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The Neon Wilderness
The Neon Wilderness is the vein Algren mined for all his subsequent novels and stories. Included are "A Bottle of Milk for Mother", about a youth being cornered for a murder; "The Face on the Barroom Floor", in which a legless man nearly pummels someone to death; and his first story, "So Help Me".
286 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1946
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1725 people want to read
About the author
Nelson Algren
65 books289 followersPeople note American writer Nelson Algren for his novels, including
The Man with the Golden Arm
(1949), about the pride and longings of impoverished people.
Born of Swedish-immigrant parents, Nelson Ahlgren Abraham moved at an early age to Chicago. At University of Illinois, he studied journalism. His experiences as a migrant worker during the Depression provided the material for his first Somebody in Boots (1935). Throughout life, Algren identified with the underdog. From 1936 to 1940, the high-point of left-wing ideas on the literary scene of the United States, he served as editor of the project in Illinois. After putting the finishing touches to his second, he in 1942 joined and enlisted for the war. Never Come Morning received universal acclaim and eventually sold more than a million copies.
A dark naturalist style of Algren passionately records the details of trapped urban existence with flashes of melancholy poetry. He characterizes the lowlife drifters, whores, junkies, and barflies of row. He records the bravado of their colloquial language and lays their predicament bare.
Born of Swedish-immigrant parents, Nelson Ahlgren Abraham moved at an early age to Chicago. At University of Illinois, he studied journalism. His experiences as a migrant worker during the Depression provided the material for his first Somebody in Boots (1935). Throughout life, Algren identified with the underdog. From 1936 to 1940, the high-point of left-wing ideas on the literary scene of the United States, he served as editor of the project in Illinois. After putting the finishing touches to his second, he in 1942 joined and enlisted for the war. Never Come Morning received universal acclaim and eventually sold more than a million copies.
A dark naturalist style of Algren passionately records the details of trapped urban existence with flashes of melancholy poetry. He characterizes the lowlife drifters, whores, junkies, and barflies of row. He records the bravado of their colloquial language and lays their predicament bare.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
July 1, 2023
The Neon Wilderness is a relentless, never stopping stream of misery: drunkards, addicts, bums, tramps, gamblers, whores, jailbirds, criminals move in hordes…
The bottom and underside of society… Miserable love affairs… Miserable family life… Miserable childhood… There is no visible borderline between the daylight and twilight… And in the twilight there is no way but down…
It is easier to go astray in the neon wilderness than in the dense woods.
They lived in an unpossessed twilight land, a neon wilderness whose shores the Captain sometimes envisaged dimly; in sleep he sought that shore forever, always drawing nearer, like a swimmer far out at sea; yet never, somehow, attaining those long, low sands. He would awaken feeling unnatural, dreading the evening and the yellow showup’s glare.
The bottom and underside of society… Miserable love affairs… Miserable family life… Miserable childhood… There is no visible borderline between the daylight and twilight… And in the twilight there is no way but down…
I think I started stealing right after the old man threw Aunt out of the house. I was about eight, and used to look forward to her visit all week. She would dangle me on her knee, kiss me, and give me small coins: pennies and nickels and dimes. I remember her smell, the leather touch of her purse, and the warm touch of her hand when she pressed the coins into my hand. That smell, that purse, those kisses, and those coins were all something that belonged peculiarly to her, as she belonged peculiarly to me; for I never received, nor ever expected, those things from anyone else.
It is easier to go astray in the neon wilderness than in the dense woods.
May 31, 2023
A collection of 24 short stories, published in 1946. I listened to the audio version.
Evidently Nelson Algren was one of those authors who wrote about very marginalised people. His characters are criminals, addicts of one sort or another, prostitutes, etc. Several of the stories feature prizefighters – guys who go into the ring for a “winner takes all” purse. Algren was based in Chicago and many of the stories are set in that city. I realised I hadn’t previously read any fiction set in Chicago. Most American fiction I’ve read is set in the south, the west, or in New York City. Like other American stories of the period, these feature an ethnic mix of Italian, Irish, Jewish and Hispanic characters, but also a lot of Polish-Americans, which is a nationality I’ve rarely read about in US fiction. Maybe my American friends can tell me whether Polish immigrants settled more in the Midwest than in other areas.
I understand that earlier in his career Algren often wrote on a “social justice” theme, and there are a few stories like that in this collection, particularly Depend on Aunty Elly, which is one of the bleakest and most depressing tales I’ve ever read. El Presidente del Méjico, set in Texas, is another in this category, whilst That’s The Way It’s Always Been is set in a US Army unit in WW2 and is told from the viewpoint of an enlisted man describing the corrupt and self-serving officers above him. It’s a cynical and embittered tale, perhaps overly so.
Mostly though, these stories relate the lives of the protagonists without trying to make them into noble victims of oppression. For me the most powerful was The Face on the Barroom Floor, a brutal and unforgiving story. I found it quite disturbing in its message, but acknowledge its impact. In A Bottle of Milk for Mother, a couple of policemen gradually draw out the confession of a teenage hoodlum, and I thought this was very well written. No Man’s Laughter was an interesting character study, as was A Lot You’ve got to Holler. In the opening story The Captain has Bad Dreams, a Police Captain deals every night with a procession of recidivist offenders, who have committed crimes of every conceivable description. The Captain sees the faces in his dreams every time he goes to sleep. He is haunted by the way the same faces keep re-appearing:
“You couldn’t drown them because they weren’t cats, and when you drove them off they found their way back home anyhow.”
Even though it was a short story I found the format repetitive, the constant replication of “Next!” followed by the latest variation of the offender’s excuse. However, I imagine that was what Algren intended – to give the reader a sense of the Captain’s experiences. To the Captain, the faces he sees are from a land “whose shores the Captain sometimes envisaged dimly” but could never reach.
I will say that these stories are grim, and I mean GRIM. There are maybe two which, if not exactly upbeat, at least offer a ray of hope. There are also a few comic or satirical stories, though I didn’t find them particularly amusing. Kingdom City to Cairo was perhaps the best of those.
There are some excellent individual stories in the collection, but I think they would be best read on their own. With more than twenty in this book, I found the stories to be rather repetitive in feel, and the unrelenting misery was a bit of a downer.
Evidently Nelson Algren was one of those authors who wrote about very marginalised people. His characters are criminals, addicts of one sort or another, prostitutes, etc. Several of the stories feature prizefighters – guys who go into the ring for a “winner takes all” purse. Algren was based in Chicago and many of the stories are set in that city. I realised I hadn’t previously read any fiction set in Chicago. Most American fiction I’ve read is set in the south, the west, or in New York City. Like other American stories of the period, these feature an ethnic mix of Italian, Irish, Jewish and Hispanic characters, but also a lot of Polish-Americans, which is a nationality I’ve rarely read about in US fiction. Maybe my American friends can tell me whether Polish immigrants settled more in the Midwest than in other areas.
I understand that earlier in his career Algren often wrote on a “social justice” theme, and there are a few stories like that in this collection, particularly Depend on Aunty Elly, which is one of the bleakest and most depressing tales I’ve ever read. El Presidente del Méjico, set in Texas, is another in this category, whilst That’s The Way It’s Always Been is set in a US Army unit in WW2 and is told from the viewpoint of an enlisted man describing the corrupt and self-serving officers above him. It’s a cynical and embittered tale, perhaps overly so.
Mostly though, these stories relate the lives of the protagonists without trying to make them into noble victims of oppression. For me the most powerful was The Face on the Barroom Floor, a brutal and unforgiving story. I found it quite disturbing in its message, but acknowledge its impact. In A Bottle of Milk for Mother, a couple of policemen gradually draw out the confession of a teenage hoodlum, and I thought this was very well written. No Man’s Laughter was an interesting character study, as was A Lot You’ve got to Holler. In the opening story The Captain has Bad Dreams, a Police Captain deals every night with a procession of recidivist offenders, who have committed crimes of every conceivable description. The Captain sees the faces in his dreams every time he goes to sleep. He is haunted by the way the same faces keep re-appearing:
“You couldn’t drown them because they weren’t cats, and when you drove them off they found their way back home anyhow.”
Even though it was a short story I found the format repetitive, the constant replication of “Next!” followed by the latest variation of the offender’s excuse. However, I imagine that was what Algren intended – to give the reader a sense of the Captain’s experiences. To the Captain, the faces he sees are from a land “whose shores the Captain sometimes envisaged dimly” but could never reach.
I will say that these stories are grim, and I mean GRIM. There are maybe two which, if not exactly upbeat, at least offer a ray of hope. There are also a few comic or satirical stories, though I didn’t find them particularly amusing. Kingdom City to Cairo was perhaps the best of those.
There are some excellent individual stories in the collection, but I think they would be best read on their own. With more than twenty in this book, I found the stories to be rather repetitive in feel, and the unrelenting misery was a bit of a downer.
June 17, 2014
Why isn’t Nelson Algren more popular? Why don’t the Bukowski/Fante/etc. acolytes include Algren in their pantheon? Is he too associated with Chicago? Too humble? Too terrifying? Not romantic enough? I don’t know, but Nelson Algren is fucking awesome, and the short story collection The Neon Wilderness is arguably his best work.
Full disclosure: I grew up in Chicago, and civic pride is a factor in my Algren fandom. I also recognize both the feel and neighborhoods Algren describes, although the latter have changed and the former grows harder to trace every year. Algren’s work, however, would most likely attract me, anyway, I believe. He balances compassion with stark realism in a way that gives life rather than deadens and stultifies. For example, in the leadoff story, “The Captain Has Bad Dreams”, a brilliant, shadowy roll call of the night court’s denizens, Algren frames each dismal, crooked suspect in a tragic light without sugaring on the sympathy. These characters both know what they’re doing and engage in complex self-delusion. They live in a city where the unwritten rules pile against them and the consequences of bad decisions shatter years. They want to trust someone but know than not, trust is a sucker’s bet. Algren’s blending of the gray, urban setting with the characters’ internal lives is virtuoso work. Not a story in The Neon Wilderness disappoints. Algren deserves rediscovery. Start with this book.
Full disclosure: I grew up in Chicago, and civic pride is a factor in my Algren fandom. I also recognize both the feel and neighborhoods Algren describes, although the latter have changed and the former grows harder to trace every year. Algren’s work, however, would most likely attract me, anyway, I believe. He balances compassion with stark realism in a way that gives life rather than deadens and stultifies. For example, in the leadoff story, “The Captain Has Bad Dreams”, a brilliant, shadowy roll call of the night court’s denizens, Algren frames each dismal, crooked suspect in a tragic light without sugaring on the sympathy. These characters both know what they’re doing and engage in complex self-delusion. They live in a city where the unwritten rules pile against them and the consequences of bad decisions shatter years. They want to trust someone but know than not, trust is a sucker’s bet. Algren’s blending of the gray, urban setting with the characters’ internal lives is virtuoso work. Not a story in The Neon Wilderness disappoints. Algren deserves rediscovery. Start with this book.
October 25, 2015
“This was the true jungle, the neon wilderness. Sometimes, the dull red lights, off and on, off and on, made the spilled beer along the floor appear like darkly flowing blood. Sometimes the big juke sang.”
If you only have time to read one Algren book and want to understand him, then The Neon Wilderness is the book for you. Using his blunt style of writing, Algren vividly describes the struggles of drug dealers, hustlers and hookers during 1940′s Chicago. The people who saw the American dream as a pure illusion. Surviving in a world of crime by crime, yet they’re always the ones who get punished, always the biggest losers of the game. A shared feeling of humanity grows into the reader, that in the end, you care for every single character.
“The Captain Has Bad Dreams,” a story of a captain overseeing sentencing of criminals, is one of my favorite stories. Despite Algren showing the poor as “mean and stupid”, without sentimentalizing them, he delves into their unique human spirit, allowing the reader to feel compassion for them. As an important predecessor to the Beat Generation, Algren’s works should have a place on every dissident’s bookshelf.
If you only have time to read one Algren book and want to understand him, then The Neon Wilderness is the book for you. Using his blunt style of writing, Algren vividly describes the struggles of drug dealers, hustlers and hookers during 1940′s Chicago. The people who saw the American dream as a pure illusion. Surviving in a world of crime by crime, yet they’re always the ones who get punished, always the biggest losers of the game. A shared feeling of humanity grows into the reader, that in the end, you care for every single character.
“The Captain Has Bad Dreams,” a story of a captain overseeing sentencing of criminals, is one of my favorite stories. Despite Algren showing the poor as “mean and stupid”, without sentimentalizing them, he delves into their unique human spirit, allowing the reader to feel compassion for them. As an important predecessor to the Beat Generation, Algren’s works should have a place on every dissident’s bookshelf.
April 17, 2024
Hemingway once said, "Mr. Algren, boy, you are really good." Many writers throughout the latter part of the century owe a lot to Nelson Algren. He's often very sadly overlooked. Algren is probably most known for "Walk on the Wildside," but for anyone who is discovering him for the first time, I would highly suggest "The Neon Wilderness." It's stripped-down 20th century prose at its best. Not to mention, the characters in these stories are all too real, but at the same time, strikingly unique; particularly Railroad Shorty, a character from "The Face at the Barroom Floor."
August 6, 2018
While not every story is perfect, there are enough emotional wallops in this collection to put it into the classics category. Wow. Algren has just about supplanted Hubert Selby jr. as my favorite writer of the suffering and anguish of the soul of the United States of America. At any rate they are peers, the poet's of the U.S.A.'s downtrodden, those too weak to scale the ladder of success, those born on the wrong side of the tracks, and those with just plain bad luck--everyone who finds themselves clinging to the underside of the sham we call the American dream in barrooms, jails, boxing rings, seedy hotels, or just plain out on the streets.
The only other Algren I'd previously read was Man with the Golden Arm. I have to say that while I generally prefer novels, I think I enjoyed these stories more than that novel for their diversity--getting out of Chicago some, and the war experience stories made for a slightly more engrossing read. Therefore I'd definitely recommend The Neon Wilderness for newcomers to Algren's work. The first story here was also largely repeated in Man with the Golden Arm so I assume Algren wasn't above cannibalizing his stories in longer projects. Therefore I'm imaging there might be a little bit of the author's other novels sprinkled in here somewhere. This makes me want to seek them out asap.
The only other Algren I'd previously read was Man with the Golden Arm. I have to say that while I generally prefer novels, I think I enjoyed these stories more than that novel for their diversity--getting out of Chicago some, and the war experience stories made for a slightly more engrossing read. Therefore I'd definitely recommend The Neon Wilderness for newcomers to Algren's work. The first story here was also largely repeated in Man with the Golden Arm so I assume Algren wasn't above cannibalizing his stories in longer projects. Therefore I'm imaging there might be a little bit of the author's other novels sprinkled in here somewhere. This makes me want to seek them out asap.
November 25, 2020
I took my time with this book, as I try to do with all single-author short story collections--when I read them too quickly, the style can get stale fast. But I took even more time with this one than usual, starting it over a year ago, and only picking it up now and then until this week, when I finally decided to clear it from my 'currently reading' shelf.
I wish I could say that I liked the book, but looking back over the titles and the first few sentences of some of the stories I'd read a few months ago, I realized that I couldn't remember anything about them at all--about all I could come up with was that Algren generally writes about the down-and-out, small-time criminals, and characters stuck in dead end lives. He also wrote in what I've heard described as 'eye-dialect', which attempts to mimic the reality of his character's speech, but which I find extremely irritating.
That probably wouldn't matter as much if the stories had been more affecting. A lot of folks like Algren, or at least used to like him, but there's something about his way of writing that seems pretentious to me, as if, through all the slang and tough-guy talk, he's presenting these portraits from an elevated view in order to teach us lessons. I don't know--there just seems to be a false element somewhere here, though it's hard to put my finger on. I do know that I had that feeling from the very beginning--another reason why it took me so long to finish the collection.
It's rare that I finish a book of short-stories and am unable to point to at least one story that I remember, one that really stood out, even years later. I'm going to abstain from rating this collection, because I have such a poor memory of it, but perhaps the idea that I can't think of a single memorable thing from the book says something about it just as effectively as any rating.
I wish I could say that I liked the book, but looking back over the titles and the first few sentences of some of the stories I'd read a few months ago, I realized that I couldn't remember anything about them at all--about all I could come up with was that Algren generally writes about the down-and-out, small-time criminals, and characters stuck in dead end lives. He also wrote in what I've heard described as 'eye-dialect', which attempts to mimic the reality of his character's speech, but which I find extremely irritating.
That probably wouldn't matter as much if the stories had been more affecting. A lot of folks like Algren, or at least used to like him, but there's something about his way of writing that seems pretentious to me, as if, through all the slang and tough-guy talk, he's presenting these portraits from an elevated view in order to teach us lessons. I don't know--there just seems to be a false element somewhere here, though it's hard to put my finger on. I do know that I had that feeling from the very beginning--another reason why it took me so long to finish the collection.
It's rare that I finish a book of short-stories and am unable to point to at least one story that I remember, one that really stood out, even years later. I'm going to abstain from rating this collection, because I have such a poor memory of it, but perhaps the idea that I can't think of a single memorable thing from the book says something about it just as effectively as any rating.
November 10, 2017
Brilliant collection of stories about ordinary people living ordinary, sad, tragic and courageous lives. Algren writes with deep empathy, cutting insight and sharp humor. One of my favorite books - this is the third or fourth time I’ve read it, and it’s always marvelous.
January 19, 2021
The Chicago Bukowski? Nah... Sure, everyone's a scumbag but the dialogue feels a little forced and the writing is a bit flowery for my tastes. None of the stories were bad though. 3.5 stars.
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August 19, 2015I was told this is a good book to start with in reading Nelson Algren. All of these short stories were illuminating to various circumstances in which no one is doing what they should be. For example, the soldier has gone AWOL in Europe, the boxer purposely loses to earn a little extra, and a casual drug user lovingly shares heroin with his girlfriend.
All throughout, Algren effortlessly and clearly describes the struggles of the lower-class with admirable empathy. In one story, he illuminated a universal desire for recognition. "For us the kid whose brother was doing a stretch [in jail] was as distinguished as a kid in another neighborhood whose brother was a college football star." In that story, where the opportunity for the "proper" kind of accomplishment does not exist going the other way takes its place.
In most other stories about World War II Allied soldiers are presented as heroes. For Algren, his stories never seem to have heroes- just people living through difficult circumstances. "It wasn't an [army] outfit. It was just a couple hundred oddly assorted Tennesseans, Texans, and Chicagoans who wanted to go back to their respected hills, ranches, and streets." I really appreciated the inherent complexity of characters who are not presented as heroes but rather, like a journalist recording events, as people struggling through circumstances. Algren's characters' decisions are naked of judgement.
A final bonus of the Neon Wilderness was a profile of issues that many white ethnic immigrant groups experienced in the 1940s and 1950s. Of personal interest was to learn about the experience of lower-class Jews, not the wealthy intellectuals that is common in stories from the 1970s onward, but the Jewish gambler or the Jewish boxer. Algren had a level of objectivity with his stories I have never read before and I am amazed.
All throughout, Algren effortlessly and clearly describes the struggles of the lower-class with admirable empathy. In one story, he illuminated a universal desire for recognition. "For us the kid whose brother was doing a stretch [in jail] was as distinguished as a kid in another neighborhood whose brother was a college football star." In that story, where the opportunity for the "proper" kind of accomplishment does not exist going the other way takes its place.
In most other stories about World War II Allied soldiers are presented as heroes. For Algren, his stories never seem to have heroes- just people living through difficult circumstances. "It wasn't an [army] outfit. It was just a couple hundred oddly assorted Tennesseans, Texans, and Chicagoans who wanted to go back to their respected hills, ranches, and streets." I really appreciated the inherent complexity of characters who are not presented as heroes but rather, like a journalist recording events, as people struggling through circumstances. Algren's characters' decisions are naked of judgement.
A final bonus of the Neon Wilderness was a profile of issues that many white ethnic immigrant groups experienced in the 1940s and 1950s. Of personal interest was to learn about the experience of lower-class Jews, not the wealthy intellectuals that is common in stories from the 1970s onward, but the Jewish gambler or the Jewish boxer. Algren had a level of objectivity with his stories I have never read before and I am amazed.
December 21, 2018
I'm about half way through this collection and I'm struck by the inconsistent quality of the stories. Some are wonderful, feeling at times like an odd cocktail of Mailer, Kerouac and Carver. But some are soaked in slang (there's nothing more tiresome than the hipster slang of a bygone age), and have an overriding (and questionable) need to document (but certainly empathize with) the underclass which feels like pandering, or a writers idea of what a great American writer should be doing. By underclass i mean the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, and the seedier side of life, and its this attempt to encapsulate something he doesn't fully understand or is unable to properly capture that remind me of Kerouac, like Kerouac trying to do Steinbeck. This is where this collection comes unstuck. These stories are populated by a predictable cast of characters: soldiers, sailors, prostitutes, drifters, low level boxers, con artists, etc, you can imagine Marlon Brando playing any of these characters in a 50's black & white movie. This kind of thing has been documented so much better, and so much more authentically, by many writers, and it is not Algren's forte. The good stories on the other hand -- its about 50/50 -- are great, they are subtle and quiet, and revolve around small moments, in contrast to the foregoing, and this book is worth reading for them. Its obvious to me now why Nelson Algren isn't as well known a name as the plaudits reprinted on the books cover suggest he should be. (Well, I'd never heard of him before stumbling across this paperback).
April 8, 2017
A very good selection of short stories by Nelson Algren, a man who's writing has all but disappeared from both the popular and critical stage. My favorite story in this collection is "A Bottle of Milk for Mother," which I would like to someday make a film of. I feel that this story is the most poignant of the collection, though they all provide different perspectives on the poor, down-and-outs who missed the American Dream. An important predecesor to the Beat Generation, Algren's works should have aplace on every Beat and dissident entheusiast's bookshelf.
June 18, 2014
This book really packs a punch. Incredibly raw tales about the strung out, the no-hopers, the vagabonds and the forgotten.
Do yourself a favour. There's nobody quite like Algren.
Do yourself a favour. There's nobody quite like Algren.
September 4, 2021
This book is too fucking beautiful for words to describe.
December 10, 2025
Society….😕
November 16, 2024
I have wanted to read Nelson Algren for a long time and reading Mike Royko’s collection of columns inspired me to finally do it! Algren’s short stories capture the essence of individuals and their environs. Many characters were down and out and made poor decisions yet he wrote about them with respect. His command of language is simply fabulous. I listened to the audiobook. Studs Terkel read it - they could not have found a better reader.
September 29, 2010
I love Algren and his style. The way he captures people in thirties era lower socio-economic groups, their struggles, failures, and sad/hilarious ups and downs, is pretty good. Definitely set the stage for other writers and is rightfully coming back in vogue. Check it out if you like fiction/short vignettes about people on the other side of the tracks (mostly immigrant Poles with the a few Mexicans, Jews and Italians in the mix from the tenements of Chicago).
June 4, 2018
My favourite part was the dedication: "For my mother and the memory of my father". And the introduction.
To revisit: the heroes, he couldn't boogie-woogie worth a damn, poor man's pennies, he swung and he missed, el presidente de mejico, kingdom city to cairo, per venceremos, no man's laughter
To revisit: the heroes, he couldn't boogie-woogie worth a damn, poor man's pennies, he swung and he missed, el presidente de mejico, kingdom city to cairo, per venceremos, no man's laughter
March 29, 2021
A mixed bag (3.5) — some really excellent stories, though (e.g., “Depend on Aunt Elly”, “Design for Departure”, “He Couldn’t Boogie-Woogie Worth a Damn”). Others, however, are emotionally rigid — skid-row characters — a William Vollman of the 1940’s (without the extravagant pretensions).
April 30, 2024
As a Chicago writer, I feel it's a requirement to read Algren's work and this is a good representation of his style and focus. The generation and worlds weren't that familiar, it's set in the 40s among working-class characters that are rarely given authentic voices. It was Chicago, with its streets and socio-political hierarchies that were very familiar. The city is a perfect protagonist, gritty, multi-faceted and hard to tie down. Most of the stories are sad and it's easy to get depressed reading this collection that glimpses the lives of battered prizefighters, hustlers, addicts, prostitutes and struggling soldiers. But the evocative power of Algren's storytelling and a memorable anecdote from Studs Terkel about how he and Algren met Billie Holliday towards the end of her career, makes it a worthy read.
July 24, 2019
Algren writes in a gritty, street-lingo manner that is sometimes hard to follow but he drops in through the narration some great observations and comments about the character's world that really ratchet up the level of these stories.
These are tough people living in tough neighborhoods but somehow Algren pulls out of them a humanness that surprises me. This outward expression is not written in slang or dialect but in very clear and concise prose that stands out because the reader is generally not expecting it. Algren is one of many unheralded American writers who captured on the page what he saw in life.
These are tough people living in tough neighborhoods but somehow Algren pulls out of them a humanness that surprises me. This outward expression is not written in slang or dialect but in very clear and concise prose that stands out because the reader is generally not expecting it. Algren is one of many unheralded American writers who captured on the page what he saw in life.
April 10, 2024
I’ve read enough renowned sources to believe that Algren’s short stories are ‘literary triumphs’ or ‘part of our lasting literature’. Yet, while definitely feeling there was something different and probably special about the 24 stories here, I didn’t really get what it was, and they just didn’t quite work for me. ‘The Face on the barroom floor hit hard, and ‘Depend on Aunty Elly’ made an impact but most others were just consumed. The stories are very short and I am sure most must be available for free on the internet, so it might be worth searching out a couple to see how you feel before going for the whole book.
May 6, 2025
I like how Nelson Algren writes the same stories over and over again (some of these feel exactly like Never Come Morning/Man with a Golden Arm) and infuses every story and situation with the same kind of tragic fatalism. I don't quite know what I'm saying but I think he's a beautiful writer who can be somehow really gritty and really poetic, and the idea of the "Neon wilderness" is such a beautiful metaphor (all of Design for Departure is nice) even though I did say that that metaphor showed the nefarious influence of the Chicago School of Sociology
April 5, 2022
A set of short stories, mostly painting a vivid picture from poor neighbourhoods: prostitutes, handicapped thugs, convicts, and a surprising amount of boxers. I suppose boxing is to Algren what fishing is to Hemingway, and, coincidentally, I found their writing styles to be similar to some degree. Even though this is my first time reading Algren, I could almost assure that pugilism is a recurrent theme within his stories. Nicely written. 4/5
October 19, 2025
Nelson Algren is so good. This is my favorite work of his that I’ve read yet. I can’t think of anything that better demonstrates the value of literature than these short stories, the way they put you in someone else’s mind in a way that happens in no other art form. The stories of fighters and soldiers are especially remarkable, and in some ways the parallels between them and throughout the stories are the most compelling part. I have to come back and spend more time with this book.
November 22, 2017
Algren showed off his gritty prose with his own poetic rhythm in this collection of short stories. These stories take readers to the underbelly of yesteryear's Chicago with deeply flawed characters, tragedy after tragedy, and enough Chicago landmarks to warm any Chicagoans heart. Not all the short stories grabbed me, but a few will stick with me for a long time.
December 20, 2023
There are no pretty people in Nelson Algren's stories. Drunks, whores, addicts, thieves and those who live cell to cell and drink to drink populate these stories. Each of these tales tells a story of woe, but in a way that's touching or funny or in a way that makes you taste and feel the dirty barroom floor. Why did I wait until my 73rd year to find this author?
November 11, 2025
Сборник рассказов о судьбах маргиналов Чикаго 30-40х годов, фокусирующихся не столько на фабуле, сколько на погружении в атмосферу канавы и беспросвета, зачастую выхватывая только отдельные фрагменты безрадостного существования.
Качественная городская проза, захватывающая социальное дно от забулдыг и проституток до бандитов и ментов, выискивающая в них человеческое без надрыва и пафоса, демонстрируя в процессе одиночество с отчуждением. Явно прорывная для тех лет концепция, сегодня читается наивно, всё равно подкупая убедительностью биографий и речи персонажей даже без использования обсценной лексики и забытым гуманистическим посылом о том, что рваньё - герои не хуже, чем какие-нибудь графья с герцогами.
Просто двадцать с лишним историй, пусть даже грамотно написанных, и отличающихся обстоятельствами, но задуманных в одном идейном ключе с единственной целью, становятся утомительным чтением, превращаясь в один бесконечный нарратив. Поэтому из всего массива материала по-настоящему запомнились лишь четыре очерка:
- про безымянного капитана полиции, оформляющего ночью поток задержанных всех мастей, впечатляющий тем, как пестро и разнообразно автор выстроил эту очередь из отбросов;
- про боксёра-неудачника, который должен был упасть в подставном матче, но, решившего победить, что привело к поражению и потере всех грязных денег в ставке любимой жены, и это прямо какая-то садистская версия Зощенко или Ильфа с Петровым;
- про мелкого жулика, признающегося на допросе в преступлениях, только чтобы над ним не смеялись, а считали авторитетным, где ловко обыгрывается психология неуверенного юноши, жаждущего признания - хоть уважения, хоть страха любой ценой;
- про вернувшихся со Второй мировой к себе на район друзей интересная не происходящим в нём, но тем, что на моей памяти это едва ли не первая попытка в американской литературе до вьетнамской войны сказать что-то вслух о проблемах реинтеграции ветеранов в мирную жизнь.
Качественная городская проза, захватывающая социальное дно от забулдыг и проституток до бандитов и ментов, выискивающая в них человеческое без надрыва и пафоса, демонстрируя в процессе одиночество с отчуждением. Явно прорывная для тех лет концепция, сегодня читается наивно, всё равно подкупая убедительностью биографий и речи персонажей даже без использования обсценной лексики и забытым гуманистическим посылом о том, что рваньё - герои не хуже, чем какие-нибудь графья с герцогами.
Просто двадцать с лишним историй, пусть даже грамотно написанных, и отличающихся обстоятельствами, но задуманных в одном идейном ключе с единственной целью, становятся утомительным чтением, превращаясь в один бесконечный нарратив. Поэтому из всего массива материала по-настоящему запомнились лишь четыре очерка:
- про безымянного капитана полиции, оформляющего ночью поток задержанных всех мастей, впечатляющий тем, как пестро и разнообразно автор выстроил эту очередь из отбросов;
- про боксёра-неудачника, который должен был упасть в подставном матче, но, решившего победить, что привело к поражению и потере всех грязных денег в ставке любимой жены, и это прямо какая-то садистская версия Зощенко или Ильфа с Петровым;
- про мелкого жулика, признающегося на допросе в преступлениях, только чтобы над ним не смеялись, а считали авторитетным, где ловко обыгрывается психология неуверенного юноши, жаждущего признания - хоть уважения, хоть страха любой ценой;
- про вернувшихся со Второй мировой к себе на район друзей интересная не происходящим в нём, но тем, что на моей памяти это едва ли не первая попытка в американской литературе до вьетнамской войны сказать что-то вслух о проблемах реинтеграции ветеранов в мирную жизнь.
August 1, 2017
Some stories were better than others
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August 26, 2020I am not sure if it is just the audio version of this but it is pretty boring. I like Nelson Algren but I am not super enjoying these short stories. So this got put on the ditched pile.
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