false 764051 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 764051 2 48927 2000 Venus Drive total:130|5:41|4:48|3:27|2:11|1:3| 130 503 175 19 2282 3.68 1130 204 35830181 112255 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.86 115 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 4 1 false Tue Oct 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 21 00:43:36 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 21 00:46:48 -0700 2008 9547862 306277 50054 0007133677 9780007133673 2 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170366381m/50054.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170366381s/50054.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50054.Venus_Drive 3.93 15 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 4 1 false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 26 05:28:33 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 24 11:22:14 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3719591 231700 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 5 1 false Sat Jul 28 17:18:49 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 11:35:19 -0700 2007 2575184 163463 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 2 1 false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 30 16:38:53 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 16 23:14:30 -0800 2009 52653550 1868606 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 0 0 false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Apr 14 11:04:16 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 11:05:07 -0700 2009 STOP SMILING interview with Sam Lipsyte:

Face to Face: Sam Lipsyte
by Alex Abramovich

(This interview appeared in the STOP SMILING Photography Issue)

Alex Abramovich: Let’s talk about Martin Amis. The Moronic Inferno and Money seem like Amis’ first ...more...]]> 36965666 42934 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 3 0 false Mon Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 11:18:05 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 11:29:57 -0800 2008
Old Soul

Lipsyte's poignant 30-something dream fog account of perversion, replete with the clipped sentences and hard imagery of Burrhoughs, is brought to the loser set, a sort of Bret Easton Ellis for workin...more...]]> 40411939 1279204 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 4 0 false Thu Dec 18 16:35:55 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 16:38:04 -0800 2008 12510001 782550 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 3 0 false Mon Jan 14 14:04:26 -0800 2008 Fri May 16 12:41:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4820438 99896 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 2 0 false Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 20 12:43:14 -0700 2007 Mon Mar 23 19:23:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4028673 229414 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 4 0 false Fri Aug 03 10:55:53 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 11:01:32 -0700 2007 more...]]> 21723123 395634 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 4 0 false Tue May 06 13:52:12 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 14:08:13 -0700 2008 21138567 1073839 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 3 0 false Tue May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 19:45:23 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 17:27:50 -0700 2008 Homeland and The Subject Steve are funnier and less dark, but these stories hooked me and kept me on the line.]]> 19465057 923532 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 0 0 false Fri Apr 04 13:48:21 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 13:49:05 -0700 2008 5322294 229854 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 1 0 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 19:08:11 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 17 07:44:50 -0800 2009 12599885 142104 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 5 0 false Tue Jan 15 13:28:50 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 15 13:29:33 -0800 2008 46845172 548286 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 4 0 false Thu Feb 19 05:05:46 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 25 23:38:20 -0700 2009 http://5cense.com/SS_Log.htm]]> 58754004 599864 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 2 0 false Sat Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jun 07 10:37:05 -0700 2009 Sat Nov 21 18:40:13 -0800 2009 1 122416 14259 50054 0007133677 9780007133673 2 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170366381m/50054.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170366381s/50054.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50054.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 5 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Wed Feb 28 09:14:28 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 16 16:12:52 -0800 2009 23033762 1169416 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 5 0 false Tue May 27 05:43:20 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 05:43:35 -0700 2008 80937416 1297795 764051 1890447250 9781890447250 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925m/764051.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178144925s/764051.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764051.Venus_Drive 3.87 130 Venus Drive is tightly wound in more ways than one. Peopled by walking-wounded hipsters with crummy jobs, drug fiends in varied stages of addiction, and kids sent away to summer camp who act on their worst instincts, these sharply written short stories crackle with crafty, streetwise dialogue. Their first-person narratives place engaging, unstable people into seedy yet believable situations in a way that might remind the reader of Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, or Lynne Tillman. Perspectives vary from tale to tale, but these are characters engaged in compulsive pursuits who find themselves pushed to limits they didn't know they had. At his best, Lipsyte writes the way Miles Davis played trumpet--with a few lines, and some silence, he makes everything cohere. One of the gifts of this debut collection is its unsentimentality; the various vignettes come together to show us that "life on the edge" is uncannily similar to any other lifestyle choice. For some, fantasy and reality are just different channels on the same TV set. --Mike McGonigal]]> 2000 0 0 false Sun Dec 13 23:45:29 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 13 23:45:29 -0800 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=764051