What do you think?
Rate this book
All My Goodbyes: Stories
Every night a man drives the darkened asphalt of America. Every morning a woman recollects a former lover who disappeared years ago. A boy witnesses a horrific crime, but is unable to tell anyone about it. A girl glimpses the horrors that reside beneath the veil of ordinary life. A job whose simple description Follow him.
These are stories of the seekers and dreamers, the travelers who futilely try to escape their pasts. They are the men and women who live on the fringes of society, on the barstools and bookhouses, on the roadways that separate us, and in the shadows where they are always watching.
These are stories of the seekers and dreamers, the travelers who futilely try to escape their pasts. They are the men and women who live on the fringes of society, on the barstools and bookhouses, on the roadways that separate us, and in the shadows where they are always watching.
199 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2014
2 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Jacob Mendelsohn
1 book6 followersJacob Mendelsohn was born in Toronto, Canada, raised in Chicago, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, though this last fact doesn't necessarily make him any better than you.
His first published work, All My Goodbyes is a collection of ten short stories that range from realism to slipstream.
His writing has been influenced by the works of Haruki Murakami, the music of Tom Waits, film noir, and the cliched lonely streets of New York City.
His first published work, All My Goodbyes is a collection of ten short stories that range from realism to slipstream.
His writing has been influenced by the works of Haruki Murakami, the music of Tom Waits, film noir, and the cliched lonely streets of New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2019
Surprisingly the content didn't really captivate me in this one.
May 28, 2015
Once in awhile a work of fiction comes along, and you say, "I wish I had written that." All My Goodbyes is one of those books.
This is actually a collection of short stories that are nevertheless joined together by odd turns of phrase or repeated names here and there. And all with an elegant smartness that bespeaks good writing technique. Never predictable with a host of three-dimensional characters in each story, the collection moves at a brisk pace, sometimes using odd literary devices that should be off-putting (like the notes of a private investigator in the second story, set in a single column down the middle of succeeding pages).
In "Witnesses," a ten-year-old black boy is brutally murdered, and the killer, a drifter, is himself later killed in a bar fight. But that subplot is not the main thrust of the story. Instead, it's the interplay of other characters tangential to the plot that really carries the narrative. Then, in two subsequent chapters, echoes of underlying themes weave their way into different subplots, finally emerging as a connected whole.
A memorable passage from the first story, chapter three, about a robbery gone bad in a Dollar Mart:
"It was run by a guy named Mahmoud, an Iraqui who had helped the Yanks out during Desert Storm and was rewarded with a family-sized green card."
And another: "After all she had gone through, Robin felt that she deserved to be at least a little pretty."
In "Station to Station," a young woman of mixed parentage is described: "She is the perfect hybrid, the person we will all look like in a thousand years, once our DNA has comingled into one grand multiracial post-human."
The story "Travelers" is, like many of the other stories, about down-on-their-luck misfits who spend too much time in a bar or doing drugs. This story is a gritty one, but it has some memorable lines.
"The man's voice is bleached from nicotine, bourbon, sorrow, and old hand-me-down guitar accompanies."
"Before he died, the singer had been known for nocturnal riffs that pledged a shred of hope and shard of love."
This book of short stories is often dark, exposing the soft underbelly of despair and loneliness that pervades so much of urban America. But the author doesn't pull any punches, putting all the raw emotion he possibly can in the reader's hands, often testing the outer limits of what's comfortable in a lead character and your investment in him or her.
I give this collection five stars, and hope to see more from this talented writer.
This is actually a collection of short stories that are nevertheless joined together by odd turns of phrase or repeated names here and there. And all with an elegant smartness that bespeaks good writing technique. Never predictable with a host of three-dimensional characters in each story, the collection moves at a brisk pace, sometimes using odd literary devices that should be off-putting (like the notes of a private investigator in the second story, set in a single column down the middle of succeeding pages).
In "Witnesses," a ten-year-old black boy is brutally murdered, and the killer, a drifter, is himself later killed in a bar fight. But that subplot is not the main thrust of the story. Instead, it's the interplay of other characters tangential to the plot that really carries the narrative. Then, in two subsequent chapters, echoes of underlying themes weave their way into different subplots, finally emerging as a connected whole.
A memorable passage from the first story, chapter three, about a robbery gone bad in a Dollar Mart:
"It was run by a guy named Mahmoud, an Iraqui who had helped the Yanks out during Desert Storm and was rewarded with a family-sized green card."
And another: "After all she had gone through, Robin felt that she deserved to be at least a little pretty."
In "Station to Station," a young woman of mixed parentage is described: "She is the perfect hybrid, the person we will all look like in a thousand years, once our DNA has comingled into one grand multiracial post-human."
The story "Travelers" is, like many of the other stories, about down-on-their-luck misfits who spend too much time in a bar or doing drugs. This story is a gritty one, but it has some memorable lines.
"The man's voice is bleached from nicotine, bourbon, sorrow, and old hand-me-down guitar accompanies."
"Before he died, the singer had been known for nocturnal riffs that pledged a shred of hope and shard of love."
This book of short stories is often dark, exposing the soft underbelly of despair and loneliness that pervades so much of urban America. But the author doesn't pull any punches, putting all the raw emotion he possibly can in the reader's hands, often testing the outer limits of what's comfortable in a lead character and your investment in him or her.
I give this collection five stars, and hope to see more from this talented writer.
September 28, 2014
I read Jaocob Mendelsohn’s All My Goodbyes on my subway rides to and from work. I would look up and wonder if I were on the train with Monk Simpson from “The Shift Workers” or Len from “Good for You” or Melinda from “Drift.” I would play a game and try to match the faces I saw to the people I’d just read about. I enjoyed reading All My Goodbyes but took breaks in between because the narrator never changed. I needed an occasional pause in the conversation I was having with Jacob’s narrator.
The people Jacob describes in his stories are familiar, everyday people. If not strength, there is comfort in numbers, in being just one of the crowd. This commonality (conformity?) is what makes Jacob’s stories so cathartic to read. I know people like Wilson Vincent, who because of his condition people are quick to judge. And I definitely know people like Lenny and Melinda, who are kind of like me, struggling to convince ourselves that the common sense way of living is the best way.
I wrote a detailed review for my blog: http://cranialgunk.com/blog/2014/09/2...
The people Jacob describes in his stories are familiar, everyday people. If not strength, there is comfort in numbers, in being just one of the crowd. This commonality (conformity?) is what makes Jacob’s stories so cathartic to read. I know people like Wilson Vincent, who because of his condition people are quick to judge. And I definitely know people like Lenny and Melinda, who are kind of like me, struggling to convince ourselves that the common sense way of living is the best way.
I wrote a detailed review for my blog: http://cranialgunk.com/blog/2014/09/2...
May 10, 2014
There's a strong element of horror in most of these short stories, but they still suck you in. Generally, I'm the more old-fashioned type and prefer happy endings and not so dark, but I'll make an exception here. These are so well-written you won't easily forget them.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews