The Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle

by T. Coraghessan Boyle

T. Coraghessan Boyle is regarded as one of America's greatest living short-story writers. But his short stories are not what we understand the short story to be.

In the stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle, Lassie finally gets rid of Timmy and has it off with a coyote: the story will never be the basis for a new television series. But neither will Boyle's other ‘love’ stories: the touching (but inevitably doomed) affair between Eisenhower and Nina Krushchev, or the fling a researcher has with her monkey (is marriage really out of the question?). A bard overcomes Bardsblock; a PR consultant sets out to polish up the Ayatollah's image. ‘Quetzalcoatl Lite’ (the famous Aztec beer), ‘Greasy Lake’ (inspired by the Springsteen song), ‘All Shook Up’, ‘Stones in my Passway, Hellhound on my Trail’: it is evident, from the titles alone, that the stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle are not — well, English.

Boyle's stories have appeared in seventeen languages in numerous magazines around the world, and have been subsequently published in three books: The Descent of Man (1979), Greasy Lake (1985) and If the River was Whiskey (1989). The Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle brings together all the stories into one volume for the first time. None of them, you can be assured, will ever be adapted for television.

Descent of Man (1979)
- Descent of Man
- The Champ
- We Are Norsemen
- Heart of a Champion
- Bloodfall
- The Second Swimming
- Dada
- A Women's Restaurant
- The Extinction Tales
- Caye
- The Big Garage
- Green Hell
- Earth, Moon
- Quetzalcoatl Lite
- De Rerum Natura
- John Barleycorn Lives
- Drowning
Greasy Lake (1985)
- Greasy Lake
- Caviar
- Ike and Nina
- Rupert Beersley and the Beggar Master of Sivani-Hoota
- On for the Long Haul
- The Hector Quesadilla Story
- Whales Weep
- The New Moon Party
- Not a Leg to Stand On
- Stones in My Passway, Hellhound on My Trail
- All Shook Up
- A Bird in Hand
- Two Ships
- Rara Avis
- The Overcoat II
If the River was Whiskey (1989)
- Sorry Fugu
- Modern Love
- Hard Sell
- Peace of Mind
- Sinking House
- The Human Fly
- The Hat
- Me Cago en la Leche (Robert Jordan in Nicaragua)
- The Little Chill
- King Bee
- Thawing Out
- The Devil and Irv Cherniske
- The Miracle at Ballinspittle
- Zapatos
- The Ape Lady in Retirement
- If the River Was Whiskey

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

621 pages, Trade Paperback

First published July 1, 1993

About the author

T. Coraghessan Boyle (also known as T.C. Boyle, is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the late 1970s, he has published eighteen novels and twleve collections of short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. He is married with three children. Boyle has been a
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.

He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reprints Boyle's first three story collections. I wonder if he fidgets a lot in person or if has trouble sitting still. He certainly writes like someone terrified to let boredom overtake him for even a second. His breakneck style reads like Vonnegut on speed:

'it was the sight of those flaming toes that set us off—the toad emerging from the loaf in Virgin Spring, lipstick smeared on a child; she was already tainted. We were on her like Bergman’s deranged brothers—see no evil, hear none, speak none—panting, wheezing, tearing at her clothes, grabbing for flesh. We were bad characters, and we were scared and hot and three steps over the line—anything could have happened.'

I find his comic tales the best: 'The Human Fly, 'A Women's Restaurant', 'Ike and Nina.' Like many gifted comic authors, Boyle is never just funny. Laughter is his gateway to terrible truths, as in anthology mainstay ’Greasy Lake’ - still my favourite among these many tales sprung from Boyle's prodigious, frenetic talent.

[Derek Bridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of three collections of Boyle's short stories: Descent of Man, Greasy Lake, & If The River Was Whiskey. I've noted elsewhere that I'm not great fan of the short story form, preferring the novel. But anything by Boyle is irresistable.

With so many stories here, there will be some that won't appeal, but there are some gems too. My favourite is The Champ: Boyle at his descriptive best, a lip-smacking account of an extreme eating competition. But there are many other pleasures in this tome too.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Granted, there's a sameness about these several dozen stories; namely, a hip and knowing author marshalling each protag. toward certain doom. But, god almighty, what darkly brilliant descents. The guy is a master of the close third person. In the best stories, Boyle channels his characters with the authenticity of a method actor.

[Eileen Iciek · Rating 4 out of 5]

T.C. Boyle's writing is exuberant, humorous and full of irony. This collection of of his short stories was broken into 3 parts, Love, Death and What Comes Between. The love stories had their wilder elements, including an Elvis impersonator, a restaurant just for women, and an amusing one of the author going on a date with Jane Austen. I started the death stories, but they often evolved into grimmer, more macabre tales which, unfortunately, were not to my taste and I stopped reading.

The book has 70 of Boyle's short stories, so even with cutting it short, I still got through over 300 pages of it. These stories indicated the years they had been written, which occurred between the late 70's and mid 90's. A couple of months ago I read a collection of stories written more recently, Wild Child and Other Stories, which I enjoyed more. The writing was still as outstanding, but the stories reflected greater maturity and wisdom. The earlier ones in this book had a wilder, more irresponsible edge.

If you are looking for good writing, you cannot beat anything by T.C. Boyle.

[Lidia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Boyls's story Sorry Fugu more than 20 years ago in Harper's and never forgot it. His ability to bring the physical world to life, no matter how bizarre or wicked, is something amazing. I don't think I've ever run across a writer as rich in imagination and vivid as Boyle. I'm looking forward to reading his second collection. (I didn't give this colleciton 5 stars because it has something like 60 stories and of course there are some that I didn't find as good as the best. I'm always reserved in rankings.)

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

24 hours after finishing I'm still struck by 'The Bee'.

[Nick Garbutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m exhausted after this. What an exhilarating read! Boyle has a fascinating mind and a wonderful imagination. These stories do not follow a theme. Some are very funny, others horrific, still others heartbreakingly sad. There are ones that are frankly unhinged, others that make you scratch yourself and wonder where on earth that came from.
Boyle is a very, very fine short storyteller with a real way with words. I’d only read his novels before – I’ve been late to the party. Short stories are a real test of a writer's calibre. Boyle does not disappoint with this.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read most of the second volume. terrifically entertaining.