June 3, 1991
Although many of the stories here seem little more than deliberately dazzling exercises, standouts include tales of fatuous quiz- and talk-show people and a satirical account of a Midwestern reunion of actors in McDonald's ads. According to PW , ``Wallace has talent to burn and is an endlessly inventive storyteller, but one wishes he wasn't also such an exhibitionist.''
March 15, 2011
Originally published in 1989 and available for the first time on audio, this collection of ten short stories by the late Wallace (d. 2008) exhibits his strength for exuberant storytelling peppered with pop-culture references ranging from Alex Trebek to Ronald McDonald. Wallace's notoriously long sentences and digressions weigh down a few of the tales, particularly "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way," a sort of tribute to fellow postmodernist writer John Barth. But the work is uplifted by the narration: actors Robert Petkoff (robertpetkoff.com) and Joshua Swanson (www.joshuaswanson.com) bring to life the humor and joy in Wallace's writing, most notably through character John Billy's Southern drawl. Recommended for those liking the work of Sam Lipsyte or Thomas Pynchon.--Johannah Genett, Hennepin P.L., Minneapolis
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 19, 1996
Postmodern short stories from Wallace satirize the absurdities of contemporary pop culture.
August 1, 1989
Wallace caused a critical stir with his first novel, The Broom of the System , and this volume of stories is likely to attract equal attention. His publisher talks about post -postmodernism, whatever that means, but there is a highly unusual eye and ear at work here, and an impressive armory of writerly skills. All too often, however, the stories seem like dazzling exercises, show-off pieces designed to provoke applause rather than expressions of a consistent vision. Two stories about the morbidly incestuous world of TV, ``Little Expressionless Animals'' and ``My Appearance,'' catch perfectly the obsessiveness and fatuity of quiz- and talk-show people, and ``Lyndon'' is a tour de force in which the late president looms very large indeed. The title story is an experiment in the outre, about a grotesque Los Angeles yuppie and his punk friends, that seems designed to shock rather than illuminate. In ``Say Never'' Wallace enters an Isaac Bashevis Singer world, though naturally he gives it an odd twist. And the longest and most ambitious story, ``Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,'' deliberately flaunts writing-school experimentalism in its overwritten, satirical account of a Midwestern reunion of actors in McDonald's ads. Wallace has talent to burn, and is an endlessly inventive storyteller, but one wishes he wasn't also such an exhibitionist.