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Charity
by
Mark Richard
With Charity, Mark Richard again secures the distinction of poet laureate of the orphaned poor, the broken, the deceived, and the unrelieved. In stylistic brilliance, he renders their conditions with grace and compassion, and redeems and transports their tragedy with wicked humor.
In the much-anthologized "The Birds for Christmas," two hospitalized boys beg a night nurse to...more
In the much-anthologized "The Birds for Christmas," two hospitalized boys beg a night nurse to...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
August 17th 1999
by Anchor
(first published 1998)
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Mark Richard has such a marvelous relationship with language -his descriptions are a little out of the ordinary but so evokative. so bang on. his short story, Gentlemen's Agreement is likely my favourite short story of all time.
Jimmy
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Real-deal beautiful stuff. "The Birds for Christmas" is one of my favorite stories ever. These stories are natural and forever, old as time and painful and hilarious. All of life in these, maybe.
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Great read. Bold storytelling, great language.
Great. Great.
really more like a three and a half cause some of the stories are a bit flat while trying to be strange yet well developed. however the stories that are good are like super-original, flannery o'connor, anthologize-me type good. still well worth the read just for the over adjectified stories.
The one about slinging condoms full of water at corny gangsters from the balcony you can't afford is one of the best short stories I've ever read.
These are definitely some unusual stories. The narrative voice as well as the stories themselves are a little offbeat, original to Richard. Very enjoyable. He has a good grasp of the voice for his child characters in the stories in the collection that involve such characters. An enjoyable collection to read.
Wonderful author! It's a short collection, but all the stories are quite visceral and surprising. Maybe even grotesque in some sense, but the writing is sparse so it isn't overmuch. Great narrative and unusual style. I especially loved the first story "Gentleman's agreement" and the last, "Memorial Day" -- Richard seems to be at his storytelling best when he's handling youth.
Though he later ran off to write for "Party of Five", Mark Richard was the Ric Flair of literary short fiction for a while. Much like Flair, Richard has been known to fly in jet planes and steal kisses.
"Gentleman's Agreement," and "Where Blue is Blue" are two of my favorite stories ever.
This man writes amazing stories.
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