Mike's review
Bang Crunch (Vintage Contemporaries)
by Neil Smith
Mike's review
Bang Crunch (Vintage Contemporaries) by Neil Smith
Mike's review
rating:
recommended for: short story obsessives; fans of Lorrie Moore and Judy Budnitz?
WRITTEN WAY BACK: I'm 3 stories in. (I let these collections sit by the bed, and pick up and dabble, like cleansers between other courses.) Smith has a remarkable confidence, backed up by a precision in prose. The stories are high-concept whimsy (the bang) shackled to an almost-emo sincerity, often despairing (the crunch). I like 'em well enough, but I keep seeing Lorrie Moore and Judy Budnitz staring over his shoulder... so I can't recommend him as the best bright new thing. But there's talent and ambition, so he may be another comer, finding the right pitch....
ON CONCLUDING, JULY '08:
Finally closed the door on the last story. I enjoyed each one, as they came along, but what I say above kind of stands--nothing threw me over, made me rethink my sense of story, made me double over (in pain, empathy, astonishment, laughter). But that's a pretty damn unfair standard to bring to bear, and they were pretty consistently good, these stories, and very worth parsing out.
ON CONCLUDING, JULY '08:
Finally closed the door on the last story. I enjoyed each one, as they came along, but what I say above kind of stands--nothing threw me over, made me rethink my sense of story, made me double over (in pain, empathy, astonishment, laughter). But that's a pretty damn unfair standard to bring to bear, and they were pretty consistently good, these stories, and very worth parsing out.
