We're in Trouble

by Christopher Coake

In this extraordinary collection of short fiction, characters wrestle with the moments in life that test us most deeply, in ways both dramatic and subtle. In “We’re in Trouble,” a woman is asked to end her dying husband’s suffering. In “Abandon,” a troubled young man must risk jail to do right by the only woman he has ever loved. And “In the Event” shows a young musician’s all-night vigil after he loses his best friends and is suddenly left as the guardian of their three-year-old son.

From a wife waiting for news of her husband’s latest death-defying climb to a sheriff thrown into turmoil after his close friend enacts a horrifying murder-suicide, this “uncanny, clear-eyed [and] wildly engaging” story collection was awarded the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize (Entertainment Weekly).

We're in trouble --
Cross country --
Solos --
In the event --
A single awe --
Abandon --
All through the house

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Suspense, 21st Century, Death, Contemporary, Novels

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Christopher Coake is the author of YOU CAME BACK (Grand Central Publishing, out June 2012) as well as the collection of short stories WE’RE IN TROUBLE (Harcourt 2005), which won the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship. In addition, Coake was listed among “Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists” in 2007. His stories have been published in several literary journals, and anthologized in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2004 and THE BEST AMERICAN NOIR OF THE CENTURY. A native Hoosier, he received his M.F.A. in fiction from Ohio State University. He and his wife Stephanie Lauer live in Reno, where Coake is a professor of English at the University of Nevada.

Reviews

[Joachim Stoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ik probeer het te begrijpen. Waarom bundels met korte verhalen niet populairder en (dus) lucratiever zijn. Waarom er zo weinig worden vertaald als ze niet de naam Pirandello, Borges of Tsjechov dragen? Je zou welhaast denken dat je nog beter een sticker met 'essays' op je cover plakt, dan eentje met 'korte verhalen.'

Mijn gok is dat menig lezer helemaal wil opgaan of heerlijk wenst te verdwijnen in een roman. Dat het velen aan zin of energie ontbreekt om een dozijn keer gloednieuwe personages en intriges te leren kennen. Te veel effort, risico op te weinig return. En wellicht vrezen lezers dat er tussen het gros van verhalen per bundel minstens een paar matige of lauwe tussen zitten.

Hoewel we in ons taalgebied enkele succesvolle vertolkers genieten (ik denk oa. aan Rob van Essen, Annelies Verbeke, Carmien Michels, J.M.A. Biesheuvel, en -met hun flash fiction- AL Snijders en Joke Van Caesbroeck) verbaast het me niet dat enkele van mijn favoriete Engelstalige bundels hier geen uitgevers vinden en dus onvertaald blijven.

Enkele jaren geleden heb ik me schor geschreeuwd over The heaven of animals van David James Poissant. Zo hard dat er blijkbaar vanuit het niets bestellingen binnenkwamen bij boekhandels voor deze totaal obscure titel. Ik heb naderhand nog nooit zoveel bedankingen ontvangen over een tip.

De debuutbundel 'We're in trouble' van Christopher Coake won de prestigieuze PEN/Robert Bingham Award - dé prijs voor short fiction, maar daar koopt hij dus niks voor. 428 ratings op Goodreads is peanuts en ik zie enkel vertalingen in het Duits, Frans en Italiaans. Maar lieve vrienden, dit is zó goed!

Deze bundel heeft niks experimenteels, niks gek, niks meta, maar is volgestampt met leven. Zoveel dat je er een beetje aan sterft.
Bij elk verhaal sta je op een springplank en duik je gewillig in het diepe. Razendsnel leer je personages kennen en. Nee wacht. Mijn superlatievenmotor sputtert nog even. Ik probeer opnieuw.

Als ik een officiële recensie hiervan zou schrijven, zou ik vragen aan de Humo-redactie om eenmalig 6 sterren te mogen geven.
Deze verhalen troffen me harder dan de meeste verhalen uit de collecties van grootmeesters Carver, Cheever en Munro.
Elk afzonderlijk verhaal is een verfilming waard. Ik leefde meer mee met personages die zich kenbaar maakten in een ruimte van 25 bladzijden dan vele romanpersonages die zich na het tienvoudige nóg steeds verbergen. Zal ik nog even doorgaan of is de bestelling al doorgegeven?

Blijkbaar wordt Coake vergeleken met voorgangers Andre Dubus en Tobias Wolff. Die staan dus nu op mijn menu. En erna gun ik me Coakes tweede bundel: You Would Have Told Me Not To. 63 ratings op Goodreads. De wereld is gek!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down one of the most riveting collections of short stories I've ever read. Each vignette places a main character in the midst of a crisis, and what sets this book apart is that Coake achieves the nearly impossible: He makes you really feel something for each person, whether it's sympathy and pity or loathing and fear in a matter of a few pages. As each tragedy unfolds, he peels away the layers of each character, revealing their true nature. His writing is dynamic and at times incendiary, and it makes you want to burn through the entire book in one sitting. But I'd recommend resisting the urge so the experience of reading this extraordinary book lasts longer. If I could give this book six stars, I would.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply amazing. One of my favorite books of short fiction in a long, long time.

[Carmine R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vita stemperata di grigio

"Deve lasciarla sul marciapiede, andarsene. Oppure no. Questa nuova idea non gli viene così, non è una pazzia - come quella che li aveva spinti ad andare in Michigan. Non lo fa tremare, come la consapevolezza di averla amata. Non gli fa provare dolore, come una punizione. Non è come dover mentire a tutti. Dover dire che aveva smesso di amarla.
L'hai promesso, le sente dire.
Mel, le risponde, ora è diverso."

"Ma ogni tanto mi viene il pensiero che, se solo lui morisse, io sarei libera da questo amore. Che posso tollerare la vedovanza - è una possibilità a cui sono già preparata -, ma non una simile tortura, un anno dopo l'altro. Desidero che cada una valanga, che la corda si spezzi, e non solo per poter vivere la mia vita, ma per avere ragione, per poter dire che tutta la sofferenza e le preoccupazioni avevano un motivo."

Raccolta di racconti sulla falsariga delle atmosfere carveriane. Si percepisce una dissonanza tra momenti di alta introspezione - sfumature ben evidenziate - e momenti da serie televisiva di quart'ordine. Il quadro complessivo è più che buono, per quanto incostante.

Siamo nei guai 3★
Frammenti di vite diverse; esistenze in attesa del dramma o pronte a lasciarselo alle spalle.

Attraverso il paese 3★
Rapporto madre-figlio filtrato da viaggi per serbare silenzi misericordiosi.

In solitaria 4★
L'amore vissuto nell'assenza dell'altro: turbinio di moti egoistici e cristallizzazione del tempo passato.

Caso mai 5★
La speranza di una nuova vita nelle mani di chi ha visto la morte da vicino. Racconto meraviglioso.

Un solo sgomento 2★
Storiella insipida sul tradimento fine a se stesso.

Abbandono 3.5★
Efficace il quadro corale, che contempla vite mediocri e tiepidi tentativi di riscatto; meno credibile il dramma innestato nel tessuto narrativo per approdare a un finale più telefonato delle tasse da pagare.

Per tutta la casa 4.5★
Cronaca di una strage familiare e indagine parallela per sondare il movente. I salti temporali restituiscono l'implacabile frattura tra i propositi dell'inizio - preadolescenza, la conquista dell'amore - e la difficoltà nell'accettare l'appassimento dei sentimenti (a prescindere da qualunque proposito).

[Utsav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nick Hornby may have oversold this book a little bit in his review (collected in The Polysyllabic Spree; this edition also prominently features a quote from that review on the front jacket), but this is nevertheless a pretty tight collection of stories by Chris Coake.

While it starts and ends strong, it does slump a little in the middle. However, any fiction exploring the darker recesses of the human mind is always welcome, and this is a very well-written sample of it. At its best, it can make you cry, and even at its worst it never gets uninteresting.

[Dave Van Rompaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it possible to give more then 5? Heartwrenching, beautiful, hard, haunting.. All depections of ways to people who deal with things. Try to make a stand in this world. “In the Event” made me shed a tear. I don't cry often. This short story made me.

[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a drag. I hated these short stories. I expected to love this from the reviews and the book cover and the themes, but I was bored out of my mind. The style was grating and amateurish.

[Nicholai · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie to you, im not planning on finishing this book. What exactly does the author do with this book?
Well, lets see, he tells a bunch of small stories, with no real ending to any of them, not a hell of a lot to take example off of, and gives us quite a few characters that strongly resemble cliches in modern society.
I suppose to some, one or two of the three things above can be taken as a good thing. Perhaps the fact that they are cliches paints a better picture, but I personally prefer my characters unique as fuck. I also like my stories to give me some experience to paint my own future situations with. I can only gather so much experience in my own life I figure, why not look at some of these fictional folks, see what they do and ponder if its the right thing to do if I were to ever be put in the same situation.

I will say that Christopher Coake uses the english language well, that he is seemingly a good writer in that sense. I just dont really like the format of this specific book, nor do I care for the stories themselves really.

All of the short stories seem like they are great platforms for something longer though, what I mean by that is, if Coake was to take any of these miniscule freeform fucks and turned them into a full novel, or hell even a novella, it would probably be at the very least a good time.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me so long to read for the sole fact that I couldn't read it out in public for fear of inducing tears. All these stories are rooted in relationship or family drama and are all heartbreaking in a way that takes you off guard. I had never heard of Christopher Coake before he started showing up on some "Authors Under 40" lists, but I can recommend this as one of the best short story collections I have read in some time.

[Kristen Shupe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't often give 5 stars but this book unquestionably deserved it. I'm also not a huge fan of short stories, but wow! Each story was incredible. This was the author's first book, but hopefully wasn't his last! What a talent. He could have developed each of these stories into a novel. Amazing characters and plots. This book will stay with me for quite some time.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been savoring this collection for six months. It’s a Masterclass in short fiction. More please.

[Brett Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb, masterful writing...

Christopher Coake's debut collection is nothing less than exceptional!

"We're in Trouble" is easily one of the top three best books of short stories I have ever read. The book has seven magnificent stories, all covering different subjects and each one leaves an impression.

This book will literally grab you from the start, with the first story "We're in Trouble - A Suite", which has three parts to it, with each story being different and not related to the others.

Part I - (Back Down to Earth) is a moving, heart breaking story about a boy and his dog

Part II - (All Babies Come from Heaven) will take your breath away, a couple that wants to have a child is torn by tragedy

Part III - (We've Come to This) is a the story about an old man who is terminally ill and is ready to say goodbye

The rest of the collection -

Cross Country - a superb tale about what a little boy thinks he saw and then the telling of what actually happened

Solos - the story of a daring solo mountain climber whose family is always in peril, waiting for the next bit of information on his success / failure / death

In the Event - a gripping story about a couple who aren't quite sure about their own relationship, their lives are changed forever when their best friends are killed and leave their son in their care

A Single Awe - a woman who once wasn't sure her college boyfriend was the right man, ends up marrying him after he becomes a hero and looks back at her choices

Abandon - two young lovers want to get away and retreat to a secluded cabin right before a brutal surprise snow storm blows in and leaves them trapped

All Through the House - a story about a sheriff who tells the story of his best friend who commits a horrific murder suicide on his family and how, why & what led up to that point

This collection doesn't have alot of reviews, but it does have a perfect 5 star average rating. Reading the other reviews myself, it's very easy to see that I'm not alone in stating that this book blew me away and stayed with me several days after I finished it.

Highly, highly recommended short stories! ** (other highly recommended short story collections are - Controlled Burn, Poachers: Stories and The Hotel Eden: Stories).

Do yourself a favor and read this book!

Enjoy~

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're in Trouble is raw, melancholy, and occasionally flat-out uncomfortable. I loved pretty much every second.

Christopher Coake is a masterclass storyteller, able to break your heart in thirty pages or less while delivering a complete, compelling narrative. The stories in this collection can be downright brutal, yet feel wholly authentic to the human experience. You engage in all manner of perspectives you never considered before, including the spouse of a mountain climber that regularly risks his life for fun, a child's godfather feeling the weight of responsibility the night he's forced to take up the mantle, and a child travelling with a relative that may be less than benevolent. Coake never sugarcoats his material. His characters are flawed, broken, and oh-so-human. Some of them make terrible decisions within the narratives, yet you're given enough background on their reasoning to understand and empathize with them, even though the actions themselves remain inexcusable. My personal favorites from the collection were Solos, All Through the House, and In the Event, though I enjoyed them all.

My only real issue is how many stories deal with infidelity. I understand that's probably one of the main themes of the collection, and Coake does a magnificent job with making each instance unique in execution. However, when it occurs more than twice, I can't help but wish a different vice was explored to switch things up.

We're in Trouble isn't for everyone. The stories thrive on uncomfortable subjects, including child endangerment, infidelity, rape, death, murder, self-harm - pretty much anything you can think of. That said, if you can handle the subject matter, this collection delivers a unique experience that's absolutely worth checking out.

[Laura Yan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is impeccable writing, and impeccable, literary short stories of love and death. In fact, they're perfect. And, I don't know, I appreciate the beauty and the sadness and the perfection, but, somehow, this feels a little too...polished. Like there is something, underlying here, some passion, something beautiful, but it's too much, so instead Christopher Coake turned to these well crafted stories--really, beautiful, well crafted stories, but they stop short of something, something raw that's inherent about love and death. There's the mask of these plots, these well written sentences, this MFA style, this craftedness--and it is a pleasure to read, for the pleasure of the writing itself, and the stories, but it doesn't quite reach the darkest, truest parts. It's like, when you read these stories you want to feel the pain and the devastation, but it's so...if not contrived, something, it's kept at arm's distance, it's written and revised and perfected until it loses, just a little, its heart.

[Shaindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories by Christopher Coake is a true work of art--a must-read. A wife emotionally struggles with raising her young son while her husband is climbing Everest, a pair of young lovers become trapped in a rustic cabin during a deadly blizzard... Beautiful stories, all skillfully told.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

great writer ! Cant' wait for him to write something new - will read anything this man writes . You can feel all of the emontions from the pain to love to sorrow , This book leaves you wanting more from him ....

[Brandon B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this, but only the second story ("Cross Country") held my attention. Sadly and ironically I ditched the book during "Abandon" and it seemed like a fitting end. Now on to something with at least a pinch of optimism.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This shit ruled me.

[Meteorite_cufflink · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Incredible collection of short stories. All fully formed and worth reading, but a few ('Solos', 'Last House') have a special depth and resonance - something that feels like a mix of a memory and a dream. Recommended!

[Craig Tilstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to confess I have had this book for YEARS and, criminally, never even opened it. It was a birthday present from a bookworm friend. I have recently become besotted with the late, great American minimalist author Raymond Carver, and wondered if this might tick some of the same boxes. It did and it didn’t. In many of the short stories - and I’m thinking particularly of ‘Cross Country’ and ‘Abandonment’ - there’s a genuine sense of excitement and pace, which one would probably not associate with Carver’s work. But what it does share is a sense of depth, of weight, of sadness. The stories either start out with a sense of optimism and end in tragedy, or else start with a tragedy and end with at least a semblance of optimism. And they’re all masterfully told. As with Carver, there’s a certain economy of language that works well with the everyday characters. And - oh! - what characters. They’re flawed, they’re layered, they’re believable, they’re captivating.

The other commonality between Carver’s work and Coake’s, which might prove a source of frustration to some, is that some of the stories stop before they feel like they have ended - the reader is left wanting to know more, for a sense of closure. I liked this though. I enjoyed speculating on what was about to happen five minutes later, or five years later.

It’s a minor criticism, and I dare say it shows a certain amount of ignorance from me as a reader, but the one and only thing I couldn’t get in with was the way speech is not demarcated. It puzzled me a little rather than spoiled my enjoyment of what is a truly sublime collection of short stories.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven short stories about people in trouble after witnessing or dealing with death, with superb dialogue. In Back Down to Earth, during a bedroom chat, a man tells his lover the story of his failure to rescue his dog at the edge of a precipice, and his witnessing the fall, feeling that he should fling himself after his dog, and that his act was so wrong that he had condemned himself. in All Babies Come From Heaven, a lesbian couple arguing about whether to have a baby find their positions reversed when one of them witnesses an automobile accident in which a toddler dies. Cross Country depicts the kidnapping of a child from the point of view of the kidnapper, the child, and another child on a different trip with his father. Ambiguities and subtleties abound. In A Single Awe, at a Christmas party, a wife realizes she no longer likes the husband she fell in love with and married because he saved a mother in a terrible accident and suffered burns as a result. I found the final story, All through the house, the weakest. Here, a police chief deals with the aftermath of his best friend killing his wife, his sons, and his inlaws. The scenes around the murder are well drawn. It's just that the murder itself strains credulity.

But all in all, a great debut. However, not something to read when you need some cheer. Because in one way or another, aren't we all in trouble?

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories was emotionally challenging and at time terrifying. Coake's stories draw on fears that are perhaps in the family of those irrational fears that we may have in our daily lives. It is not that they cannot or do not happen as much as they are probably rare and unlikely, but we all harbor them to some degree. I won't detail them all in the stories, but they are akin to the discomfort of being under a busy highway, worrying about an accident from above, or worrying about child abuse that you are not sure you witnessed. Very uncomfortable, but not so much that you need to put the book down.

For the record this is full of some tough experiences and I warn the reader of some potential triggers. Coake does not shy away from rape, murder, child abuse, infidelity, suicide etc. It is painful but will keep you captive.

Coake does have a quirk in that he uses no quotation marks for dialogue, and I do not perceive a literary use. The first time I experienced this technique was in reading Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club". In "Fight Club" the technique makes perfect sense in creating confusion between interior monologue and dialog between the narrator and Tyler Durden, but in "We're in Trouble" it does nothing I can perceive?

In the end I feel some guilt for having had this checked out of the library for so long. It was part of a librarians' recommendations shelf and now I feel guilty for keeping it from others for so long.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully and subtly written collection of literary suspense stories. That's what I'm assuming the relative genre is, at least, since the "trouble" is present in all the stories, where it often has a little more bite than mainstream short fiction.

In some cases, like "Cross Country," the threat is ambiguous enough that your own anxiety as a reader over your interpretations (and potential misinterpretations) adds a chill to the proceedings. In other cases, such as "All Through the House" or the heartbreaking "Abandon," the danger is more explicit, but Coake shows enough restraint that he manages to explore the situations without ever exploiting them (or, for what it's worth, defanging them. These are not friendly stories). That threat fittingly spills over into all areas of the characters' lives, so that contemplating a casual affair in "A Single Awe" seems as momentous as the same story's car accident.

Coake's characterization is excellent in all cases--I'd happily read novels about any of these people. That, coupled with his detailed, careful realism even in tense and surprising situations, makes these stories both involving and haunting. I can't wait to read more Coake.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of stories that left me wanting more. Three of these were especially memorable to me:

"In the Event," in which a rock musician learns of his best friends' deaths and is left as guardian to their 3 year old son. He had agreed to do this, in the event of their untimely demise, but of course none of them ever thought it would actually happen. His loss and uncertainty about the next steps are very believable.

"Abandon," where a young, reckless couple goes to Michigan to get away for a few days but become stranded in an abandoned cabin when a freak snowstorm comes in.

Finally, "All Through the House," in which a sheriff must deal with the aftermath of his best friend's murder-suicide. I liked how this story worked backward...from 12 years after the tragedy down to 5 years before it...to show us the full picture of how this could have happened and who had responsibility in it.

In each of these, I was moved by the story and the characters and kept wanting to know what happened to these sad people. This was Christopher Coake's debut and I think he did a superb job.

[Richda Mcnutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a difficult choice in rating this book - I wanted to give it a three because I found it so disturbing and really couldn't say that I liked it. But I must acknowledge that giving it a 4 seemed the correct thing to do because it disturbed me so. His first story affected me to the extent that I wasn't sure I could read any others. But I read to the end - disturbed and fretting all the way. Coake pulls you into the tale and makes you face the idea that you might be no better ethically or morally in making choices yourself. And that kind of pull takes genuine talent. So, Mr. Coake, your stories may not be pleasant, uplifting, or enjoyable, but they are well worth reading. What will you do for a second act?

[Simone Subliminalpop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scrittura efficace, pulita, e un buonissimo ritmo. Come arma principale del narrare di Coake c’è la drammaticità, ma nessun eccesso o colpa di scena improvviso, solo una sensazione che serpeggia e ogni tanto si erge, si compatta per far capire che nonostante sembri andare tutto come sempre, lei è sempre lì, sveglia, pronta a colpire nel momento più opportuno.

Solo un racconto non mi è piaciuto “Siamo nei guai”, mentre più di tutti “Abbandono” e “Caso mai”.

[Lorileinart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this collection of short stories, but they are very disburbing. They are written in a way that nearly gave me an anxiety attack; yet the style and substance are undeniable.
Don't read during the depressing, gray months of winter...it would just be too much.

[Migg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only a two or three of the short stories captured my full attention. Some of them leave you wanting for a continuation or a proper ending and that made me disliking the book altogether. All stories dealt with death.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading this excellent collection of short stories last night. Wonderful bedtime reading! Loved Christopher Coake's midwestern voice. The Fargo-esque character of these stories makes me wonder why the Coen Brothers haven't made any of these stories into a film yet.

[Barbra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often read short story collections...this might be only my second? But I found these stories engaging and even though short, the depth of characters and narration was excellent. This book will make me consider reading more short story collections.