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174th out of 178 books
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In the Bedroom
The seven stories collected here–including “Killings,” the basis for Todd Field’s award-winning film In the Bedroom–showcase legendary writer Andre Dubus’s sheer narrative mastery in a book of quietly staggering emotional power.
A father in mourning contemplates the unthinkable as the only way to allay his grief. A boy must learn to care for his younger brother when their m...more
A father in mourning contemplates the unthinkable as the only way to allay his grief. A boy must learn to care for his younger brother when their m...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
January 29th 2002
by Vintage
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My ESL student and I are now reading this book together. She (we) had enjoyed another of Dubus's books, Dancing After Hours: Stories , so this seemed like a logical choice. This has helped to boost her vocabulary, but occasionally the symbolism requires discussing, which is also beneficial to her. My student has remarked with a note of humor several times how long many of his sentences are!
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Dubus had the exceptional tal...more
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Dubus had the exceptional tal...more
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I find the same things wrong with Dubus that I find with Alice Munro. Both are clearly talented, gifted writers, I just can't get into really bloated short stories. I always want my short stories under 20 pages long. My feeling is that there has GOT to be some superflous stuff going on if you can't write the story in less than 10,000 words. If a "short story" is going to be 30+ pages, it better be damn good and tight as all get out. I feel the same away about novels... if someone ...more
In the Bedroom is a series of seven short stories published by Vintage Contemporaries. In the book, Dubus plays with perspective, dialogue, and point of view and asserts complete control over the language. He truly knows how people speak and think which is reflective in his writing. Another thing the stories shared was dark content and a plagued main character. Instead of off-putting readers with melodrama, Dubus’s honesty draws them in. Each character could easily be any one of us.
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Dubis, Andre. In the Bedroom. New York: Vintage Books, 2002.
“In the Bedroom” by Andre Dubis is a collection of seven of Dubis’ short stories. Each short story tells a tale of everyday life in the perspective of a character described so well that the reader may think, just for a short while, that they are that character. Dubis writes about the most critical part of a characters life, one that defines them. He writes about the raw moment of truth. For any fiction story, this is as rea...more
“In the Bedroom” by Andre Dubis is a collection of seven of Dubis’ short stories. Each short story tells a tale of everyday life in the perspective of a character described so well that the reader may think, just for a short while, that they are that character. Dubis writes about the most critical part of a characters life, one that defines them. He writes about the raw moment of truth. For any fiction story, this is as rea...more
This collection is a series of short stories by Dubus culled from his other works and is ostensibly patterned around stories that handle people at pivotal moments in their lives. I found this theme to be what was ultimately so moving about this collection of work, particularly reading the stories all together.
The first story, "Killings" was the basis for the movie In The Bedroom as the preface by Todd Field illuminates, and incidentally, I found "Killings" to be o...more
The first story, "Killings" was the basis for the movie In The Bedroom as the preface by Todd Field illuminates, and incidentally, I found "Killings" to be o...more
"A Father's Story" is on my top 5 short stories list. It might even be #1. Dubus's writing makes me ache - it is so beautiful, revelatory, and yet desperate, and searching. Really transcendent stuff. It's tough to make readers feel very deeply--especially in 25 pages or less--and in these stories, the author succeeds.
The first collection I read by Andre Dubus was "We Don't Live Here Anymore" -- which is more a novella than a short story collection, and which I bought because I fell in love with the film. That's a terrible way to be introduced to a writer, I know -- but I was only 20 at the time and had little reason to pick up a short story collection which speaks mostly about marriages and lives lost to quotidian dilemma. Anyway. I read the book, and found myself in awe of his honest portrayal of ...more
I was given this as an introduction to short stories, because I have not been a huge fan of them. I now like them. I would recommend this book but preface any recommendation by saying, please be in the mood for some dark stories.
I don't usually react emotionally to fiction. I did with this book. It broke my heart to read these stories, and the writing perfectly sets the scene and creates an atmosphere. I could actually feel these stories.
Watched In the Bedroom last night and loved it. Why didn't they call the police eariier and get a restraining order? Surprise ending for sure. Learned that a lobster trap is called a bedroom.
I had already read a few of these in various creative writing classes, but I will never forget the last five stories in this book. Unbelievable. I need to go out and hoard the rest of his books.
"A Father's Story" is probably my pick for the quintessential short story. It has everything. Extraordinary writer. Would love to see an omnibus of all his works.
Andre Dubus II is the FATHER of the author of "House of Sand and Fog" (AD III). The elder wrote primarily short fiction, as in this collecton.
I picked this up to read the story "Killings" on which the movie "In the Bedroom" is based, and it did not disappoint!
Seven short stories-wonderful!
Read "The Killings" and really liked it.
Dalton Hirshorn
rated it
Recommends it for:
fans of John Cheever, people who like reading about emotions laid bare
It's short stories, so I can't really get into the plot, but WOW! This guy is great! I can't believe I've never read him before. Even though he was actually a Cajun, his style is very New England (Dubus did spend most of his adult life Massachusetts and New Hampshire). Some comic relief might have been nice, as there is a lot of heavy shit here: death, divorce, premeditated killing. It's a good thing this collection closes with an optimistic, uplifting story.
Short stories don't get any better than the ones written by Dubus.
My favorite stories in this collection are: Winter Father, Rose, and The Fat Girl. They moved me very much, and I usually find that mostly I am unmoved with stories that deal with the same difficulties of marriage, abuse, or addiction. Dubus writes characters that are revealing and vulnerable. They are always afraid and that is something we all can relate to. Dubus is becoming maybe my second favorite author.
Breathtaking and grim, I was halfway through the first story, "Killings," when I realized that it had been made into the film "In the Bedroom," which is the title of this collection, but there is no story here with that title. I loved most of the stories and appreciated the heartbreaking detail that Dubus can provide about ordinary people facing extraordinary emotional challenges.
i really enjoyed this book of short stories. everyone of his characters is terribly flawed and human. each with a primary motivation but so many secondary layers which motivate them. i love that i know where each story is actually taking place since all the stories are located in Boston or the greater Boston area.
this is the next slim volume of stories to find it's way into my pocket, my gym bag, my shopping bag, to get pulled out while on a bus or waiting for an appointment. i've read In The Bedroom and one other. both were excellent.
a really good group of stories!
a really good group of stories!
Love some stories more than others--"The Killings" was so haunting and stark and "The Fat Girl" was an unexpected delight.
Despite the name this collection of short stories has little to do with sex, if anything at all. The movie "In the Bedroom" (which I recommend) is based off Dubus' short story "Killings."
Great book of short stories from my favorite modern author. Don't let the title scare you off, it is not that scandalous. These are all modern problems, modern situations, etc. Enjoy!
I LOVED it. Gripping stories/narratives. I loved the story of "Rose and the Winter Father."
It was hard to get into the stories at first, and sometimes took several pages.
It was hard to get into the stories at first, and sometimes took several pages.
Excellent. His descriptions of, not just feelings, but states of being are descriptive without being overly meticulous - unlike a Thomas Mann, or someone like that. Very good.
His short stories are sad and very real. They allow one to be able to participate in the situation through great narrative feelings.
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Award-winning author Andre Dubus (1936–1999) has been hailed as one of the best American short story writers of the twentieth century. Dubus’s collections of short fiction include Separate Flights (1975), Adultery & Other Choices (1977), and Dancing After Hours (1996), which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Another collection, Finding a Girl in America, features the story “Killin...more
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“The office was large, with many women and men at desks, and she learned their names, and presented to them an amiability she assumed upon entering the building. Often she felt that her smiles, and her feigned interest in people's anecdotes about commuting and complaints about colds, were an implicit and draining part of her job. A decade later she would know that spending time with people and being unable either to speak from her heart or to listen with it was an imperceptible bleeding of her spirit.”
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“When Jennifer was here in the summer, they were at the house most days. I would say generally that as they got older they became quieter, and though I enjoyed both, I sometimes missed the giggles and shouts. The quiet voices, just low enough for me not to hear from wherever I was, rising and failing in proportion to my distance from them, frightened me. Not that I believed they were planning or recounting anything really wicked, but there was a female seriousness about them, and it was secretive, and of course I thought: love, sex. But it was more than that: it was womanhood they were entering, the deep forest of it, and no matter how many women and men too are saying these days that there is little difference between us, the truth is that men find their way into that forest only on clearly marked trails, while women move about in it like birds. So hearing Jennifer and her friends talking so quietly, yet intensely, I wanted very much to have a wife.”
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