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Guess Again
From the O. Henry Prize and PEN/ Hemingway Award-winning author of "Truth Serum" and "Maps to Anywhere" comes a masterful, exquisitely crafted collection of short stories. Bernard Cooper's fiction probes some of the most perplexing experiences of modern American life: the unpredictable nature of love, the riddle of sexuality, the intricacies of family relationships, and coping with loss in the age of AIDS. With his razor-sharp wit and unsparing honesty, Cooper peels back layers of the familiar, exposing the surprising truths that shape our lives.
In "Bit-O-Honey, " a middle-aged barber visits his estranged father on Halloween, disguised as a trick-or-treater; a young pregnant woman in "What to Name the Baby" negotiates life with her father and his elderly lover while traveling in a cramped Winnebago; and in "Hunters and Gatherers, " a Mormon couple orchestrates a misguided party game while hosting a dinner for the few homosexuals they know.
Whether Cooper is writing about a dying man's acts of vandalism, a divorce under house arrest, or a young boy's sexual awakening, his stories contain startling insight into the workings of the human heart. Resonant and often hilarious, the stories in "Guess Again" are unlike any you have read before.
In "Bit-O-Honey, " a middle-aged barber visits his estranged father on Halloween, disguised as a trick-or-treater; a young pregnant woman in "What to Name the Baby" negotiates life with her father and his elderly lover while traveling in a cramped Winnebago; and in "Hunters and Gatherers, " a Mormon couple orchestrates a misguided party game while hosting a dinner for the few homosexuals they know.
Whether Cooper is writing about a dying man's acts of vandalism, a divorce under house arrest, or a young boy's sexual awakening, his stories contain startling insight into the workings of the human heart. Resonant and often hilarious, the stories in "Guess Again" are unlike any you have read before.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Bernard Cooper
28 books32 followersBernard Cooper has won numerous awards and prizes, among them the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Award, an O. Henry Prize, and literature fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and The National Endowment of the Arts.
He has published two memoirs, Maps to Anywhere and Truth Serum, as well as a novel, A Year of Rhymes, and a collection of short stories, Guess Again.
His work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, Gentleman's Quarterly, and The Paris Review and in several volumes of The Best American Essays.
He lives in Los Angeles and is the art critic for Los Angeles Magazine.
He has published two memoirs, Maps to Anywhere and Truth Serum, as well as a novel, A Year of Rhymes, and a collection of short stories, Guess Again.
His work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, Gentleman's Quarterly, and The Paris Review and in several volumes of The Best American Essays.
He lives in Los Angeles and is the art critic for Los Angeles Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 7, 2026
A fine book of short stories that combine humor with poignancy and grief into each. Mr. Cooper shows us people hungry for connection holding into memories of those they lost (particularly to AIDS) and the complicated relationships we sometimes have with family.
His descriptions can be entertaining and apt simultaneously:
“He wedged himself between two bodybuilders, their latissimus dorsi like swinging doors…”
“The linoleum in the store was creamy white and speckled like spumoni.”
There are lines so funny I burst out loud reading them:
“‘I want her to have a name that’s, like, totally female.” “‘Estrogenette?’”Booth suggested.
His descriptions can be entertaining and apt simultaneously:
“He wedged himself between two bodybuilders, their latissimus dorsi like swinging doors…”
“The linoleum in the store was creamy white and speckled like spumoni.”
There are lines so funny I burst out loud reading them:
“‘I want her to have a name that’s, like, totally female.” “‘Estrogenette?’”Booth suggested.
May 17, 2018
I read most of the stories. All pretty good, but not exquisite. 3.5 stars. The prose was really nice, full of interesting metaphors and uncanny emotions. Worth a read.
November 8, 2015
I'm extremely fond of Bernard Cooper's non-fiction essays. He brings the same startling twists and/or viewpoint to these stories as he does to his essays. Each story revealed a deep understanding of the vagaries of human experience. "Graphology" dipped into the particular pain of widowhood with the decidedly poignant twist of a widow's discovery of her husband's long term sexual deceit. In "What to Name the Baby," Cooper explores the nature of family. Every story includes a gay man or men with accompanying experiences that are unfamiliar to this female lesbian reader. This lent and area of surprise to every story. Cooper is a masterful story teller whose use of language is endlessly interesting.
March 6, 2010
Pretty straightforward stories, clean and bright prose, humanly and funny. Funniest part in the book - in the story "What to Name the Baby," there's a lapdog in a dog shelter that's fallen from grace. Just a few sentences, but I was rolling.
December 15, 2007
So far I've just read one story: A Man in the Making. Very smooth prose - I'm looking forward to the rest!
Oh, and my copy is autographed! Silly bookstore didn't even realise.
Oh, and my copy is autographed! Silly bookstore didn't even realise.
January 22, 2008
Funny short stories without being goofy. Poignant.
June 26, 2008
short stories. funny and touching at the same time, a unique mix that gives you a glimpse into the lives of these characters.
April 19, 2007
So funny...Cooper deserves to be as famous as Sedaris, Vowell, Burrows and other CNF stars.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews