Claudia Putnam's Reviews > Any Deadly Thing

So I've said this before and will say it again... rarely give a story collection 5 stars. But I loved every one of these pieces and was very sorry when there were no more of them to read. Each story was a deeply involving world with a lot to show for itself. Characters, place, voice... a lot of different characters, a lot of places all over the world, a lot of languages, a lot of voices. And a lot of knowledge of the world and of people reflected in each. Guns, hummingbirds, ancient Greenlanders, for Pete's sake. If I were to knock any points off, which I'm not inclined to, I would maybe say that in some of the stories I didn't share the aesthetic for the type of ending. They weren't as weak as is the current fashion, and they weren't exactly open, but sometimes I wanted a harder hit. Not a hammer, but more of a gut punch, or a twist. But other stories worked just fine in that department, so my feathers were smooth and anyway no one can say this guy doesn't know what he's doing. As I said in my comment below, Kesey really ought to be the toast of the literary world right now. Also, check out his novel Pacazo, which Ninja-blendered my mind and shot it out through my ears.