In his bestselling and lavishly praised first book of stories, Adam Haslett explores lives that appear shuttered by loss and discovers entire world...
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May 11, 2008
James
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If you are a fan of mental disorders rendered honestly in a modern world, here you go!
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Mar 31, 2011
Patrick
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This was not one of my favorite books, but it does stand as one of the more interesting, challenging collections I've read, mostly because Haslett's fiction delves into highly charged issues without sacrificing narrative integrity but also because Haslett's prose is so perplexing, at once seeming carefully composed and ostentatiously extravagant in its use of detail.
Haslett explores mental illness and homosexuality as sources of societal stigma, following his characters as they stru More...
Haslett explores mental illness and homosexuality as sources of societal stigma, following his characters as they stru More...
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Apr 20, 2008
Chad
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
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Jun 25, 2011
Jacob
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I bought this collection on a whim a few years ago--found it cheap at an online sale--but didn’t expect much from it. Something about it, the cover or the title or something else, discouraged me from reading it. Then, a while ago, I read “Notes to My Biographer,” about an old inventor with an unspecified mental illness trying to reconcile with his gay son, and still wasn’t impressed. But I’ve been on a short story marathon for the past year, so I thought I should give the book another try.
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Mar 20, 2009
Jeff
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Perhaps i had high expectations for this book, or high hopes, as my expectations of anything are generally pretty low. Or perhaps i was biased by the silly picture of the author on the back, with that pseudo-Truman Capote thing going on. Everything i'd heard described this as genius, the next great writer, etc.. and there is definitely talent here. But i found it all a bit too controlled, especially the humor, which i recognized as humor, and appreciated a certain cleverness in the humor, but i
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Jul 03, 2010
Marika
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Again courtesy of Sue, I have recently finished You Are not a Stranger Here. It is a collection of short stories with the running theme of mental illness. Might not be for everyone (!!) but I definitely enjoyed it. The characters' problems rum the gamut: acute to chronic, depression, grief, schizophrenia, manic.
I especially loved the inside view of a manic depressive's manic state. It puts my good days / bad days cycle to shame! I can have a few days of what I would consider amazing More...
I especially loved the inside view of a manic depressive's manic state. It puts my good days / bad days cycle to shame! I can have a few days of what I would consider amazing More...
Mar 17, 2010
Raul
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Saw him read from his new novel yesterday. Ultimately, his writing strikes me as a little bland. He's good with character and in this collection he does some nifty experimenting, but there's something a little careful and restrained about even his experiments. His stuff seems over-workshopped. I'd compare him to Jonathan Franzen--the poor man's version.
There is one truly great story in this collection, though: Devotion. It's about a brother's betrayal of his sister and the long- More...
There is one truly great story in this collection, though: Devotion. It's about a brother's betrayal of his sister and the long- More...
Jan 30, 2011
Larry
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Dark, dark, dark. That works for me. All of the stories have to do with alienation, depression, homosexuality (a brutal coming out, dying of AIDS, resigning to a life of no affection), decay, mental illness... am I missing something? All of these topics are great, and the overarching theme is, I guess, alienation. But the stories are uneven. Some of them, like "The beginning of grief," and "War's End," pack a punch and lingered with me days later. Others are ambitious but fal
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Jan 02, 2011
Josh
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A new favorite. I gasped out loud during at least three of the stories. Everything builds so well. Thematically the stories often deal with two of my favorite topics: mental illness and gay. Haslett walks you unwittingly into the most brutal core of experience. I'm very thankful that a writer this capable of making us recognize our base desires is writing gay male characters. There are loose ends here and there and one story only impressed me (the others felt like epiphanies), but if he keeps wo
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Dec 15, 2009
Ernie
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I was quite excited to read this book. I had read so many great things about his short stories, and I was looking forward to diving right into the book. There were definitely some strong stories, but overall, I thought the book fell a little flat.
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May 24, 2010
M
rated it:
I idly picked this up off the counter at the house where I'm petsitting and can hardly set it back down. I've become a fan of short stories, after avoiding them for some unknown reason for many years. These are nothing less than amazing! I was able to focus for more than an hour and a half, an almost unheard of feat for me. I would have kept reading if I didn't need to sleep for work the next day.
I had to get this from the library to finish and sadly, had only one story left. T More...
I had to get this from the library to finish and sadly, had only one story left. T More...
Mar 22, 2010
from an old list:
Jonathan Franzen's selection: 'You Are Not a Stranger Here'
In "You Are Not a Stranger Here," nine richly varied stories carry readers into the hearts and minds of people facing life's most profound dilemmas. Readers meet an aging inventor still burning with ideas as he makes a final visit to his gay son. A psychiatrist's encounter with a reluctant patient reveals a young doctor's own needs and fears. An orphaned boy finds solace in a classmate's violence, a More...
Jonathan Franzen's selection: 'You Are Not a Stranger Here'
In "You Are Not a Stranger Here," nine richly varied stories carry readers into the hearts and minds of people facing life's most profound dilemmas. Readers meet an aging inventor still burning with ideas as he makes a final visit to his gay son. A psychiatrist's encounter with a reluctant patient reveals a young doctor's own needs and fears. An orphaned boy finds solace in a classmate's violence, a More...
Nov 30, 2011
Michael
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I don't read a lot of short stories, partially because I often feel like I don't "get" them. So I'm also a little unsure how to rate a book of short stories. In this book of 9 stories, there were definitely 3 or 4 "5-star" stories that I thought were excellent. They were so vivid and compelling that I felt like I started to understand what short stories are all about. The rest of the stories were perfectly fine....good, even. At first this added up to a 4-star review, bu
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Aug 11, 2009
Andrea
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I found this book at a book fair.I didn't realize it was a collection of short stories.I usually stay away from them because it's too dramatic to be abruptly pulled away from the characters you've just started to get to know.That said, I stuck with this book because I really enjoyed the stories of people who are struggling with some sort of mental health issue and the struggles they face.I felt the writer did a good job getting inside their minds.I really liked the endings of some of them-a few
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Jul 07, 2010
Maxschleicher
rated it:
I think there are probably three or four tremendous stories in this collection. The others didn't always satisfy me.
When he is off, Adam Haslett seems stretch the drama and plot so much that the characters seem somewhat unreal.
When he is on, Haslett is a lot fun to read. The stories move quickly; the prose is unpretentious. Each story comes to a well constructed moment of intense, complicated emotion. In particular, I liked the stories, "The Good Doctor," "War More...
When he is off, Adam Haslett seems stretch the drama and plot so much that the characters seem somewhat unreal.
When he is on, Haslett is a lot fun to read. The stories move quickly; the prose is unpretentious. Each story comes to a well constructed moment of intense, complicated emotion. In particular, I liked the stories, "The Good Doctor," "War More...
Mar 01, 2009
Djrmel
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All of the stories in this collection deal with characters that are suffering emotionally. Sometimes, it is because of psychosis - in The Volunteer a woman who's break with reality occurred during the birth and death of her only child is befriended by a young man going through first love while his family fails to deal with it's own mental illness. Sometimes it is grief - in The Beginnings of Grief a young man masks the pain of the death of his parents by subjecting himself to abuse from an equal
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May 08, 2009
Liz
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This is a collection of short stories, that I don't remember too well because it's been a couple of weeks now, but I do remember being very impressed with the writing. I also remember thinking that his poor author must have had quite a life, because all of the stories revolve around mental illness and the difficulties of family members growing up around such challenges as bipolar disorders, depression, suicide, to name a few. Not happy stories, but very well written. A National Book Award Fina
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Jan 19, 2012
Melissa
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Although I am generally not a fan of fiction books, Adam Haslett’s You Are Not a Stranger Here was a surprisingly good book. Although technically speaking this book is a collection of short stories, Haslett uses a series of unique techniques to tie the individual stories together. The last story, entitled “The Volunteer,” incorporates elements from almost all of the previous chapters, creating the perfect ending to Haslett’s book. The first chapter comes across at first as an author’s note of so
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Sep 15, 2011
Stephen
rated it:
I think I will always be drawn to short stories because I know that the author has purposely set aside a limited amount of time (and space) to work with. No giant novel, no essay-like prose, just characters and story arcs. I like to delve into different collections to see if I can figure them out, too.
That being said, this debut from Adam Haslett really impressed me for it's honesty, heartbreak, and complex themes throughout. I'll probably keep going back to it from time to time look More...
That being said, this debut from Adam Haslett really impressed me for it's honesty, heartbreak, and complex themes throughout. I'll probably keep going back to it from time to time look More...
Apr 03, 2011
kissmyshades
rated it:
This book is one of the reasons why I have trouble trying new American authors. I have only read five of the nine stories thus far (and honestly, though I will probably finish this - it is out of boredom, not from interest), but there is just nothing particularly good about it. This is one of the many books that check all the right bookclub-y categories - the stories are relatively well written, the prose is simple enough, the characters and situations familiar (loss, drug addiction, sexual orie
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Jun 30, 2009
Simon
rated it: 
The reason why I picked up a copy of "You Are Not A Stranger Here' by Adam Haslett was because I stumbled on an article recently claiming Jonathan Franzen praised the author. Unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed.
The book is a compilation of short stories, most of which involve a man or woman in need of some sort of medical assistance (a 70+ year old Alzheimer's patient, a severely depressed homosexual - actually there are two stories of this kind, a Schizophrenic woman, a More...
The book is a compilation of short stories, most of which involve a man or woman in need of some sort of medical assistance (a 70+ year old Alzheimer's patient, a severely depressed homosexual - actually there are two stories of this kind, a Schizophrenic woman, a More...
Nov 10, 2008
Learned about this book at salon.com. Good stories. Well written. I know- that tells you almost nothing at all. Well- let's see- the primary themes seem to be mental illness and homosexuality. Those two figure prominently in many of the stories. Fathers with mental illness also figures as a sub-theme. None of the stories give you warm fuzzies- but that's alright- because I don't think that was the author's intention. There's a brutal honesty to the stories though. Like I try to picture
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Jan 31, 2012
Cathy
rated it:
Insightful, gently perceptive, stories linger in the mind. I enjoyed this short story collection. After reading each story I had the feeling a long cathartic cry was in order - there is a depth and sadness woven in these stories. I have been impressed by the range of character explored, their age and gender. Though there is a thread here that joins the characters together and that is their stories are all less than happy-ever-after. Here's human stories with all their faults, sadnesses and loves
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Mar 19, 2009
Janet
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I almost never read short stories and i dont know why... I think this guy´s a really good writer, but the stories were definitely lacking in variety as far as subject matter goes. I love gays and i love mental illnesses, but it got predictable by the 4th story or so. But that´s my only criticism. They were all super good stories, and they didn´t all blend together, despite the subjects.
Jun 12, 2011
John
rated it:
"You Are Not a Stranger Here" by Adam Haslett. An amazing standout. These short stories include violent negotiation of sexuality as a teen, mania deftly given a voice, the sorrow and chains of familial guilt. The author never lingers in sordid rumination, but crashes forward tenderly, illuminating characters imbued with strength, despite their universe's penchant for fatalism.
Jun 05, 2011
Elizabeth
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After the first couple of stories, I was really inspired and excited to keep reading. They were fast-paced, interesting, and moving. However, there was a drag midway through when all the stories started blending together - gay protagonist, mental illness, despair, alienation, gay protagonist, mental illness,...
This collection would have been just as good if about a third of the stories were cut. I really wished some of the stories would have touched on new themes or surprised me i More...
This collection would have been just as good if about a third of the stories were cut. I really wished some of the stories would have touched on new themes or surprised me i More...
Mar 21, 2008
Natalie
rated it:
Sometimes reading books of short stories can be pretty unfulfilling. It's hard to write a good short story, and I really don't think very many modern authors are very adept at it. This book is obviously an exception. Each story in this collection shares a similar theme of sexual frustration and mental illness, which, of course, are two of my favorite things! The stories are often disturbing yet completely engaging. The characters are well developed and it's easy to relate to their circumsta
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Jan 14, 2011
The description on the back of the book says these stories convey "both the sorrow of life and the courage with which people rise to meet it," and that's just right. I loved the first and last stories in this collection -- "Notes to My Biographer" and "The Volunteer". In the remainder of the stories I did occasionally feel bogged down by the bleakness.
Jul 27, 2009
Peggy
rated it:
intense subject matter written in a way that makes these vignettes real and human but not seeking our pity or tears. there's a whole lotta mental illness and depression in here but somehow the stories are not depressing. they provide a glimpse at the lows AND the highs of a manic depressive and other disorders. really really beautifully written.
Sep 20, 2011
Seth
rated it:
Starts incredibly, ends in a tailspin, but is like a modern American version of Chekhov morality. I think the Boston Globe douchebag who reviewed it called it "achingly austere" and "lithe like a winter's branch" or some such fuckery. *** As a side note, reviewers should trade in all their literary devices at the door of mediocrity ***
