My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
God's Gym: Stories
by
John Edgar Wideman (Goodreads Author)
In God's Gym, the celebrated author John Edgar Wideman offers stories that pulse with emotional electricity. The ten pieces here explore strength, both physical and spiritual. The collection opens with a man paying tribute to the quiet fortitude of his mother, a woman who "should wear a T-shirt: God's Gym." In the stories that follow, Wideman delivers powerful ri...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
August 10th 2006
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published 2005)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
60)
Nearly every review of God's Gym draws the parallel between jazz and Wideman's writing. Just as our American music encompasses melody and dissonance, ballads and funk, so there are dualities aplenty at work here. Wideman continues to disdain the border between fiction and reality as he draws from well-known biographical facts for his stories. Characters commit violent acts, but only in their imaginations. His imposition as a narrator annoys some critics, yet none can claim that Wideman, the only
...more
A cool language experiment, we're inside the consciousness of the deep suffering black men of America. It gives the concept of Dad a new meaning.
Although I'd read some of Wideman's stories in magazines before this was the first time I powered through a collection and this dude can flat-out write. His command of language and voice just completely blows a bunch of those "language writers" completely off the shelves and out of the kindles, all whole ripping out your heart. Makes me want to read everything he's written.
"About not gripping tight enough for fear my fingers would close on air."
"Love, is we get it, is as close to music as most of us get..." - The Silence of Thelonious Monk p. 50
"Love, is we get it, is as close to music as most of us get..." - The Silence of Thelonious Monk p. 50
"the silence of thelonious monk" is soaked with jazz. and rain. and is just this wonderful stream-of-conscious work.
About to start this...I've read "Weight" before and loved it. I mean really, it's John Wideman...
Emily Ha
marked it as to-read
Steve
added it
Kholu Lieta
added it
Tiffany Anderson
marked it as to-read
Joseph Dante
added it
Tiphanie
marked it as to-read
Cvteal
marked it as to-read
Sam
marked it as to-read
Brian McBride
marked it as to-read
Wlongmire
added it
Erin
marked it as to-read
Karie
marked it as to-read
Brandon
marked it as to-read
Rachel
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
A widely-celebrated writer and the winner of many literary awards, he is the first to win the International PEN/Faulkner Award twice: in 1984 for Sent for You Yesterday and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. In 2000 he won the O. Henry Award for his short story "Weight", published in The Callaloo Journal.
In March, 2010, he self-published "Briefs," a new collection of mi...more
More about John Edgar Wideman...
In March, 2010, he self-published "Briefs," a new collection of mi...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
