Jul 08, 2008
Dave
rated it:
jacklighting is still my all time piece of favorite contemporary short fiction.
Dec 17, 2009
Cherie
rated it:
B Some of the stories were really great, but other ones were mediocre and skimmed those
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