Justin Taylor's crystalline, spare, and oddly moving prose cuts to the quick. His characters are guided by misapprehensions that bring them to ... read full description
reviews
Nov 24, 2011
Beth
rated it: 
I'm still reading these because I don't read a book of short stories the way I read a novel. (I will say that while I'm reading, it's hard not to go on to the next story as if it were the next chapter.) These stories are so vivid, I feel like I'm falling into Harry Potter's pensieve when I start one, and I come out startled and not sure where I am. I checked the book out from the library weeks ago, and I just can't bring myself to turn it in until I finish it.
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Jun 10, 2011
D.W.
rated it: 
I picked up this book both because I'd heard it was great (the hype around it was big, at least) and because I was genuinely interested from a business/cultural point of view as to why it was so popular, a first book of short stories by a relatively unknown author whose main connection to the indie lit world was through HTMLGiant.com and the (somewhat insular) Brooklyn scene.
There were some real gems in this collection, and Taylor is obviously a talented writer with more to come. But More...
There were some real gems in this collection, and Taylor is obviously a talented writer with more to come. But More...
Dec 15, 2011
Ash
rated it: 
I actually enjoyed most of the stories in Everything here is the best thing ever. They were kind of average and not as zany as the description on the back led me to believe, but a couple were outstanding (well, mostly Tetris - I'm a sucker for apocalypse stories, I guess).
And then I got to the last two stories, "Jewels Flashing in the Night of Time" and "Whistle Through Your Teeth and Spit". I didn't like the former, but I actually kind of hated "Whistle..." More...
And then I got to the last two stories, "Jewels Flashing in the Night of Time" and "Whistle Through Your Teeth and Spit". I didn't like the former, but I actually kind of hated "Whistle..." More...
Apr 25, 2010
Patrick
rated it:
This book isn't about hipsters, I don't know why all the reviews on here say that. The last story is almost. It's about misfits mostly. At first I was indifferent, then I hated it, about 2/3 of the way through I came around to thinking maybe I could decide I liked this book, by the end I didn't anymore, but I felt less enthusiastic about not liking it.
The stories in Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever are surprising, but the problem with this is after a few stories surprising i More...
The stories in Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever are surprising, but the problem with this is after a few stories surprising i More...
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Mar 22, 2010
David
rated it:
Yo, Justin! Over here, dude.
Sorry to have to tell you this, bro. I was happy to overlook the obvious points working against you - the quintessential hipster bio, that disturbing glint of naked ambition in your jacket photo, the cover puff quote by a former talent gone seriously awry (Padgett Powell*), the information that you are working on your first novel and that you live in Brooklyn. Because everyone deserves a chance, so I gave you one.
But you blew it, bro. Big time. More...
Sorry to have to tell you this, bro. I was happy to overlook the obvious points working against you - the quintessential hipster bio, that disturbing glint of naked ambition in your jacket photo, the cover puff quote by a former talent gone seriously awry (Padgett Powell*), the information that you are working on your first novel and that you live in Brooklyn. Because everyone deserves a chance, so I gave you one.
But you blew it, bro. Big time. More...
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May 26, 2010
Katherine
rated it:
"She was worrying that the oak tree might come through her ceiling, wood obliterating wood, like a miracle running backward" (2).
"The shallow hole was surrounded by salvaged chairs and shaded by a blue canvas canopy they'd stolen from some resort because property was always already theft anyway, and plus they had really wanted that canopy" (17).
"Not having cable wasn't a statement. Maybe the statement was being made by the people who paid out a monthly portio More...
"The shallow hole was surrounded by salvaged chairs and shaded by a blue canvas canopy they'd stolen from some resort because property was always already theft anyway, and plus they had really wanted that canopy" (17).
"Not having cable wasn't a statement. Maybe the statement was being made by the people who paid out a monthly portio More...
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Sep 18, 2011
Alexis
rated it:
"Chords fill the air, ooze like oil from a slab of deli meat." Jesus. If Jonathan Lethem teaches writing classes, do you think he uses Justin Taylor as an example of how not to do similes?
"Jewels Flashing in the Night of Time" is not bad for its ideas but the writing is mostly Conrad, Bataille, and the Abu Ghraib reports so maybe Taylor has a niche there.
That's the second to last story and the last story "Whistle Through Your Teeth and Spit" actually s More...
"Jewels Flashing in the Night of Time" is not bad for its ideas but the writing is mostly Conrad, Bataille, and the Abu Ghraib reports so maybe Taylor has a niche there.
That's the second to last story and the last story "Whistle Through Your Teeth and Spit" actually s More...
Aug 05, 2011
I'm becoming more and more a fan of short story collections than ever before. It's funny—what I used to find most problematic about short stories, the fact that I would get invested in characters only to have to give them up within a few pages, I'm starting to enjoy more and more. A good short story collection really gives you insight into many memorable characters and situations, and while there are certain stories you wish to be longer, the collection is often like a buffet—sometimes there wil
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Jul 05, 2010
Ryan Mac
rated it:
I was browsing the new books section at my library and saw this book with a great title. I am normally not a huge fan of short story collections but there was one called Tetris...how bad could it be?
For me, the most frustrating part about these stories can be summed up with two points: (1) In almost every story, the characters are the same and speak in nearly identical first person voice. Some variety would have been nice. (2) Nothing really happens to the characters. They don't re More...
For me, the most frustrating part about these stories can be summed up with two points: (1) In almost every story, the characters are the same and speak in nearly identical first person voice. Some variety would have been nice. (2) Nothing really happens to the characters. They don't re More...
Nov 15, 2011
Derek
rated it: 
To be honest, I'm a bit shocked by the amount of Goodreads ire directed at Justin Taylor's excellent short story collection, Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever. The complaints of solipsism (or, worse yet, that this is merely a "hipster" book) strike me as ill-placed, and inaccurate anyway.
I mean, I get it: you can't write a book that references Will Oldham and the Silver Jews and freegans (and, let's face it, be twenty-seven years old at the time of publication) and not More...
I mean, I get it: you can't write a book that references Will Oldham and the Silver Jews and freegans (and, let's face it, be twenty-seven years old at the time of publication) and not More...
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Sep 10, 2010
Andrew
rated it:
Though slim, this collection weighs heavily on the reader’s heart, and more often, on the reader’s patience. Justin Taylor precedes the stories with a quote from writer-of-grim-stories Gary Lutz: “I sang the way I still talk. Every song was the worst way I could think of to ask for what I did not yet know how not to want.”
This knot is a perfect introduction to Taylor’s world, where nearly every inhabitant complicates life by choosing the path of the most resistance. Sympathy gives More...
This knot is a perfect introduction to Taylor’s world, where nearly every inhabitant complicates life by choosing the path of the most resistance. Sympathy gives More...
Mar 09, 2010
Jeff
rated it:
Here's where I wish goodreads had a half-star - this is more than a 3-star book, but it's not a 4-star-er... This collection of shorts from an incredibly talented twenty-seven year old shows so much promise that it almost carries you over the spots where you can't help but notice yourself reading a twenty-seven year old's first collection of shorts. Writing with a spare, slective pen, Justin Taylor could turn out to be a major voice - even in the most lackadaisical of the stories here he can t
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Mar 03, 2010
April
rated it:
Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever by Justin Taylor, besides being a book with an incredibly long title, is a collection of short stories, basically about hipsters being unemployed doing unglamourous things. The book is small, topping off at 185 pages. The stories are gritty. Some I related with and some I did not.
Stylistically, Taylor is excellent. The words just seem to flow off the page. This book reminded me a bit of Chuck Palahniuk's writing. The people within are inherently More...
Stylistically, Taylor is excellent. The words just seem to flow off the page. This book reminded me a bit of Chuck Palahniuk's writing. The people within are inherently More...
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Aug 12, 2010
Ashley
rated it: 
Pretentious (and not in the way I like). The author notably inserts vocabulary such as the "freegan" in one of his stories, in what comes across largely as an attempt to show how cool he is (in that ironic, understated way). Ugh. The loosely constructed stories didn't seem to have a point, but I kept reading, hopeful that the next one would be better. No? Well, maybe the next one, until I'd finished the book and realized I'd wasted a good deal of the afternoon.
I'm all for l More...
I'm all for l More...
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Feb 24, 2010
Lori
rated it:
Review copy
I sat down this morning to start ANOTHER collection of short stories, this one from author Justin Taylor. After completing it just a short 16 hours later, I was forced to admit two things: One, that I can really do some damage when I buckle down and focus on reading. Two, that I am also starting to enjoy short stories.
They are short and sweet. They get right to the point. There are no long-winded, uninteresting side-stories that pull you unwillingly away from t More...
I sat down this morning to start ANOTHER collection of short stories, this one from author Justin Taylor. After completing it just a short 16 hours later, I was forced to admit two things: One, that I can really do some damage when I buckle down and focus on reading. Two, that I am also starting to enjoy short stories.
They are short and sweet. They get right to the point. There are no long-winded, uninteresting side-stories that pull you unwillingly away from t More...
Jan 22, 2012
Ronni
rated it:
Some of the stories made me want to rate this three stars. But not quite enough. (Didn't make me want to quite enough, or not enough of the stories, take your pick.)
I'd have liked this book three stars or better about 15 years ago, though. Not because I am that much ahead of the up-to-date/pseudo-counter-culture characters Taylor portrays, but because I could relate more to "stuff disaffected white youngsters like" back then. (Apologies for the way too meta joke. Sometimes I More...
I'd have liked this book three stars or better about 15 years ago, though. Not because I am that much ahead of the up-to-date/pseudo-counter-culture characters Taylor portrays, but because I could relate more to "stuff disaffected white youngsters like" back then. (Apologies for the way too meta joke. Sometimes I More...
Dec 04, 2010
LaRaie
rated it:
Ugh. No thanks. I couldn't make it all the way through, honestly. If the first story wasn't bad enough (second person, mundane, generally unappealing, weak) I had to read about some gross guy vaguely sniffing his cousin's underwear after he drowns her cat. I felt icky and unsatisfied. Is this what the author was going for, that feeling of remorse you get after having a bad make out session with someone out of boredom? Well, maybe that's the whole damn point. But I don't want to revisit th
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May 10, 2010
Abby
rated it:
Some of the stories in this collection are gimmicky and reminiscent of something from Miranda July or McSweeney's. Perhaps Barthelme redux is in literary vogue right now.
Taylor also seems obsessed with mining the Nick Hornby lad lit territory of record stores, musical experiences, sexual (in)experience, and pot smoking to give his slacker 20-to-30-something male characters authenticity and angst.
Some of the stories are well constructed and reveal startling epiphanies at More...
Taylor also seems obsessed with mining the Nick Hornby lad lit territory of record stores, musical experiences, sexual (in)experience, and pot smoking to give his slacker 20-to-30-something male characters authenticity and angst.
Some of the stories are well constructed and reveal startling epiphanies at More...
Mar 17, 2010
Zach
rated it:
My professor slash mentor slash brilliant writer (slash friend?) Miro Penkov suggested I read this book because it's making the same kind of moves I make. I see what he's saying, but Justin Taylor does what I do a lot better than I do. Chop off the last two stories and this would be a pretty perfect short story collection. It's not that they're bad, though; it's more that they don't click like most of the other ones do. As it is, there are some brilliant stories in here, like "What Was
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Mar 05, 2010
Davelowusa
rated it:
A few quite good stories, a lot of so-so stories. Very reminiscent, to me at least, of Miranda July. More preoccupied with hipsters than with greater, more universal themes. But excellent description of the hipster pathos.
The stories are often 'artistic' in the fashion of the last few decades, meaning that they don't center on plot and don't give the reader a great payout. Unless you consider ambiguity and anticlimax to be great payouts.
Taylor's descriptive talent saves More...
The stories are often 'artistic' in the fashion of the last few decades, meaning that they don't center on plot and don't give the reader a great payout. Unless you consider ambiguity and anticlimax to be great payouts.
Taylor's descriptive talent saves More...
May 10, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
I feel like I owe this a review? I felt shy about doing one at the time I read it (September '10), but here we go:
I read almost every story twice. This collection is great, and for those who are skeptical of my biases, I read this before that and it blew me away, so there. My favorite story in EHITBTE, and one of my favorite (favorite seems weird to say about things that are good because they make you uncomfortable, so let's say one of the best) stories I've read anywhere, is "Jewels F More...
I read almost every story twice. This collection is great, and for those who are skeptical of my biases, I read this before that and it blew me away, so there. My favorite story in EHITBTE, and one of my favorite (favorite seems weird to say about things that are good because they make you uncomfortable, so let's say one of the best) stories I've read anywhere, is "Jewels F More...
Feb 11, 2011
Liza
rated it:
One of the stories in this collection is called "Jewels Flashing in the Night of Time". I think that title is an apt description of the 15 stories in this collection. Although a slim volume, the stories contained herein have a crystalline quality like stars or jewels. I'm reminded of the phrase from Disney's Aladdin: "diamond in the rough". In a world of uninteresting literary creations, Justin Taylor has fashioned some flashing and valuable jewels.
These stories are lik
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Oct 27, 2010
Bri Meets Books
rated it:
Justin Taylor’s debut collection of stories seems to be guided by some universal list of all things hipster and disaffected. The Pixies are namechecked, we’re treated to the namedropping of Trotsky and Derrida. The fifteen stories are the lives of young Floridians and Manhattanities, endlessly aimless, and oblivious to the world beyond them.
It’s such a package of hipsterism that the collection itself nearly becomes meta, the epitome of Taylor’s description of Hot Topic packaging the More...
It’s such a package of hipsterism that the collection itself nearly becomes meta, the epitome of Taylor’s description of Hot Topic packaging the More...
Sep 04, 2010
Niles
rated it:
Justin Taylor is clearly inspired by the short fiction of Raymond Carver (via Hemingway), but he isn't just some douchey kid who think he's a lot better than he is. There are some stories in here when the settings and characters were just a tad too up to date and similar to myself or people I know, to the point where it made me uncomfortable. Not that this is a criticism, but Taylor clearly knows what and who he is writing about.
The stories are mostly about people age 16 to 24 who a More...
The stories are mostly about people age 16 to 24 who a More...
Jun 08, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
I'd say this collection was better than Greenman's that I just read, but still left me considering what the stories were actually about. Many had intriguing characters and situations along with self-loathing and men being mistreated by women (for a change) and a lot of references to Jews. Overall, solid writing from Taylor (who I think I may have gone to grad school with). I'd be interested in seeing more from him.
May 23, 2010
Seth
rated it:
I didn't end up liking the collection primarily because so many of the characters were really boring both in the sense that they would be tiresome if you met them at a party and that they don't do anything/progress much in the stories. But there were some good moments too. One story involves the main character playing Tetris as the apocalypse occurs (although it reminded me a lot of a Hornby or Eggers short story). In another story, one of the characters is described by another as "the type
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Feb 24, 2010
Luis
rated it:
There was something about this book that I wanted to like. The writing is good, the focus of the collection is mostly good, the stories themselves are mostly good, it's just that there's something missing. Maybe I'm being too puritanical about the qualities of a good story, but some of these stories never felt complete and the characters all feel like husks of people.
Aug 30, 2010
Don
rated it:
Really undecided about this book. I liked some of the stories, but some of them fell really flat for me. Some of the characters were from subcultures/mileus that I'm roughly familiar with, and they didn't ring true.
Still, I'm excited to read Taylor's forthcoming novel, and I think the story about the cat is great.
Still, I'm excited to read Taylor's forthcoming novel, and I think the story about the cat is great.
May 05, 2010
Lawrence
rated it:
The title of the collection is better than most of the stories included. Yes, the stories include crisp prose sentences and an occasional excellent turn of phrase. But they are far too glib to be taken seriously. When they come close to real insight they stumble and head off the path to avoid coming face to face with the startling truth. I did like a few of the stories - Tetris (great response of the main character to the end of the world), Jewels Flashing in the Night of Time (integrating A
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Jun 21, 2010
Lani
rated it:
This book was embarrassingly bad. There is a story about "anarchists" in here where this chick can't find one of her shoes, so a guy doesn't wear his shoes to the store "in solidarity." Barf. I had a friend come and remove it from the house so I wouldn't be compelled to waste my time on the last 80 pages.
