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Stories in the Worst Way
by
Gary Lutz
OUT OF BODY moves beyond the front lawn of domestic realism. These writers evoke everything from disquiet to whimsy, from the jarring to the soothing: variously urgent, kaleidoscopic, infantile, or elliptical.
Paperback, 152 pages
Published
September 1st 2002
by 3rd Bed Books
(first published 1996)
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I loved and hated being out of my depth here, with Gary Lutz and his seemingly gender less protagonists. There are 37 individual pieces, some as short as two paragraphs, all of these offer strange and wonderful impressions, shadows of thought, riddles to unravel.
Rarely was my keenness for narrative sated, but my imagination's larger hunger for ideas, theories and truths had more than enough to chew over.
I do wish that I got more from the experience than I did, I prefer inspiration over admira...more
Rarely was my keenness for narrative sated, but my imagination's larger hunger for ideas, theories and truths had more than enough to chew over.
I do wish that I got more from the experience than I did, I prefer inspiration over admira...more
Jan 24, 2008
April
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
not just anyone, certainly not the sensitive
The way this guy writes, the way he crafts with words, changed the way I verbally process the world. I've never said this about an author nor will I say it about another.
May 15, 2008
heather
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
short fiction enthusiasts, Lydia Davis fans
Recommended to heather by:
Powell's
I have yet to recover from reading this book, in terms of wanting to rethink some of my own writing in light of how impressed I am by Lutz's prose. In one week, I read it, and gifted another copy as a birthday present (she loved it; she is, like me, a short-form fiction writer). Jesus, though. I feel like these rough-hewn short stories have had an indelible effect on my writing style and I find myself trying to mine my daily life for a Lutz story. I love this book in a way I can't articulate. I...more
Each sentence surprises and, even better, undermines me. Each sentence makes poetry blush, that prose should so outstrip its ability to compress an entire world into a single line. (A reversed world at that.)
"He would enter a room, odor things differently, then come out with whatever it was."
"My ex-wife: I could tell that a lot of thought had gone into the things she had taken out of me."
Plotwise, not much going on here. But Lutz sets some amazing scenes. I like the gender-fuck (though there i...more
"He would enter a room, odor things differently, then come out with whatever it was."
"My ex-wife: I could tell that a lot of thought had gone into the things she had taken out of me."
Plotwise, not much going on here. But Lutz sets some amazing scenes. I like the gender-fuck (though there i...more
This is a book about how confused the world is when you leave it to it's own devices.
I would love to leave this review at that, but first it looks lazy and secondly next to a review whining about not being able to tell the gender of the characters is is sadly unconvincing. This book is absolutely fantastic just as a start. Not to say it isn't a difficult book to read. It is harder to read than joyce and you can't tell the genders of the characters. but perhaps that doesn't actually matter. This...more
I would love to leave this review at that, but first it looks lazy and secondly next to a review whining about not being able to tell the gender of the characters is is sadly unconvincing. This book is absolutely fantastic just as a start. Not to say it isn't a difficult book to read. It is harder to read than joyce and you can't tell the genders of the characters. but perhaps that doesn't actually matter. This...more
Some of these stories are really good, and some there is just no point of reference to grab a hold of the story by. There is something very alienating about even the most welcoming stories here, a lot of times you have no idea of even the gender of the first person narrator, and you feel like you're reading something quite dirty, but it's impossible to really put your finger on what the dirtiness is.
And then there is the language. Lutz likes to use the big antiquated words that you have to look...more
And then there is the language. Lutz likes to use the big antiquated words that you have to look...more
really hard to assign this book a star rating. on the one hand, it was a serious chore to read, all the stories blending into each other, and all done at exactly the same (one-note) emotional pitch, no range at all and all seemingly done just to impress me with what a pathetic loser the guy is. on the other hand, it was truly amazing in that he's definitely his own writer, doing his own thing, unlike anybody else... though that went out the window at the very moment the word "nabokov" entered my...more
Lutz is a writer of lyric sentences. He composes one, then another, then another, then another, then another. Eventually, or finally, these sentences obtain to some kind of fever. The story which these sentences build then breaks. The story ends, abruptly or not, but it ends. Lutz was championed by Gordon Lish, which makes eminent sense, though he materially reminds me at certain moments of Harold Brodkey. (Brodkey was also championed by Gordon Lish at one point, but they had a falling out over...more
The whole time I was reading Stories in the Worst Way, I felt like my hat was being blown off my head but it was somehow still there – like Indiana Jones’ hat. Better. Reading these stories is like riding the outside of a runaway tank in a wilderness of awesome explosions. I think it is my fave story collection since Jesus' Son. Someday when I’m cool, I wanna teach a creative writing class called “It’s the 90s(!)” and Gary Lutz will be front and center along with Anne Carson, Denis Johnson, Davi...more
Six-and-a-quarter stars. This is important. Knowing that this kind of fiction exists in the world is important. Enjoying each sentence, being thrilled at the start, the end, and at every punctuational checkpoint felt important. Time doesn't matter in these stories. Character doesn't matter. Or, more so, these things don't need to be fussed over. They exist whenever and for however long. The sickest ride I've taken. Required reading for Generation Bitch, and if there needs to be a course explaini...more
Lutz has a style that shows form can be all. People review his content as grossly honest, which I don't completely agree with or don't particularly find steering in reviews anyway.
His control of word play is so poignant I lost most cares about aspects as subjective as honesty or truth. He switches up subjects with articles and all other grammatical forms to consistently reposition gender, sexuality, intimacy or work while remotely storytelling his life.
His distance was sometimes annoying which m...more
His control of word play is so poignant I lost most cares about aspects as subjective as honesty or truth. He switches up subjects with articles and all other grammatical forms to consistently reposition gender, sexuality, intimacy or work while remotely storytelling his life.
His distance was sometimes annoying which m...more
I must be too sensitive to properly enjoy this.
I picked this up and read the first piece three or four times. I found some of his other pieces at 5_Trope http://www.webdelsol.com/5_trope/ whose dormancy has left contemporary literature in a state akin to Detroit's stately mansions http://www.time.com/time/photogallery....
That was not my first impression. I considered myself an avant-garde reader of the highest order. I read contemporary Frenchmen (in translation) and have poured over many a Latin American from Magic Realism to the dark rece...more
That was not my first impression. I considered myself an avant-garde reader of the highest order. I read contemporary Frenchmen (in translation) and have poured over many a Latin American from Magic Realism to the dark rece...more
from DEVOTIONS:
"My first wife, my blood wife, had no background to speak of, no relations, customs, scenery. She arrived sharp-spined and already summed up. We ate out all them time and spoke lengthily, vocabularily, about whatever got set before us, especially the meat, with its dragged-out under-song of lifelong life. There was no end to the occasions on which the woman and I got along in public and in private. I remember a smell she had on just her arms, an endearment, something that she been...more
"My first wife, my blood wife, had no background to speak of, no relations, customs, scenery. She arrived sharp-spined and already summed up. We ate out all them time and spoke lengthily, vocabularily, about whatever got set before us, especially the meat, with its dragged-out under-song of lifelong life. There was no end to the occasions on which the woman and I got along in public and in private. I remember a smell she had on just her arms, an endearment, something that she been...more
The line on this guy Lutz is that he writes amazing sentences, which I find to be true--though I'd extend that to say he also writes amazing clusters of sentences, which may or may not assume the form of paragraphs. The counterline is that his stories are pretentious and nonsensical, which I also find to be true, at least part of the time.
Here's the thing: I recommend this book, but you can basically just flip to any random page and start reading sentences. There is an interchangeability not jus...more
Here's the thing: I recommend this book, but you can basically just flip to any random page and start reading sentences. There is an interchangeability not jus...more
There is a great bit of wisdom uttered by Lee, the doomed narrator of Boris Vian’s I Spit On Your Graves:
“It costs a lot to put out a book, and all the dressing is for a good purpose — it shows clearly too that most people don’t care about getting good books: what they really want is to have read the book recommended by their club, the book of the moment, and they don’t give a rap about the contents.”
It is a very spot-on sentiment and one that sadly pertains to Gary Lutz’s Stories in the Worst W...more
“It costs a lot to put out a book, and all the dressing is for a good purpose — it shows clearly too that most people don’t care about getting good books: what they really want is to have read the book recommended by their club, the book of the moment, and they don’t give a rap about the contents.”
It is a very spot-on sentiment and one that sadly pertains to Gary Lutz’s Stories in the Worst W...more
Lutz is a magician with verbs; creating new ones, using old ones in unexpected ways, etc. He tries mightily to do the same with adjectives and adverbs, which I found more often annoying than impressive, but still, there's probably not more than a handful of sentences in this book that you could find anywhere else.
As for plots, characters, emotional resonance, look elsewhere. Lutz isn't interested in that stuff. These are stories in the worst way, and in the loosest sense of the word - objects ma...more
As for plots, characters, emotional resonance, look elsewhere. Lutz isn't interested in that stuff. These are stories in the worst way, and in the loosest sense of the word - objects ma...more
With almost every book I read, I keep short notes on my bookmark. For as long as I've been reading, I've been saving these single bookmarks as physical memory for the books I've read. This is the first time I've ever needed a second bookmark, and it even happened before I was half done.
I bought this book purely based on the cover and it far surpassed my expectations. I'm sure from this point on few other short stories will stack up. These stories are quite amazing and left me a little dumbstruc...more
I bought this book purely based on the cover and it far surpassed my expectations. I'm sure from this point on few other short stories will stack up. These stories are quite amazing and left me a little dumbstruc...more
language, yes. my god, yes, yes, yes. distant voice, not really. it felt like compressed mp3s. or like flipping through a family album with an amnesiac who still possesses a brilliant grip on language. stories, no. i can see why Lutz said he'd never write a novel. what would he write about that wasn't already in this collection 4x over?
but seriously, the language. my god. read this book and marvel.
but seriously, the language. my god. read this book and marvel.
Is it disingenuous to rate something as "Read" if you haven't read it cover to cover? Lutz's talent reminds me a bit of the painter Luc Tuymans. There's grayness upon grayness upon grayness, distinctions achieved through an incredible proficiency with the English language and proficiency with the lesser arcana of sentence mechanics. The dangers of a certain form of consciousness, intelligence bleak intelligence hosted in the same body as a leaky anus. Reading only the first few stories, one know...more
Gary Lutz is like my best bad boyfriend - Compelling as hell, he sweeps in like a tornado and rearranges my molecules and exits suddenly, leaving me feeling all tingly and wrong.
He is, as others say here, a master of sentences. A sentence-slinger on the Barry Hannah spectrum. I often read a sentence or two and have to turn away from the page, to digest what I've just read, for ten minutes, or for a whole day. Some of these stories are only four or five sentences on a page. They still eat like a...more
He is, as others say here, a master of sentences. A sentence-slinger on the Barry Hannah spectrum. I often read a sentence or two and have to turn away from the page, to digest what I've just read, for ten minutes, or for a whole day. Some of these stories are only four or five sentences on a page. They still eat like a...more
Jan 31, 2009
Bronwen
added it
Depressing lives, trapped in bodies, disconnected. Strange details.
No received language. Each word arrives singly and potently: “jinkly bickering music we frittered”
Lines hit home:
“Every song was the worst way I could think of to ask for what I did not yet know how not to want.”
No received language. Each word arrives singly and potently: “jinkly bickering music we frittered”
Lines hit home:
“Every song was the worst way I could think of to ask for what I did not yet know how not to want.”
Perhaps the most gripping collection of contemporary short stories I've ever read. Read these and then be thankful for your sheltered, tranquil life where living in denial is the greatest thing you have ever accomplished. If you don't like this book then may you be sentenced to be exposed before your peers.
A really good book. Basically all the other reviews will tell you about how he does amazing stuff with words. But I just wanted to tell you that my favorite story is Recessional. Because that story, ladies and gentlemen... is good.
Alternates between haunting and annoying. Some of these surreal slices-of-life were jarring and scared me good and made me laugh all at the same time. Others just seemed like writing exercises or dares.
So good! So good! His style is beautiful. His technique is profound and inspiring. I love his work.
Pretty amazing hyper-stylized language. Think I'm gonna pick this one up again and finish it off.
Sometimes I liked his writing a lot. Sometimes it was annoying or unsatisfying. Either way, it was pretty weird. Here's an excerpt!
"In the parking lot, I met a man carrying a basketful of laundry. He explained that he had just washed his clothes but there was something unutterably troubling and unfinished about what had happened. His laundry was not done, he said; it was in error. He set the basket down and tugged a pair of washed-looking pants from the tangle and shook them out in my direction....more
"In the parking lot, I met a man carrying a basketful of laundry. He explained that he had just washed his clothes but there was something unutterably troubling and unfinished about what had happened. His laundry was not done, he said; it was in error. He set the basket down and tugged a pair of washed-looking pants from the tangle and shook them out in my direction....more
May 23, 2009
Tara
marked it as to-read
Been meaning to read this for about a year now...catch up!
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“Because some days the world holds true at the drop of a hat, don't you find? Things favor themselves: whatever you reach for - a shimmered arm, or parts unknown - is ready, finally, to have itself be handled.”
—
5 people liked it
“Then came nights when, lying awake beside my final wife, I would spend too much time putting my finger on what was wrong. I was wearing the finger out.
What was wrong was very simple.
Sometimes her life and mine fell on the same day.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
What was wrong was very simple.
Sometimes her life and mine fell on the same day.”
Dec 29, 2012 07:39am