City of Boys: Stories

by Beth Nugent

"Nugent looks into the maelstrom without blinking, and she is a terrific writer." -- Boston Globe Set in New York City, middle America, the beaches of Florida and rural highways, suburban kitchens, and cross-country trains, the ten stories of City of Boys evoke a haunting landscape at once familiar and strange. A small-town girl flees her domineering mother and falls into an obsessive love affair with an older woman in New York City. A sixteen-year-old envies her cousin's sex appeal while avoiding the attentions of her middle-aged uncle. A brother tries to protect his sister by convincing her never to leave their apartment, but his control is threatened when he takes a new job. And there is more, in this stunning debut by a masterful new voice in American literature. "City of Boys can be appreciated for its nuances and its oblique style....[It] is unpredictable and haunting." -- The New York Times Book Review "Penetrating, eerie and affecting...Nugent cuts to the bone of characters, relationships, situations." -- Houston Post

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, The United States Of America, American

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[lucii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehnsucht in Textform.

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me about eight months to finish this collection, mostly because I read the first six or so stories in one sitting—LOVED them—and knew that I'd never get the chance to read the rest for the first time again. So I delayed. And I'm glad I did, because it's been great to sit with this collection all this time. Nugent is a powerhouse. Her stories are often vicious and bleak and nihilistic, but they also manage to be occasionally hopeful and grace-seeking. It's true that some of the narrators blend together, but I think that's value-neutral.

My favorites: "City of Boys," "Cocktail Hour," "At The End of My Life," "Riding Into Day." But every story is strong here, except, for me, the last story, "Going," which felt thin and incomplete. Who cares. The rest is so, so good.

[E.L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection blew me away. Even though, to my mind, the opening story, City of Boys, was one of the weaker stories, giving a misleading impression of what's to follow.

Yes, some stories have similar elements: aimless, distracted, teenagers or women, drug-taking/booze-swilling parents. There is a remove here, a remoteness that means these similarities don't matter in that kind of way because they link together to give an overall impression...of...parents that are far removed from their children, or who have abandoned them to pursue their own passions (be that drugs or other people)...of the bond that you can't escape if you have a sibling, of the way men perceive women and of the way women perceive themselves...and to me, in my mind, I kept seeing the stories set in the 1940's or 1950's even though there was nothing to indicate that, but the cocktail hours and the general air led me to see these times in my mind, and I think they're even stronger because of that.

The story At the End of My Life had such a profound effect on me that I have to give the book 5*.

Almost all the endings were absolutely perfect. The end to 'Going' brought tears to my eyes.

I actually went through this book after I'd finished it with a highlighter pen to capture some of the phrases and passages that I couldn't let go of, they were that beautiful and affecting. And I haven't done that, marked and sought out passages in that way, since I was about fifteen and first read Catcher in the Rye.

Everyone should at least read the story At the End of My Life...if you have children or are a sibling, there will be passages that will break your heart.

It's got the best of the best writing. You can recognise aspects of yourself whilst it all still seems foreign. The writing is skilled, but still has enough heart and true emotion that you aren't dragged out of the story to admire the writing itself.

"...He stares at me, his eyes like scars against the scared lonely white of his face..."

I could go on, but I won't.

Please discover this collection for yourselves and then spread the word. And let me know what you think!

[Lars Meijer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zo’n zeldzame verhalenbundel zonder één slecht of matig verhaal. Wat een talent. Elk verhaal heeft een doffe schittering op zijn eigen manier. Ik kijk ernaar uit om haar roman te lezen.

Enorm jammer dat ze niet meer schrijft.

[Joshua Toejam · Rating 3 out of 5]

a couple of these stories are really good in a bisexual female raymond carver kind of way

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am completely obsessed with this book. I love Beth Nugent and it makes me unbelievably sad that she's not publishing any more.

[Jim Grimsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story is one which I have often taught, and students respond to the specificity of it, the younger woman in thrall to the older woman, the idea that the speaker wants to inhabit her body for herself, her own way. The story is specific in its physicality at every moment. Nugent writes blunt and hard, always with a sense of movement in the language, the story turning in true directions, as if they are being uncovered rather than written. These are stories that will fix you in place. "At the End of My Life" is a complicated study of what might be a future predator as he takes over the life of his sister, the only person to whom he can respond. Parents are detached, distant, even hostile, not only in this story. "Minor Casualties" frames the world with the love of a new Toyota and the family visit that it brings about. She gives an energy to the writing of short fiction that feels necessary and original; she is one of those writers who has learned to see into the heart of this particular material. These are people I already know, feels like. A bookseller in Iowa City recommend this to me years ago and I've read some of these stories a dozen times.

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

EDIT: Book club made me realize I hated this lol

Gave this a medium rating because I truly for the life of me cannot figure out how I feel about it

[Gene Guidry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifying, beautiful and vivid. Beth Nugent is an incredible wordsmith and City of Boys is a must read.

[Hayden Wolff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm. I think I enjoyed this?

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved, loved Nugent's dryness, the subtle way in which you think a story sort of seems to be about nothing much and then BAM! an invisible fits wallops you across the face. I read it straight through, which is maybe not the best approach--a number of stories have similar elements--gin-swilling, chain-smoking parents, cheating spouses, alienated young women whose voices start to blend together from story to story.

The title story is KILLER. Can't wait to read her novel. BETH NUGENT WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING ANYMORE??

[Kerstin Tacke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book more than 15 years ago, but still remember how fascinated I was. One of the most inspiring short stories!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a surprising hardness to the prose in these. It's beautiful, but unforgiving. There's a tenderness, but it seems more like myself getting bruised on things as I read. It's marvelous.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

found on a whim, now shes my favorite author funny how that happens.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was moved to seek out this collection after I read an excerpt from "Another Country" in the writing book The 3 a.m. Epiphany. Nugent's writing is some of the most layered I've encountered. I'm in awe of her ability to create such complicated characters and relationships. I look forward to reading her novel.

[Emmyland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool short stories about different type of relationships. However mostly perceives the woman in the relationships as the weak, yearning one which is old fashioned.

[E. Rickert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiet, gorgeous, unassuming prose here

[Maggie Liston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters in these stories seem so real to me.

[Andrea Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are so, so good. The author writes so clearly for me that I can feel and imagine the people and places in my mind. The author disappears and the story is what is left. Marvelous!

[savanna jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

every story is five stars

[Hannak111 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last night I finished reading this for the second time. This might be my favorite story collection I've read so far. It's at times rather sexy, but also pretty tender and often haunting. I liked it better than collections I've read by Amy Bloom, Sam Shepard, Alice Munro, Ray Carver, or Thom Jones. Might make this my go to book for gift giving!

If you like short stories, friends check this collection out! I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have had this book for at least ten years, and i just finally read it. (on the inside front cover, written in amalle's script, it reads "this book belongs to: [my old name:]". and at the very end of the book, on the page that advertises other books by the same imprint, there is a tiny drawing of a face -- also clearly amalle's work. all from when we were dating ten years ago.)

anyway, it was really good. i liked it much better than Nugent's "Live Girls," her novel from a couple years later, which i also just read. these are short stories, and many of them are set in a New York City that is clearly of late 80s and early 90s. the place i grew up, which in some way, doesn't exist anymore. that is, what New York signifies or means in these stories is basically unrecognizable today. it made me think about how the gentrification of the last 20 years, and other forces of change, have not just changed the place itself but what it means, the idea of the place.

also, if you didn't know, now-dated journalism/essays/cultural-crit from like 1988-1998 are one of my favorite things, particularly if they are new-york-specific. something about revisiting the forces that shaped me when i was young, before i knew how to look at them? these are short stories, but i had a flicker of that feeling with them, too.

[Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lonely people with bleak and aimless lives in 1990s America. What a gem.

[Cassie (book__gal) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories in City of Boys seem like they could be about any little life in any little place and then out of nowhere you’re hit with the most striking and heart-wrenching lines that cut into the humanity of us all. It’s simultaneously distant and familiar. Many of the stories focus on childhood and the periods of life wherein we feel both stuck and in transition. It’s these kinds of juxtapositions that make the writing so layered and stunning. Nugent’s stories are bleak and tough. This isn’t a collection for hope and assurance; rather, its a window into the disquiet that often hangs over modern life, suburbia, families, and homes, like creeping fog. My favorite stories were Cocktail Hour, Riding into Day, At the End of My Life, Another Country, and Going. I had such a visceral reaction to At the End of My Life that it was almost embarrassing. That story will stay with me forever. It’s a shame Nugent’s body of work is so small. Hoping to pick up her novel very soon.

[Chris Meehan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not usually a short story fan, but since my brother gave me this to read with his recommendation... Each of the stories contains people places and events (or non events) which seem familiar, especially from times in childhood. Many of the relationships are full of discomfort to the reader, but are recognisable of those awkward times when people say or do the wrong thing at home. Thankfully the final story 'Going' had an element of hope.

[KJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would you like to feel like shit about humanity? Read this book! The writing was okay I guess but I kept getting the sense that this one should be filed under "trying-too-hard" or "wanna-be-dark-and-deep." I'm not sophisticated enough to grasp it's significance or relevance. I'm too much of an entertainment reader for this one...

[Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

recommended to me by my prose professor because her style reminded him of me. i agree, after finishing the book, but at the same time i grew tired of hearing about the same female character over and over again.

[Bryan Glosemeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

powerful, incredibly well written short stories. in particular, the title story, city of boys, is perhaphs my absolute favorite short story.

If I was a writer, this is how I would want to be able to write...

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of these days I'm going to finally learn to avoid short stories. They just aren't meaty enough to remain in my memory, and these were depressing to boot. Nothing about them really caused me to think, be amused, or charmed.