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Night Train: New and Selected Stories
A posthumous and definitive collection of new and selected stories by "virtuoso of the short story" (Esquire) and National Book Award finalist Thom Jones. This scorching collection from award-winning author Thom Jones features his best new short fiction alongside a selection of outstanding stories from three previous books. Jones's stories are full of high-octane, prose-drunk entertainment. His characters are grifters and drifters, rogues and ne'er-do-wells, would-be do-gooders whose human frailties usually get the better of them. Some are lovable, others are not, but each has an indelible and irresistible voice. They include Vietnam soldiers, amateur boxers, devoted doctors, strung-out advertising writers, pill poppers and veterans of the psych ward, and an unforgettable adolescent DJ radio host, among others. The stories here are excursions into a unique world that veers between abject desperation and fleeting transcendence. Perhaps no other writer in recent memory could encapsulate in such short spaces the profound and the devastating, the poignant and the hallucinatory, with such an exquisite balance of darkness and light. Jones's fiction reveals again and again the resilience and grace of characters who refuse to succumb. In stories that can at once delight us with their wicked humor and sting us with their affecting pathos, Night Train perfectly captures the essence of this iconic American master, showcasing in a single collection the breadth of power of his inimitable fiction.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 18, 2018
53 people are currently reading
1207 people want to read
About the author
Thom Jones
28 books119 followersThom Jones (born January 26, 1945) was an American writer, primarily of short stories.
Jones was raised in Aurora, Illinois, and attended the University of Hawaii, where he played catcher on the baseball team. He later attended the University of Washington, from which he graduated in 1970, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, from which he received an M.F.A. in 1973.
Jones trained in Force Reconnaissance in the Marine Corps but was discharged before his unit was sent to Vietnam. This and other personal experiences, including the suicide of his boxer father in a mental institution, have become important sources of material for his fiction. After graduation from college, he worked as a copywriter for a Chicago advertising agency and later as a janitor, all the while reading and writing for hours each day. He was "discovered" well into his forties by the fiction editors of The New Yorker, who published a series of his stories in the early 1990s, including "The Pugilist at Rest", which won an O. Henry Award.
Jones resided in Olympia, Washington. He had temporal lobe epilepsy and suffered from diabetes.
In 1973, Jones published an animal-fantasy allegory in the dystopian George Orwell mode titled "Brother Dodo's Revenge" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
His first book, published in 1993, was the short-story collection The Pugilist at Rest. The stories deal with common themes of mortality and pain, with characters that often find a kind of solace in the rather pessimistic philosophy of Schopenhauer. Boxing, absent or mentally ill fathers, physical trauma and the Vietnam War are also recurring motifs. The collection was a National Book Award finalist. Jones' other two collections of short stories include Cold Snap (1995) and Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine (1999).
His story "Night Train," which originally appeared in the magazine Tin House, was included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004. A humorous essay, "Easter Island Noodles Almondine," about time Jones spent as a youth working for the General Mills plant in Aurora, Illinois, appeared in an issue of Granta focused on Chicago, published in 2009. And "Bomb Shelter Noel," a story about a diabetic girl, was published in the January 2011 issue of Playboy.
Reports have appeared stating Jones wrote scripts for feature films, including a Vietnam screenplay for Cheyenne Enterprises, and an adaptation of Larry Brown's novel, The Rabbit Factory, for Ithaka Films.
John Updike in a Salon.com interview praised Jones as one of two writers of a younger generation he admired, and Updike included Jones' story, "I Want To Live!", in the anthology The Best American Short Stories of the Century.
Jones was raised in Aurora, Illinois, and attended the University of Hawaii, where he played catcher on the baseball team. He later attended the University of Washington, from which he graduated in 1970, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, from which he received an M.F.A. in 1973.
Jones trained in Force Reconnaissance in the Marine Corps but was discharged before his unit was sent to Vietnam. This and other personal experiences, including the suicide of his boxer father in a mental institution, have become important sources of material for his fiction. After graduation from college, he worked as a copywriter for a Chicago advertising agency and later as a janitor, all the while reading and writing for hours each day. He was "discovered" well into his forties by the fiction editors of The New Yorker, who published a series of his stories in the early 1990s, including "The Pugilist at Rest", which won an O. Henry Award.
Jones resided in Olympia, Washington. He had temporal lobe epilepsy and suffered from diabetes.
In 1973, Jones published an animal-fantasy allegory in the dystopian George Orwell mode titled "Brother Dodo's Revenge" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
His first book, published in 1993, was the short-story collection The Pugilist at Rest. The stories deal with common themes of mortality and pain, with characters that often find a kind of solace in the rather pessimistic philosophy of Schopenhauer. Boxing, absent or mentally ill fathers, physical trauma and the Vietnam War are also recurring motifs. The collection was a National Book Award finalist. Jones' other two collections of short stories include Cold Snap (1995) and Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine (1999).
His story "Night Train," which originally appeared in the magazine Tin House, was included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004. A humorous essay, "Easter Island Noodles Almondine," about time Jones spent as a youth working for the General Mills plant in Aurora, Illinois, appeared in an issue of Granta focused on Chicago, published in 2009. And "Bomb Shelter Noel," a story about a diabetic girl, was published in the January 2011 issue of Playboy.
Reports have appeared stating Jones wrote scripts for feature films, including a Vietnam screenplay for Cheyenne Enterprises, and an adaptation of Larry Brown's novel, The Rabbit Factory, for Ithaka Films.
John Updike in a Salon.com interview praised Jones as one of two writers of a younger generation he admired, and Updike included Jones' story, "I Want To Live!", in the anthology The Best American Short Stories of the Century.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 5, 2018
Not so sure about one or two of the newer stories, but seeing as I'd give it six stars I can easily knock one off.
May 26, 2019
I’m glad to donate to the late Thom Jones estate by way of buying this collection, mostly old, oddly a few newer non-published in a book or under my radar anthology collection reach. I’d given up hope of getting one more collection from the scrappy Writer, so this was a great surprise. As for the newer stories it was hit or miss, a few stories like Night Train lived up to my expectations and for the stories that were weaker, they seemed like an extension or a tie-in from a previous tale. I’ve handed out or gave away my old Pugulist At Rest and Sonny Liston Was A Friend Of Mine, this gave me a chance to reread some of the great shorts.
I looked up this story of Thom Jones post success days, geez, his later material reeks of his personal experiences of that time and of course are even more evident in Night Trains section https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
I looked up this story of Thom Jones post success days, geez, his later material reeks of his personal experiences of that time and of course are even more evident in Night Trains section https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
March 30, 2020
I took a short story class that ended on the same day I flew to Seattle. Buying a short story anthology by a legendary local author was probably a predictable behavior. I’m sure these stories are all great. It is powerful and unique writing. Each degenerate character more loathsome than the one before. These are unique characters and I am in awe of all of them. My problem, I told my writing class, is I haven’t lived, I have few stories, fewer yet settings and fewer still characters to draw on. So where mr Jones do these creations come from? Reading his recent obituary in the NYT, he boxed and was in the service during the war, he worked in a high school and suffered mental hardships. So he knew some of these characters, created some and probably lived the others. The problem with reading a volume of such incredible writing is that it leaves no room for faith in my own idea to write. Back to songwriting I suppose. Wishing I read these over a year instead of a month. Digestion may have been easier or more complete. Yum.
October 28, 2020
More selected than new. Still Thom Jones Best short stories delight, a more macho Raymond Carver, in a good way with the same wry pathos. The new stories are ok, good more out of scarcity than anything else.
April 21, 2019
“… literary cocktails …” — The New York Times Book Review
“… the eccentrics we might find in a lyric by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits.” — Salon
Thom Jones displays a “knack for unnerving cheer in the face of catastrophe,” writes Amy Bloom.
Although I liked a few of the stories here, many of the others hit me as too rude, too crude. Thom Jones took me on a zigzag roller coaster ride, from hopeless to hopeful.
The collection includes a couple dozen stories with half a dozen new ones. Many of the stories first appeared, sometimes in different form, in such publications as Harper’s, The New Yorker and Playboy.
This anthology put Thom Jones on my radar. First published in his mid-forties, the National Book Award named him as a finalist in ninety-three. During the nineties, four of his stories appeared in The Best American Short Stories annual. And one of them published in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. He grew up in Aurora, two Metra stops beyond where my sister lives.
Although I found the collection uneven, I liked these:
“Diary of My Health”
A throughly tongue-in-cheek ten-month diary of episodes. The funniest story in the collection.
“All Along the Watchtower”
Clifford Grimes works for the City of Chicago as a graveyard-shift bridge tender on Cermak Road. Can a reformed bad guy transform into a do-gooder doing well with this rough crowd?
“Way Down Deep in the Jungle”
Dr Koestler, a loner from New Zealand, preferred his own company to that of others after long days in Zaire. He liked his baboon, an absurd animal. The native Africans laughed and fell to the ground as a drunken pet baboon imitated the doctor smoking cigarettes and sitting on a toilet. At one point, the doctor turns on a shortwave radio for music and hears “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. After taking another hit off a second joint, the doctor plays air guitar. In time, Koestler feels at one with the jungle. The story published in an edition of The Best American Short Stories.
“Tarantula”
Lulu, a tarantula, made a statement. The hairy spider established a darker aspect of Hammermeister, the only Caucasian in his Detroit neighborhood. Unable to bring a school under control, he got fired from his job as principal. The story won an O Henry prize.
“I Want to Live”
Mrs Wilson, with her ovaries and uterus gone, gets a difficult diagnosis of her abdomen, where adhesions tangle beyond the skill of a surgeon. Visitors come in droves. Flowers. Intrusions at all hours. “Go away,” she shrieks in desperation. “Leave me alone,” she cries. This story appeared in The Best American Short Stories of the Century.
“… the eccentrics we might find in a lyric by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits.” — Salon
Thom Jones displays a “knack for unnerving cheer in the face of catastrophe,” writes Amy Bloom.
Although I liked a few of the stories here, many of the others hit me as too rude, too crude. Thom Jones took me on a zigzag roller coaster ride, from hopeless to hopeful.
The collection includes a couple dozen stories with half a dozen new ones. Many of the stories first appeared, sometimes in different form, in such publications as Harper’s, The New Yorker and Playboy.
This anthology put Thom Jones on my radar. First published in his mid-forties, the National Book Award named him as a finalist in ninety-three. During the nineties, four of his stories appeared in The Best American Short Stories annual. And one of them published in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. He grew up in Aurora, two Metra stops beyond where my sister lives.
Although I found the collection uneven, I liked these:
“Diary of My Health”
A throughly tongue-in-cheek ten-month diary of episodes. The funniest story in the collection.
“All Along the Watchtower”
Clifford Grimes works for the City of Chicago as a graveyard-shift bridge tender on Cermak Road. Can a reformed bad guy transform into a do-gooder doing well with this rough crowd?
“Way Down Deep in the Jungle”
Dr Koestler, a loner from New Zealand, preferred his own company to that of others after long days in Zaire. He liked his baboon, an absurd animal. The native Africans laughed and fell to the ground as a drunken pet baboon imitated the doctor smoking cigarettes and sitting on a toilet. At one point, the doctor turns on a shortwave radio for music and hears “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. After taking another hit off a second joint, the doctor plays air guitar. In time, Koestler feels at one with the jungle. The story published in an edition of The Best American Short Stories.
“Tarantula”
Lulu, a tarantula, made a statement. The hairy spider established a darker aspect of Hammermeister, the only Caucasian in his Detroit neighborhood. Unable to bring a school under control, he got fired from his job as principal. The story won an O Henry prize.
“I Want to Live”
Mrs Wilson, with her ovaries and uterus gone, gets a difficult diagnosis of her abdomen, where adhesions tangle beyond the skill of a surgeon. Visitors come in droves. Flowers. Intrusions at all hours. “Go away,” she shrieks in desperation. “Leave me alone,” she cries. This story appeared in The Best American Short Stories of the Century.
May 18, 2022
A selection from the late American story writer. It starts strong with Jones’s early masterpiece ‘The Pugilist at Rest’ and the stories from the collection of the same name. Thereafter the quality wobbles - and almost vanishes by the ‘new stories’ section.
I grieved for the decline. I especially wanted to like the late piece ‘The Junkman of Chendu’ more than I did, which restored wit and vigour to Jones’s sentences. (‘The Chinese squat toilet is a horrible affair where greenbottle flies the size of bumblebees fly blind with their Saran Wrap wings, seduced and entranced by the magical aroma that calls to them like the Sirens of the Cyclades Islands.’) But a catalogue of incidents isn’t a story; the piece feels more like a zany piece of magazine journalism.
Favourite stories as follows:
The Pugilist at Rest
I Want to Live!
The Roadrunner
A Run Through The Jungle
Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine
I grieved for the decline. I especially wanted to like the late piece ‘The Junkman of Chendu’ more than I did, which restored wit and vigour to Jones’s sentences. (‘The Chinese squat toilet is a horrible affair where greenbottle flies the size of bumblebees fly blind with their Saran Wrap wings, seduced and entranced by the magical aroma that calls to them like the Sirens of the Cyclades Islands.’) But a catalogue of incidents isn’t a story; the piece feels more like a zany piece of magazine journalism.
Favourite stories as follows:
The Pugilist at Rest
I Want to Live!
The Roadrunner
A Run Through The Jungle
Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine
November 24, 2021
I love Thom Jones. I love him so much, in fact, I have signed copies of each of his books, except this one, since it was, you know, released after he died.
For one of these so-called manly writer dudes, some of my favourite stories of his feature female narrators. The last story in the collection, "Bomb Shelter Noel," ended on such a lovely note - ended the collection on such a lovely note. I desperately wish Jones had written a novel about Noel, which is a thought I have whenever I read his stories. I want more of these flawed, lovely lowlifes in my own life.
There are a handful of books and writers that I reread and reread. Jones is one. I read "The Pugilist at Rest" at least once a year, and quote from it regularly (even my cat tells me to shut up). It's my favourite story ever.
Anyway, here's to you, Jones.
For one of these so-called manly writer dudes, some of my favourite stories of his feature female narrators. The last story in the collection, "Bomb Shelter Noel," ended on such a lovely note - ended the collection on such a lovely note. I desperately wish Jones had written a novel about Noel, which is a thought I have whenever I read his stories. I want more of these flawed, lovely lowlifes in my own life.
There are a handful of books and writers that I reread and reread. Jones is one. I read "The Pugilist at Rest" at least once a year, and quote from it regularly (even my cat tells me to shut up). It's my favourite story ever.
Anyway, here's to you, Jones.
March 28, 2019
Thom Jones's stories are often populated with characters I might be inclined to avoid in reality: bigoted, sexist, arrogant, drug-addled, prone to violence, to name a few of their less redeeming qualities. And they are involved in situations that can, and often do, crush the life out of them. Jones captures them in harsh, direct light, and yet he does so with a compassion and empathy that plumbs their internal conflicts and underscores how so many can so often endure events that would shatter the privileged and the gifted. I am in awe of his work and wish he had survived his own troubling circumstances to write more.
October 4, 2020
Highlights here include “The Pugilist at Rest,” “The Black Lights,” “I Want to Live!,” “Cold Snap,” and “A White Horse.”
October 9, 2024
Kakvo dobro iznenađenje. Kratke priče kakve do sada nisam imao prilike čitati. Svaka preporuka!
December 12, 2018
Well written but totally depressing. A collection of short stories populated by Marines, boxers, doctors in Africa, epileptics, and people with a variety of mental and physical afflictions - some characters who meet more than one of these descriptions. The one consistent thing is that none of these characters is likable. And not one single story in this book has a happy ending. It almost makes you want to throw yourself in front of a train, a night train.
June 27, 2022
Crazy people who write, where would we be without them? Thom Jones punched the clouds. He jiu-jitsued each page.
April 2, 2020
When Thom Jones was at his best, no one could match him. His "I Want to Live" was rightly selected as one of the top stories of the past century. It's an example of Jones channeling a persona. Even when writing in the third person, he was an expert at mimicking the thoughts and speech of various characters--and perhaps most interesting when reaching beyond his own life, as in "I Want to Live," which is supposedly based on his mother-in-law's battle with cancer, but also "The Junkman of Chengdu," one of the newer stories, where Jones takes on the perspective of a twenty-something female exchange student in China. One has the sense, however, that Jones' stories mostly hewed closely to his own life experience. For instance, it is known he was a young boxer and a Marine training for service in Vietnam, and these themes are explored, to great effect, in his stories. Sadly, I don't know much else about his life, despite various searches. It seems Jones became epileptic after an especially brutal boxing match. He was a janitor at a school for many years and would read philosophy in his spare time. All of these incidents crop up in his fiction. He was diabetic, as were some of his characters. But I can only assume that Jones was a frequent traveler due to how convincing his "foreign" stories are--those set in India, Africa, and China. Someone needs to write a biography of Jones (although if you read Mark Jude Poirier's account of studying under Jones at Iowa, he sounds incredibly arrogant and self-interested). Other stories mention advertising work or script writing, boxer dogs--additional real-life fascinations for Jones. I can't think of another author offhand who brought so much of his own history into his stories. I was particularly interested by the later tales set in the Aurora, Illinois of Jones' childhood, when he lived with his grandmother, who owned a car repair business and shop. These stories seem softer, less macho than a lot of Jones' earlier stuff. He's one of my favorites, but on re-reading these stories I'll admit I'm a bit more put off by all the manly weightlifting, boxing, guns, and war themes, along with the often misogynistic attitude toward women. Stand-out stories, apart from "I Want to Live," include "The Pugilist at Rest," about Marine training camp; "A White Horse," about an epileptic advertising professional's inadvertent trip to India; and "Way Down Deep in the Jungle," about an aid doctor in Africa and his pet baboon. The collection calls itself definitive, but I believe it's missing a few good early stories. Readers, myself included, wanted to read the uncollected later work, but I believe some of it drops in quality. I don't know if Jones was in pain from his medical conditions or maybe preoccupied with other matters. Some of these stories, involving drug thefts and pistol-whipping, become a bit cartoonish. Thom Jones died before he should have. It's doubly sad that he seemed to give up fiction writing after the three volumes he published, maybe turning to Hollywood instead. Yes, a Thom Jones movie, maybe Vietnam-themed, would've been nice, but I would've preferred more stories. "Night Train" offers some needed consolation on that score.
June 29, 2019
The hardness in these short stories by Thom Jones reflect the toughness and hardness of his life. His father was a boxer, eventually committed to a mental institution and ultimately committed suicide. Jones was in basic training getting ready to go to Vietnam when he was discharged due to health issues, almost everyone in his unit later died in Vietnam, While Jones went to college and attended writing programs he was largely self taught, reading voluminously and writing while he was worked as a janitor, he became published only later in life.
These life themes occur repeatedly in his stories. "Sonny Liston was a Friend of Mine" features a high schooler trying to win a Golden Gloves tournament, his dad was a boxer but currently confined in a mental hospital, the young boxer lives uneasily and frugally with his mom and stepdad while constantly training and constantly getting in trouble. The story leads to answer who is tougher, the up and coming boxer or his surrounding life.
"The Pugilist at Rest" is told by a soldier who faces surgery for a temporal lobe seizure disorder. The soldier recalls that he suffered his injuries from boxing after escaping Vietnam without a scratch other than the mental flashbacks of a battle where his gun jammed causing to helplessly watch many of his friends die heroically and bravely.
"I Want to Live" tells of the last days of a cancer patient. This is not a spoiler alert as the reader soon learns that there a few happy endings in Thom Jones stories. The focus of the story is the character's strength as she confronts pain, sickness, hopelessness as she remembers a not so happy life.
Thom Jones is a great writer, his stories still haunt me. But my tip is to not read them all at one time. I alternated between this collection and other books because no matter how good the writing was, how compelling the characters were, the despair of the stories takes a toll
These life themes occur repeatedly in his stories. "Sonny Liston was a Friend of Mine" features a high schooler trying to win a Golden Gloves tournament, his dad was a boxer but currently confined in a mental hospital, the young boxer lives uneasily and frugally with his mom and stepdad while constantly training and constantly getting in trouble. The story leads to answer who is tougher, the up and coming boxer or his surrounding life.
"The Pugilist at Rest" is told by a soldier who faces surgery for a temporal lobe seizure disorder. The soldier recalls that he suffered his injuries from boxing after escaping Vietnam without a scratch other than the mental flashbacks of a battle where his gun jammed causing to helplessly watch many of his friends die heroically and bravely.
"I Want to Live" tells of the last days of a cancer patient. This is not a spoiler alert as the reader soon learns that there a few happy endings in Thom Jones stories. The focus of the story is the character's strength as she confronts pain, sickness, hopelessness as she remembers a not so happy life.
Thom Jones is a great writer, his stories still haunt me. But my tip is to not read them all at one time. I alternated between this collection and other books because no matter how good the writing was, how compelling the characters were, the despair of the stories takes a toll
December 20, 2018
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. I think this collection condenses his literary output into an accessible volume with some standout stories written by Thom Jones . It is also worth to mention the stunning introduction by Amy Bloom that helps the reader to understand better the connections between the author personal life and his work.
Arranged in roughly chronological order, most of my favorites Jone´s stories are here.What keeps drawing me into Jones’s stories is the precision of his language, specially his mastery of 60s and 70s American idiom.
I particularly prefer his early work where he clearly knew that the short story has to present a bang rather than build up to it, as the novel does. My favorite is “The Pugilist at Rest”, from 1993, about a US marine’s experience, first at bootcamp, then in Vietnam, then with PTSD, where Thom Jones explores what it feels like to be afflicted with strange or terminal conditions, as well as with anger and rage.
Arranged in roughly chronological order, most of my favorites Jone´s stories are here.What keeps drawing me into Jones’s stories is the precision of his language, specially his mastery of 60s and 70s American idiom.
I particularly prefer his early work where he clearly knew that the short story has to present a bang rather than build up to it, as the novel does. My favorite is “The Pugilist at Rest”, from 1993, about a US marine’s experience, first at bootcamp, then in Vietnam, then with PTSD, where Thom Jones explores what it feels like to be afflicted with strange or terminal conditions, as well as with anger and rage.
November 29, 2019
The epitome of "uneven." There are stories here that are terrific, such as "The Pugilist at Rest," "I Want to Live," "Silhouettes,” “Pot Shack," "Volcanoes from Hell," and "Tarantula." “Pugilist” is one of the best short stories ever written anywhere by anyone.
There are some that show promise but never really moved me, such as "Cold Snap" and "Superman, My Son." And then there are a few that are just awful, like "A Merry Little Christmas" and "All Along the Watchtower." Still, Thom Jones may be one of the most talented writers to tackle the subject of what it's like to be an a-hole, and the a-holes in his stories are perfectly drawn--so lifelike the reader cringes.
There are some that show promise but never really moved me, such as "Cold Snap" and "Superman, My Son." And then there are a few that are just awful, like "A Merry Little Christmas" and "All Along the Watchtower." Still, Thom Jones may be one of the most talented writers to tackle the subject of what it's like to be an a-hole, and the a-holes in his stories are perfectly drawn--so lifelike the reader cringes.
July 23, 2021
Powerful, gritty, exceptional stories.
July 2, 2023
If you absolutely can't get enough of gonzo stories about 'Nam, boxing, cancer, epilepsy and medications, then this is definitely the collection for you! And I mean 'effin you! 'Cuz no 'effin way there's a story that ain't about them things. And hey, we're talking characters -- real characters, here! -- and they're all gettin' 'effed up and every '50s and '60s male nickname tossed around, well, take a swing, and I mean a real 'effin uppercut and have at it!
But other than the terribly titled story 'I Don't Want to Die!' when the voice (Whoa, the 'effin voice! Like, holy shit, bring the voice, huh?) of the middle-aged female protagonist with cancer produced moments of real truth and compassion (elevating the rating from one to two stars), and the unique tale A White Horse, I found almost all of these stories tiresome. Then I goddamned gave it the heave-ho, oh yeah -- I chucked it in like a left 'effin hook thrown off the balls of my feet with the sweat stinging my eyes and ... Ahh, who cares?
But other than the terribly titled story 'I Don't Want to Die!' when the voice (Whoa, the 'effin voice! Like, holy shit, bring the voice, huh?) of the middle-aged female protagonist with cancer produced moments of real truth and compassion (elevating the rating from one to two stars), and the unique tale A White Horse, I found almost all of these stories tiresome. Then I goddamned gave it the heave-ho, oh yeah -- I chucked it in like a left 'effin hook thrown off the balls of my feet with the sweat stinging my eyes and ... Ahh, who cares?
September 25, 2020
Great stories but many are dark, graphic and certainly NOT uplifting. "I Want to Live" is a gut wrenching description of the late stages of cancer... a pure punch in the face, but incredibly real and powerful. "Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine" might be the least depressing of the collection and a great story about a young, amateur boxer. "40, Still at Home" describes one of the most despicable & selfish individuals you will ever come across. A ton of Vietnam War stories as well if you like that sort of thing (I do). I enjoyed the book but I think I am going to follow it up with something a little bit "lighter"!
February 16, 2019
I've had this book since July 2018. I keep trying to read it but I've only finished the first three stories. They weren't bad, depressing but well written. I started each of the other stories but couldn't get past more than four pages in any of them. The trouble is that there is a sameness about all these stories. It's as if the characters are the same people with different addictions. Like watching the same wreck from different angles, but it's still the same wreck.
I received this advance review copy as a Goodreads giveaway.
I received this advance review copy as a Goodreads giveaway.
June 28, 2020
The new material from this inspired, dying writing is harrowing.
I have never read an account of illness like it. The pain, discomfort, physical & mental effects, not to mention the difficulties getting medicine, even though he was wealthy at this point.
A terrible loss.
The repeated pieces are all superb.
I have never read an account of illness like it. The pain, discomfort, physical & mental effects, not to mention the difficulties getting medicine, even though he was wealthy at this point.
A terrible loss.
The repeated pieces are all superb.
September 15, 2022
Worth it for the newly-discovered stories. You need to read all three of his collections to really get the full Thom Jones. He worked around, plumbed several autobiographical realities including epilepsy, diabetes, pill-popping and of course boxing. A truly distinctive voice.
March 20, 2019
Not MY CUP OF TEA😕NOT my cup of tea🙁
September 9, 2019
So enjoyable. Each story was gritty, well written, meaningful, and interesting.
October 14, 2020
The new material not as good as the old, but a still worthy addition if you're a fan of Jones' work. I'll be rereading Jones' books for the rest of my life.
July 1, 2021
Dang, this was the real shit
September 16, 2021
If stories about boxing, epileptic, Vietnam vet malcontents is your cup of tea, then this is for you. IMO, the Pugilist At Rest collection is quintessential Jones.
March 23, 2024
Life experienced. Short stories that tear out your heart and bring you to the brink of word explosion. There isn’t many if any like him. I go back and read these every 5 years.
June 18, 2024
I didn’t realize when I bought this that only seven of the stories were “new”, ie, had not been in his previous collections though were published elsewhere. The rest were “selected” from his three previous collections which I already have and love. So I was a little disapointed; I bought it without even looking at the names of the stories because I was such a fan of Jones and saw this a few years after his death and just assumed it was a collection of all his unpublised stories.
As a result I only read the stories new to me, which were the following:
Night Train: A boy recounts his memories of an eccentric, mentally ill man who rented a cabin from his grandmother. The setting seemed to be between the wars, maybe the 30s. This was a good story, cute and sad, the man was similar to other frequent Jones characters; a war veteran, struggling with ailments and mental illness. 4/5 stars.
Volcanoes From Hell: A man recounts meeting his seventh wife and other adventures. A very fun story especially once celebrity names get brought into the mix. 3/5 stars.
A Merry Little Christmas: Epistolary story depicting a man writing raging/humorous emails to a woman with whom he had an affair. They just get wilder and wilder and the one sided nature leaves so much to the reader’s imagination of what all we are missing. 4/5 stars.
All Along The Watchtower: A tale of a scumbag who gets a job thanks to family political connections in Chicago, tending a drawbridge. Jones manages to make you root for this guy somehow, albeit briefely, before his nature makes you enjoy when he gets his due. Kind of disjointed and I just had no interest in the character. 2/5 stars.
Diary of My Health: A character based on the author with his name records all his ills and some adventures in a diary. Given the author’s medical issues and the simularity between this character and many of his others, you have to wonder how much of these characters’ personalities are similar to the author or of he just takes little portions then goes crazy with them. 2/5 stars.
The Junkman of Chengdu: A young American student studying in Chengdu describes her life in Chengdu, which includes regaling her father with stories of her neighborhood junkman. Like the other “new stories” these include a lot of detail of the narrator’s frequent foodborn illnesses and graphic descriptions of the consequences as well as that of her roomate and her prolectivities. 3/5 stars.
Bomb Shelter Noel: A young woman recounts her relationships with her boyfriend, who is a bomb shelter building survivalist, and fellow dialysis patients and events in their lives. A sweet ending but it felt like I needed more to get to know the narrator. 3/5
Overall, these were seven enjoyable new stories, Jones did a great job making people on the fringes of society; those suffering mental illness, drug addiction, serious health problems, some with all three, into interesting and sympathetic characters. These seven new stories on their own probably rate 3/5. I ejnjoyed reading them, some better than others, but several of his others here which I already have in his older collections are better, I re-read all three collections recently. Those easily raise this collection to a 5/5, they are some of his best though a few other I loved were not here. So I will be keeping the three other collections as well.
As a result I only read the stories new to me, which were the following:
Night Train: A boy recounts his memories of an eccentric, mentally ill man who rented a cabin from his grandmother. The setting seemed to be between the wars, maybe the 30s. This was a good story, cute and sad, the man was similar to other frequent Jones characters; a war veteran, struggling with ailments and mental illness. 4/5 stars.
Volcanoes From Hell: A man recounts meeting his seventh wife and other adventures. A very fun story especially once celebrity names get brought into the mix. 3/5 stars.
A Merry Little Christmas: Epistolary story depicting a man writing raging/humorous emails to a woman with whom he had an affair. They just get wilder and wilder and the one sided nature leaves so much to the reader’s imagination of what all we are missing. 4/5 stars.
All Along The Watchtower: A tale of a scumbag who gets a job thanks to family political connections in Chicago, tending a drawbridge. Jones manages to make you root for this guy somehow, albeit briefely, before his nature makes you enjoy when he gets his due. Kind of disjointed and I just had no interest in the character. 2/5 stars.
Diary of My Health: A character based on the author with his name records all his ills and some adventures in a diary. Given the author’s medical issues and the simularity between this character and many of his others, you have to wonder how much of these characters’ personalities are similar to the author or of he just takes little portions then goes crazy with them. 2/5 stars.
The Junkman of Chengdu: A young American student studying in Chengdu describes her life in Chengdu, which includes regaling her father with stories of her neighborhood junkman. Like the other “new stories” these include a lot of detail of the narrator’s frequent foodborn illnesses and graphic descriptions of the consequences as well as that of her roomate and her prolectivities. 3/5 stars.
Bomb Shelter Noel: A young woman recounts her relationships with her boyfriend, who is a bomb shelter building survivalist, and fellow dialysis patients and events in their lives. A sweet ending but it felt like I needed more to get to know the narrator. 3/5
Overall, these were seven enjoyable new stories, Jones did a great job making people on the fringes of society; those suffering mental illness, drug addiction, serious health problems, some with all three, into interesting and sympathetic characters. These seven new stories on their own probably rate 3/5. I ejnjoyed reading them, some better than others, but several of his others here which I already have in his older collections are better, I re-read all three collections recently. Those easily raise this collection to a 5/5, they are some of his best though a few other I loved were not here. So I will be keeping the three other collections as well.
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