Greasy Lake & Other Stories

by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, The Washington Post Book World says these masterful stories mark T. Coraghessan Boyle 's development from "a prodigy's audacity to something that packs even more of a mature artistry." They cover everything, from a terrifying encounter between a bunch of suburban adolescents and a murderous, drug-dealing biker, to a touching though doomed love affair between Eisenhower and Nina Khruschev.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction, Read For School, Adult, Contemporary

229 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

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

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boyle is mostly fun to read - versatile, comic, at times profound - until he goes too far and makes me feel left out. These stories are a mixed bag with too many damaged, lost male protagonists for my taste. My favorite might be The Overcoat, a Gogol spin-off about a naive public official in the Soviet Union. So many birds in these stories! A few towards the end (Rara Avis, A Bird in Hand) went over my head. Not my favorite T.C. Boyle experience but I'll keep reading him...

[Stef Smulders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this collection. The humor, the playfulness, the sheer joy of storytelling make these stories a great fun to read. The author has a great sense of rythm, which becomes immediately clear in the first sentences of the opening title story:
‘There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad, when you cultivated decadence like a taste. We were all dangerous characters then.’
Rythm, alliteration, precision of expression, all pitch perfect. And then in the story itself it all goes wrong of course, the decadence and danger of the main characters turns out to be fake, a show. Humor at its best.
I liked all stories of the collection, except for the last one, Overcoat 2, a retelling with a few twists of Gogol’s famous original. I do not see the sense of that one. By far the best one, for me, was The New Moon Party, a perfect satire of modern democracy. Incredibly funny and true. The idea of a new moon is an excellent choice, absurd and effective in revealing the real mechanisms in politics at the same time. One of best satirical stories I read so far.
Another one that made a deep impression is the Rara Avis story with its semi-biblical, sexual morality. Very intriguing and definitely worth rereading, as most of the stories in this collection. Thank you, mr Boyle!

[Robert Dunbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first excited by the intense creativity of the prose, I quickly began to feel as though I were watching a conjurer do the same card trick over and over. An expert conjurer, but still...

[Michael Behrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abwechslungsreiche Kurzgeschichten-Sammlung mit ausschließlich guten und sehr guten Geschichten. Allgemein scheint die, durchaus gute, Titelstory als der Höhepunkt des Buches zu gelten, mir gefallen aber einige andere Geschichten noch deutlich besser. Zum Beispiel die geradezu klassische Amerikanische Short Story „All Shook Up“ über einen kürzlich von seiner Frau verlassenen Mann der plötzlich einen (miesen) Elvis-Imitator und dessen frustrierte Ehefrau als Nachbarn bekommt, oder die herrlich absurde (und wohl nicht zufällig an Gogol erinnernde) Russland-Satire „Der Mantel II“, oder die aberwitzige, aber tatsächlich wahre Geschichte wie der Star (der Vogel) nach Amerika gekommen ist...
Insgesamt ein großer Spaß und durchaus nicht ohne Tiefgang. Für Boyle-Fans die, wie ich, die frühen Erzählungen bisher ignoriert haben unbedingt eine Entdeckung.

[Michael Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

from the author....

“Look to society, and look to the crapshoot of the way any given set of parents’ genes line up. How was Raskolnikov created? How about the “patriots” who assaulted the Capitol Building? We live in our own private realities, and sometimes—too often—those private realities have nothing to do with the larger world around us. I speak from the point of view of a novelist, a profession to which only the delusional are called.”

[Dan Witte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve loved a lot of this guy’s books and short stories, and consider “The New Moon Party” to be among his greatest works. That story alone makes this one of my all-time favorite books, but the whole collection represents some of the finest fiction of its time, timelessly funny, intelligent and relevant.

[Graham Catt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A diverse and endlessly entertaining collection. The final story - The Overcoat II - is a treat for fans of Russian Literature.

[Jennifer M. Hartsock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the line: the air soft as a hand on your cheek. This line melted my heart. I recommend this story. It’s ironic that at the end of the story, the girl asks if he’s seen this missing person, and what makes it ironic is that how the boys now look will give her the impression (once she finds her dead friend) that these were the boys who did it. The imagery is well done; chock full of detail and description so you envision the scene.

This story describes the scum of society, but in a way that lets you understand their reasoning. These kids have nothing better to do than go up to this lake and do drugs and drink alcohol, and end up getting into some serious trouble by running in with the wrong crowd. This story gives us a very grimy and foul view of setting because of both where it takes place (a lake where people go to party, where people get into fights, and where someone’s found dead in the lake) and the type of people (Digby and Jeff, the guy they initially think is Tony, the stoned or drunk girl at the end).

[Justine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars out of 5 Stars

While this story is okay (not at all terrible or boring), I was a bit bothered by the inconsistencies in the narrator's voice. Our narrator is a 19 year old wanna-be bad boy, but the words Boyle chose to have him think and say appear out of the character's league - especially someone who has been drinking all night as our character has. One of these phrases is "Glandular discharges": there is not one 19 year old that I know of, especially one who would be any where close to fitting this character, who would use this language. Not to mention, this story was written in 1985, but uses references that are much earlier - something that I doubt our narrator would genuinely know about (e.g. A World War II novel from '48, a 1960 Ingmar Bergman film, "Sabine Women", etc.) Perhaps I'm being a bit too harsh, but it is odd and did distract me from the story a bit.

[Joshua Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the story of Greasy Lake because the characters are relatable to the bad-boy persona of everyone’s youth—definitely at some point it was mine. The narrator wants to portray the bad-boy image but has an epiphany at the end, realizing what he wanted to portray is nothing what he wanted to be. This is summed up at the end when the narrator said, “I wanted to go home to my parents’ house and crawl into bed.” The reader really got a great sense of what the narrator was thinking and feeling through the traumatic night, I felt like I was there with him and the rest of the characters—the narration was not distant from the main character. What I took from this story was the importance of distance in a narration.

[Shaundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular! I find myself deeply embroiled in each story within the first paragraph, no matter the topic. Clever and engaging!! Reading a TC Boyle every month. On to “World’s End”.

“I’m just a little bit tired of whales right now.”

From “Whales Weep”.

[Marc Gerstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this is one heck of a short story.

Take the basic premise of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” or “Risky Business,” where testosterone crazed teenage boys aim for some adventure only to see it spin out of hand but then, compress it into a short story and push everything, and I really mean everything, to extreme. I love when authors push the envelope like that but retain credibility all the while.

If educators had any sense and guts (many don’t and might squirm at parts of this), this should be required reading in high-school freshman English.

[Timothy Swarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging, entertaining—if somewhat uneven—collection. T.C. Boyle sometimes creates bare sketches of stories seemingly just to demonstrate his aesthetic skills, only to abruptly end them before any real action takes place (“Whales Weep” and “Two Ships” exhibit this quality).

However, at his best, the author’s stories are touching, hilarious, and painfully honest depictions of human achievements and mistakes. “The Overcoat II,” “All Shook Up,” and “Ike and Nina” are some of my favorites presented here, but fans of Mr. Boyle will at least find something to appreciate in them all.

[Maki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Short stories are great when they are either crisp and to the point or meandering and poetic. Greasy Lake, to me, felt like neither. Maybe it was the word "greasy" that ruined these for me. These stories felt heavy and dark... and I don't like it.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title story is as gripping and amazing as I remember. Happy to re-read this collection. Boyle has a great knack for voice and for making history powerfully personal.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was meh at best for me. Soldiered through it so I could finally move on to something else.

[Riley Kliethermes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read Greasy Lake

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very good collection of stories by T.C. Boyle. I've read several of Boyle's novels and some of his stories and always seem to enjoy them. This collection had some real gems included with a few that didn't quite do it for me. The title story, GREASY LAKE, was one of my favorites about a group of ruffians who try to kill a thug and rape his girlfriend but then get the tables turned on them.

I also enjoyed:

CAVIAR, about a fisherman and his wife who use a surrogate when the wife cannot get pregnant. Then the husband falls for the surrogate who happens to already be involved with their doctor who set up the pregnancy for them.

THE HECTOR QUESADILLA STORY about an aged baseball player who plays in the longest game ever.

THE NEW MOON PARTY about a politician who gets elected president with the promise of building and putting in orbit a new moon that will outshine the one we have now. Well he keeps his promise but things go terribly wrong when the moon is unveiled! This one could have been a takeoff on President Trump and his wall...

STONES IN MY PASSWAY, HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL. This one was a short history of the legendary blues singer and guitar player, Robert Johnson, giving a take on how he died at a very young age.

ALL SHOOK UP about an Elvis impersonator and his wife who has an affair with their neighbor, a high school guidance counselor.

A BIRD IN THE HAND. Two part story with the first taking place in 1980 where a farm gets overwhelmed by 10 million starlings. The second part takes place in 1890 and tells the true story of how starlings were introduced into America by Eugene Schiefflin and the American Acclimatization Society who wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare into America.

Most of the other stories in this volume were also worth reading with a couple of exceptions. Boyle always comes through for me and I will be reading more of his works that I have missed.

[Audrey]

a classic entry into the field of male short story writers with eminently readable and intelligent prose whose short stories can be broken down into a simple outline! in this case:

- man past the prime of his life
- lost in the malaise of modern society
- develops a new interest in an esoteric topic
- an interest which leads him to a drastically different life
- at which point he fails dearly and painfully in an ironic twist invariably difficult to read and loses all he knows
- and we are left to wonder what will become of him.

lots of stories in this book! and so many go like this! and if they don't fit the outline, they certainly will end in a painfully ironic manner and the characters will lose all. i mean far be it for me to ask you not to put your characters through the wringer but at a certain point, man... there are other ways to end a story besides in horrific tragedy. i set down this book for months at a time because i already knew how every story was going to end and didn't feel like going through all that. oh, well, repetition is always a risk in any short story collection. and at least the prose was interesting if sometimes overwrought.

[steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

T.C. Boyle can't ignore a great simile, he just keeps driving down that road to the point of distraction sometimes. Murder your darlings man, murder your darlings!

The stories are hit or miss. Kind of reminds me of 9 stories. You know you've gone on a trip, but your not sure your destination once you're at the end of the story. Like, what was the point of that?? I don't know. I didn't get it. Didn't understand it. Where's the epiphany? And maybe, that's the point of the stories. That there is no point?

Reading these stories is like navigating your way through fog, except you're the fog, the car is the fog, everything is the fog.

The title story, Greasy Lake, itself, is AMAZING. But the rest, hit or miss. And the hits, they're okay.

[Bryan Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of short stories which are varied in voice, setting, and topicality. It almost feels like a compilation of the work of various authors more than a collection of stories written by the same one, and that is an achievement. Also to the good is that tonally/stylistically, many of the pieces feel a lot more contemporary than their age would belie (in 2022, the stories in this book are 40-45 years old). I didn't feel as though there were any truly standout stories (except, perhaps, the breathless ride of the titular tale), but nor were there any that fell particularly flat. Worth picking up at a used bookstore if you're looking for something fun.

[Whitney Borup · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought about a third of these stories were fantastic - obviously "Greasy Lake," but also a couple others that seemed to deal with the same kinds of characters and themes. I absolutely hated a few of these stories, though. I really didn't like when he strayed too far from what seams to be a more familiar setting for him.

[A Mig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This action-packed fast-paced short story is a slap in the face, for both the reader and the main characters. We can smell the beer, sweat and blood, we can see youth, social classes, a piece of vintage America. We're part of the story, whether we want it or not, having no clue how we got there in the first place.

[Toby Peck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved his Greasy Lake, and how it took a spin on the reader's interpretations of the main character always being the good guy. The way he is able to add new details to the story and have it still make sense halfway through the story is really amazing!

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of literary short stories including many genres. Going from Soviet Russia where a man has lost his overcoat to Montanna where a prepper family settles in for the long haul. I really enjoyed this selection and would read more, as well as be interested in a novel.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. A wide range. More Soviet and Russian themed stories, indicative of the time written. Mostly these are interesting character studies often with stark, discordant concluding decisions. Good pace.

[Alberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing short stories full of drama and mystery.

EL 17.

[Myles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should stop reading him...

[Bree]

I read Greasy Lake for a class.

[Vincent OBrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love T C Boyle, but I was never a fan of short stories, so I only read the first 3.