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You Think That's Bad: Stories
Culling the vastness of experience-from its bizarre fringes and breathtaking pinnacles to the mediocre and desperately below average-like an expert curator, Jim Shepard populates this collection with characters at once wildly diverse and wholly fascinating.
A black world operative can't tell his wife a word about his daily activities, but doesn't resist sharing her confidences. A young Alpine researcher is smitten by the girlfriend of his dead brother, killed in an avalanche he believes he caused. An unlucky farm boy becomes the manservant of a French nobleman who's as proud of having served with Joan of Arc as he's aroused by slaughtering children. A free spirit tracks an ancient Shia sect, becoming the first Western woman to travel the Arabian Deserts. From the inventor of the Godzilla epics to a miserable G.I. in New Guinea, each is complicit in his or her downfall and comes to learn that, in love, knowing better is never enough.
A black world operative can't tell his wife a word about his daily activities, but doesn't resist sharing her confidences. A young Alpine researcher is smitten by the girlfriend of his dead brother, killed in an avalanche he believes he caused. An unlucky farm boy becomes the manservant of a French nobleman who's as proud of having served with Joan of Arc as he's aroused by slaughtering children. A free spirit tracks an ancient Shia sect, becoming the first Western woman to travel the Arabian Deserts. From the inventor of the Godzilla epics to a miserable G.I. in New Guinea, each is complicit in his or her downfall and comes to learn that, in love, knowing better is never enough.
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First published March 22, 2011
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About the author
Jim Shepard
78 books298 followersJim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including most recently The Book of Aron, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Achievement in Jewish Literature from the American Library Association and the PEN/New England Award for fiction, and five story collections, including his new collection, The World To Come. Five of his short stories have been chosen for the Best American Short Stories, two for the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, and one for a Pushcart Prize. He teaches at Williams College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
February 7, 2021
Shepard has really become a one-trick pony; he's similar to pulp sci-fi in that the real point is the ideas (in his case, historical research), and then the characters are completely one-dimensional, almost caricatures, with stories that would be incredibly banal if not for the setting. He always tries some half-assed New Yorker-short-story-writer convergence of theme and characters (in this case, especially in the Holland story and the WW2 story), but never quite manages to pull it off.
Obviously he's a talented writer but after you've read one short story collection, you've read them all; just spin a Mad Libs roulette wheel for historical periods ( volcanologists studying orca mating rituals in thirteenth-century Mongolia ) and then add friends/couples arguing about relationships, in completely anachronistic dialogue.
Obviously he's a talented writer but after you've read one short story collection, you've read them all; just spin a Mad Libs roulette wheel for historical periods ( volcanologists studying orca mating rituals in thirteenth-century Mongolia ) and then add friends/couples arguing about relationships, in completely anachronistic dialogue.
March 31, 2020
The first story was about a spook, a guy who relishes his super secret job to the detriment of his personal life, I guess. I didn't care.
The second story is about some woman looking for the Assassin's city. Reminded me of Jane Austen's stuff. Not interested.
I didn't bother continuing, although it was well narrated.
The second story is about some woman looking for the Assassin's city. Reminded me of Jane Austen's stuff. Not interested.
I didn't bother continuing, although it was well narrated.
May 15, 2020
Forget the stories a second and look at the acknowledgements - the guy put more research into each one of these pieces than some people put in their PhD theses.
The stories themselves are as thrilling and meaty as plotless American literary short stories get.
The stories themselves are as thrilling and meaty as plotless American literary short stories get.
November 2, 2010
Is there any kind of story Jim Shepard’s not capable of writing? Here is his common formula, one that always works beautifully, astonishingly, and often both: choose a time, place, or topic that few fiction writers have jumped into (for example, Tokyo film production in the 50’s, Swiss avalanche researchers in the late 30’s, the muddy agony of wartime Papua New Guinea); read exhaustively the best histories available about the selected topics; and then combine a writer’s interpretation of the time period with the emotional turmoil of characters both real and imagined. Unleash uncertainty, heartbreak, and/or chaos, and bam: there is your Jim Shepard story.
In many ways, You Think That’s Bad echoes Shepard’s last collection, Like You’d Understand, Anyway, which was a National Book Award finalist. Reading it is like playing Russian roulette with geography and time, and its characters often find themselves torn between commitment to their relationships and the itch of ambition. Set in the near-future, “Netherlands Lives with Water” explores what happens to a Dutch water engineer and his family when the mother of all storms hits the country. “Gojira, King of the Monsters,” which is maybe the most novelistic of the stories, follows the creator of Godzilla as he becomes consumed by his work, only to watch his family fall apart. There’s also “Boys Town,” narrated by a down-and-out war veteran who’s about to become dangerously unhinged; it’s narratively the least showy piece in the collection and also one of the most haunting.
Readers will be most blindsided, though, by “Classical Scenes of Farewell,” a horrifying, stunning 23 pages set in 1400’s France. I will say no more, except that it’s one of the best mash-ups of history and fiction I’ve read in a long time. Read it and be reminded of the sheer pleasure of watching the unfolding of Shepard’s imagination, which literally knows no bounds.
In many ways, You Think That’s Bad echoes Shepard’s last collection, Like You’d Understand, Anyway, which was a National Book Award finalist. Reading it is like playing Russian roulette with geography and time, and its characters often find themselves torn between commitment to their relationships and the itch of ambition. Set in the near-future, “Netherlands Lives with Water” explores what happens to a Dutch water engineer and his family when the mother of all storms hits the country. “Gojira, King of the Monsters,” which is maybe the most novelistic of the stories, follows the creator of Godzilla as he becomes consumed by his work, only to watch his family fall apart. There’s also “Boys Town,” narrated by a down-and-out war veteran who’s about to become dangerously unhinged; it’s narratively the least showy piece in the collection and also one of the most haunting.
Readers will be most blindsided, though, by “Classical Scenes of Farewell,” a horrifying, stunning 23 pages set in 1400’s France. I will say no more, except that it’s one of the best mash-ups of history and fiction I’ve read in a long time. Read it and be reminded of the sheer pleasure of watching the unfolding of Shepard’s imagination, which literally knows no bounds.
March 30, 2011
One doesn’t so much read a Jim Shepard story as dive into his infectiously delicious prose. If you’ve enjoyed his previous novels or story collections than you’re no doubt thrilled at the publication of his latest, //You Think That’s Bad.// And if you’ve not yet had the pleasure, well then consider yourself graced by good fortune and avail take opportunity to immerse yourself in his spectacular imagination.
Other writers to often settle for remaining in their comfort zone; by contrast Shepard stand out for bold leaps in genre, style, and voice, bringing his empathic spirit to topics few others would tackle. . Consider his novel, “Project X,” which pushed past the shallow moral outrage that followed the Columbine tragedy and explored a school shooting from the perspective of the perpetrators. Indeed, in addition to his deep research, his black sense of humor, and his gift for characterization, it is his deep pathos, his easy rapport with the exotic, which chimes through this author’s work.
The string which binds the stories in//You Think That’s Bad// is that empathy ladled onto our common existential tragedy – sure you are alone, struggling, and going to die, but at least we’re all in it together. We all want to understand and to be understood. All of us want to be loved. Not that many of us – or Shepard’s characters for that matter – achieve these goals. Many, perhaps most, of those inhabiting these stories aren’t particularly nice, indeed they often range from the damaged to the outright cruel, but they are all in their own way familiar, even while being impossibly alien.
Real life explorer Freya Stark flees her egomaniacal mother, whose machinations have led to her sister Vera’s death, to search the Persian wastes for Alamut, the lost citadel of the Assassins. The creator/effect artist of Gojira (Godzilla) must balance his troubled marriage, post-war Japanese culture, and the pain of his past against his need to create something unique. As Papua New Guinea tries to kill a soldier in World War II, he struggles with a love triangle back home, one leg of which is his own brother. A peasant in 15th Century France finds himself bound in service to the infamous child murderer, Gilles de Rais.
Part of the delight in Shepard’s work is how he helps us inhabit these dispirit milieus, to get to know and feel for these distant characters, even as he deftly layers in an array of fascinating details. Ever wonder about how the Netherlands will manage to hold back the ocean against global climate change? Might you be curious to learn that the Godzilla costume was so broiling that the actor needed to be removed from it every fifteen minutes and that each time over a cup of sweat was drained from each boots? Or perhaps you’re curious what it is like to be married to an engineer working in the black world of secret military research?
Yes, Shepard answers all these questions and more; he is a sort of time-hopping sorcerous prose genius with a gift for research. Yet he isn’t a writer who feels the need to batter us with facts. Settings and factoids always, always here work to uncover a sense of something true and universal, even as they aid in his telling of a great story. More than anything that may be the source of Shepard’s genius, the ability to take the most alien of people in the most unimaginable places and demonstrate how, despite vast chasms of distance and time, we are all far more alike than we are different. We struggle, we strive, and we all enjoy a great tale when it is well told. On that last score, few writers can hold a quill or a candle to the great Jim Shepard.
Other writers to often settle for remaining in their comfort zone; by contrast Shepard stand out for bold leaps in genre, style, and voice, bringing his empathic spirit to topics few others would tackle. . Consider his novel, “Project X,” which pushed past the shallow moral outrage that followed the Columbine tragedy and explored a school shooting from the perspective of the perpetrators. Indeed, in addition to his deep research, his black sense of humor, and his gift for characterization, it is his deep pathos, his easy rapport with the exotic, which chimes through this author’s work.
The string which binds the stories in//You Think That’s Bad// is that empathy ladled onto our common existential tragedy – sure you are alone, struggling, and going to die, but at least we’re all in it together. We all want to understand and to be understood. All of us want to be loved. Not that many of us – or Shepard’s characters for that matter – achieve these goals. Many, perhaps most, of those inhabiting these stories aren’t particularly nice, indeed they often range from the damaged to the outright cruel, but they are all in their own way familiar, even while being impossibly alien.
Real life explorer Freya Stark flees her egomaniacal mother, whose machinations have led to her sister Vera’s death, to search the Persian wastes for Alamut, the lost citadel of the Assassins. The creator/effect artist of Gojira (Godzilla) must balance his troubled marriage, post-war Japanese culture, and the pain of his past against his need to create something unique. As Papua New Guinea tries to kill a soldier in World War II, he struggles with a love triangle back home, one leg of which is his own brother. A peasant in 15th Century France finds himself bound in service to the infamous child murderer, Gilles de Rais.
Part of the delight in Shepard’s work is how he helps us inhabit these dispirit milieus, to get to know and feel for these distant characters, even as he deftly layers in an array of fascinating details. Ever wonder about how the Netherlands will manage to hold back the ocean against global climate change? Might you be curious to learn that the Godzilla costume was so broiling that the actor needed to be removed from it every fifteen minutes and that each time over a cup of sweat was drained from each boots? Or perhaps you’re curious what it is like to be married to an engineer working in the black world of secret military research?
Yes, Shepard answers all these questions and more; he is a sort of time-hopping sorcerous prose genius with a gift for research. Yet he isn’t a writer who feels the need to batter us with facts. Settings and factoids always, always here work to uncover a sense of something true and universal, even as they aid in his telling of a great story. More than anything that may be the source of Shepard’s genius, the ability to take the most alien of people in the most unimaginable places and demonstrate how, despite vast chasms of distance and time, we are all far more alike than we are different. We struggle, we strive, and we all enjoy a great tale when it is well told. On that last score, few writers can hold a quill or a candle to the great Jim Shepard.
July 5, 2017
I have to say that Jim Shepard is probably my favorite contemporary short story writer. I really enjoyed his previous short story collections, Love & Hydrogen and Like You'd Understand Anyway. But You Think That's Bad is probably his best to date. One thing I like about his fiction is that he often does extensive research into a subject to write a historically realistic story that has a universal message about love, life, and death. For example, one of my favorites is is called "Happy With Crocodiles" about a US soldier fighting in Paupa New Guinea in WWII who recounts his relationship with his girl back home while fighting in the dreary conditions of the South Pacific. As he reevaluates the relationship, he realizes that has been complicated by his older brother's inclusion in the picture. In the afterword Shepard lists dozens of books that helped him with several stories in the collection. Another example can be seen in the story "The Netherlands Lives With Water," where a man tries to save his family from breaking up and the world from destruction in the near future where glaciers have melted and the flooding threatens man's survival. However, I think my favorite story in the collection was "Boys Town," about a man suffering from post traumatic syndrome, but it is the tone of the language he uses that entertained so much me throughout the story. I think there are a couple of other stories worthy of mention(that being said none of the stories felt like filler or a waste of time while reading): "Minotaur" was another crumbling family narrative about Black Ops agents trying to maintain personal lives-which almost seems like a recurring theme-the is also the root of the problems with the Polish mountain climbers who leave there families behind to achieve glory climbing the world's tallest mountains (another story that required significant research) in "Poland Is Watching." Then there's "The Track of the Assassins" which is based on a women's journey into Persia at a time when few white men-let alone women ventured into such places, that also required significant research for accurate details. Then there was "Gojira, King of the Monsters" which was based on the life of the creator of Godzilla and blends cultural and historical knowledge with another story of family dysfunction and stands out as one o the stronger stories in the collection. If you haven't read one of his impressive short story collections do yourself a favor and get one-these are very satisfying stories that can be read in one sitting about 20 pages or less per story.
April 24, 2011
Well, hurray for this guy. He was bold and ambitious in taking on the range of characters / times / places he did. I've always thought it was odd that there seem to be so few short stories set in any time period other than our own. This is an encouraging reminder that it can be done.
Nevertheless, the stories suffer from a certain sameness. Shepard's efforts to write in different registers and voices fall a bit flat, and the domestic trajectories central to virtually every story are predictable. The prose, while lucid, is no more than workmanlike.
In my view, the author's concept and aspirations for this collection are more interesting than the results. The book's worth reading, but there's no need to rush out and grab a copy.
Nevertheless, the stories suffer from a certain sameness. Shepard's efforts to write in different registers and voices fall a bit flat, and the domestic trajectories central to virtually every story are predictable. The prose, while lucid, is no more than workmanlike.
In my view, the author's concept and aspirations for this collection are more interesting than the results. The book's worth reading, but there's no need to rush out and grab a copy.
September 27, 2012
I know that this doesn't speak to the quality of the writing, per se, but I really admire/an in awe of Shepard's research as well as his ability to claim authority over such a wide variety of settings and timeframes. I think "The Netherlands Lives With Water" is the first of his stories that I've read set in near-future and I was utterly convinced. Most of the others I've read are set in the past, and he seems to be able to tackle any time period or location. I read "Your Fate Hurdles Down at You" in some prize collection (O Henry, maybe?) and besides the fact that it's a heartbreaking story, it changed the way I thought about writing with authority. (Not to mention the fact that I was researching an avalanche story of my own, read this and thought: oh, well. Forget it.)
Boys Town was the odd one out for me, a bit more sentimental than the rest. I personally prefer those stories that are based in world with which I am unfamiliar.
Incredibly strong collection. One of my favorites. Add in Zero Meter Diving Team from one of his earlier books and it would be perfect.
Boys Town was the odd one out for me, a bit more sentimental than the rest. I personally prefer those stories that are based in world with which I am unfamiliar.
Incredibly strong collection. One of my favorites. Add in Zero Meter Diving Team from one of his earlier books and it would be perfect.
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March 21, 2011Read my complete review at Full-Stop.net:
The swagger of Jim Shepard’s opening lines pulled me in at once, and the book continues with a subtle grace. Each time I set the book down, it found its way quickly into my hands again.
Many argue that art’s greatest achievement is to place us face to face with our humanity. These stories exemplify Jim Shepard’s mastery of such a lofty craft.
The swagger of Jim Shepard’s opening lines pulled me in at once, and the book continues with a subtle grace. Each time I set the book down, it found its way quickly into my hands again.
Many argue that art’s greatest achievement is to place us face to face with our humanity. These stories exemplify Jim Shepard’s mastery of such a lofty craft.
April 14, 2014
Really really good. First I've read of Shepard, won't be the last. A great mix of humor and pathos—these stories seem to be doing exactly what the author intends them to do. Just total control of the language. Also an insane amt. of research clearly goes into these pieces, though the research is all background, not the focus. Sometimes things feel a tad samey, like male-in-difficult-situation-woman-waiting-at-home-for-him, be it war or mountain climbing or whatever, but hey. Still a fantastic collection. A couple stories were a bit boring, like one set in 1440, but that's okay.
July 5, 2012
Short story collection with each one standing on its own. Wide variety of characters and subjects from global warming, historical child abuse (at the time of Joan of Arc), mountain climbing and avalanches etc. Most are very good but the shorter ones not so much. I regretted that some of the stories were not novels as I wished for more.
February 5, 2018
Another great collection of stories from Jim, all of which turn around the idea of the imbalance between work and relationships, or more specifically a life's desire pulling against intimacy, even though that intimacy is predicated upon the sharing of that life. When the desire is mountain climbing, US black-ops, or desert-crossing, the danger of the desire becomes the sharing, and what ultimately forms those secrets and mountains between the characters. However, the characters acknowledge the mountains, and mostly don't try to ascend them. Instead, they take solace in what intimacy remains, and nurse what regrets permeate their lives.
I really enjoyed the structure of these stories. Most are told in first-person, and it seems to me the purpose of the first person is to put us claustrophobically close--see the child-murderer story, "Classical Scenes of Farewell." It is the protagonist's confessional self-loathing that necessitate the closeness to us as readers, while the third-person narration of say, the Godzilla story, requires the seeming insurmountable distance the characters have found between themselves.
I especially like reading Jim's work because it is a lesson in craft, and how to make stories dense with layers without being impenetrable. Great stuff.
I really enjoyed the structure of these stories. Most are told in first-person, and it seems to me the purpose of the first person is to put us claustrophobically close--see the child-murderer story, "Classical Scenes of Farewell." It is the protagonist's confessional self-loathing that necessitate the closeness to us as readers, while the third-person narration of say, the Godzilla story, requires the seeming insurmountable distance the characters have found between themselves.
I especially like reading Jim's work because it is a lesson in craft, and how to make stories dense with layers without being impenetrable. Great stuff.
October 16, 2017
Interesting collection of stories. I’m not sure there is an intended theme, but I thought they all dealt with naiveté/the realization that you don’t really understand this world. Arguably, that’s what everything is about (at least to me).
I didn’t care for Minotaur or The Track of the Assassins, the lead-off entries. Surprisingly, I persevered and found some that I really liked. I thought The Netherlands Lives with Water was one of my all-time favorites and a great take on a current topic. Your Fate Hurtles Down at You was also excellent/5-star worthy.
I kind of hated Classical Scenes of Farewell. I got the point—and sadly I think it was realistic. But I fear many readers will find this section too terrible.
I’d highly recommend this collection, possibly skipping or at least not starting with those stories I listed above as negatives.
I didn’t care for Minotaur or The Track of the Assassins, the lead-off entries. Surprisingly, I persevered and found some that I really liked. I thought The Netherlands Lives with Water was one of my all-time favorites and a great take on a current topic. Your Fate Hurtles Down at You was also excellent/5-star worthy.
I kind of hated Classical Scenes of Farewell. I got the point—and sadly I think it was realistic. But I fear many readers will find this section too terrible.
I’d highly recommend this collection, possibly skipping or at least not starting with those stories I listed above as negatives.
July 23, 2021
A collection of competently told stories which vary wildly in setting (both historical and geographical), length, and intent. My main issue with many of the pieces in this book is that the author seems too often to focus on technical accuracy at the expense of emotional impact. A 30-page tale set in the Netherlands about flooding in which - the climate? - is the antagonist. A 35-page lightly fictionalized treatment of the creator of the original Godzilla film. Another 30 pages constituting the confessional of the assistant of a king put to death for torturing children. We get it - you did your homework. Shepard is much more readable when he sticks to contemporary plainsong; with the other stories in this collection, it feels as though he just wants to tell the reader, "Look how authentic this is!"
August 8, 2022
These short stories are well written, but challenging to read. His settings vary in place and time and are rich in details of history, geography, and science. His characters are well fleshed out, particularly for short stories. They all deliver an emotional punch.
October 4, 2018
Another fine flock of free-range stories
by a master craftsman of the genre.
by a master craftsman of the genre.
March 29, 2019
Not really my style of stories but he can certainly write...so bumped it from a 2 to a 3
August 2, 2020
I like other Jim Shepard more, but his good is still better than most writers best.
March 13, 2025
Wow!! Jim Shepard writes historical (and future) fiction with wit, heart, and humor. I’m so glad I found this collection.
February 14, 2011
You Think That's Bad is a collection of short stories from one of my favorite writers, Jim Shepard. There are eleven stories in the collection, ten of which were previously published in The Atlantic, McSweeney's, The New Yorker, and Electric Literature among other. It is an interesting collection of stories, taking on inadequacy, desperation, loss, heartbreak, love, and alienation.
Take "Minotaur," previously published in Playboy, which takes on the secret world of black operations research and development, but at the same time takes on life and love:
Everyone involved with it obsesses about it all the time. Even what the insiders know about it is incomplete. Whatever stories you do get arrive without context. What’s not inconclusive is enigmatic, what’s not enigmatic is unreliable, and what’s not unreliable is quixotic. pg. 10
or "The Track of the Assassins," which is about a woman that leaves her family and home behind in order to travel through the Middle East:
Everyone involved with it obsesses about it all the time. Even what the insiders know about it is incomplete. Whatever stories you do get arrive without context. What’s not inconclusive is enigmatic, what’s not enigmatic is unreliable, and what’s not unreliable is quixotic. pg. 13
The stories in the collection cover a lot of ground, taking place in various countries and settings around the world and also going as far back as the 1440s in Paris. "Classical Scenes of Farewell" takes place in 1440s Paris as a young man falls under the hand of a sadistic Lord and helps murder young children.But Etienne, while trying to understand the deeds he does in the name of his Master, also struggles with love:
All I desired, morning in and evening out, was a love with its arms thrown wide. But the contrary is the common lot, everyone’s family telling him furiously that everything hurts, always. The nest makes the bird. pg. 176
You Think That's Bad is a strong collection of stories and highlights Shepard's writing very well. All of the stories are connected through common themes, but are very different from one another: black operations research and development, high altitude mountain climbing in the winter, serial killing in the 1440s, and the Netherlands as it struggles with a growing water problem.
You Think That's Bad is a selection of The Rumpus Book Club and comes out March 22, 2011 so be sure to check it out.
March 28, 2013
So as some of you may know by now, I'm not a fan of short stories. I feel like if a story and an author are good enough, it should be a novel (or at least a novella). A 15-25 page story is just a summary, an outline of an idea that is underdone or something that is just so flimsy it shouldn't be written in the first place. And, I hate having to get into a story again every 20ish pages. So, the best possible rating for a book of short stories is a 4 star...so this one ain't bad.
Several of the reviews on goodreads talk about the amazing creativity of Shepard. I agree, to a point. Yes, his characters and settings appear to be very diverse, but that (I would propose) is the point of this collection. The thing that makes these stories a collection (and not just a book of stories, good for you Shepard) is that they all encompass two (or more) of these ten theme/motifs: weapons/army munitions development or usage; depression/dissatisfaction; tedium of married life; husband/father as emotionally distant and/or physically gone; extreme weather conditions (snow/ice, deserts, rain); one brother taking advantage of another's innocence; war; cows; dead children; disappointed fathers. I know it sounds like a big list, but most of the stories have several of these and I think ultimately Shepard's point is the opposite of Tolsoy's: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this case, we are all dysfunctional in similar ways.
There were also several quotes that I found amusing or interesting:
"I answered that the discontented were the least capable of living with only themselves, since the same goad that drove them to isolation would spoil their solitude as well. The true traveler left not to renounce but to seek."
"But we look on everyone's transformations as fluid except our own."
"Remember when you told me that the one thing physics teaches you is that the reality you think you observe doesn't have much to do with the reality that's out there?"
"People talk about, Oh this kid's sick and that kid's bipolar and this and that and I always say, Well, does he piss all over himself? And the answer's always no. That's because he chooses to go to the bathroom. Because he knows better. He controls himself. People control what they do."
"The difference between us and addicts was that you never got us to admit that anything was wrong with what we loved to do."
Overall, it wasn't a bad read. Personally, I did not care for a few of the stories (at the end of March living in WI I am really rather done with ice and snow and don't want to read about it), but I recognize their worth and Shepard's overarching argument.
Several of the reviews on goodreads talk about the amazing creativity of Shepard. I agree, to a point. Yes, his characters and settings appear to be very diverse, but that (I would propose) is the point of this collection. The thing that makes these stories a collection (and not just a book of stories, good for you Shepard) is that they all encompass two (or more) of these ten theme/motifs: weapons/army munitions development or usage; depression/dissatisfaction; tedium of married life; husband/father as emotionally distant and/or physically gone; extreme weather conditions (snow/ice, deserts, rain); one brother taking advantage of another's innocence; war; cows; dead children; disappointed fathers. I know it sounds like a big list, but most of the stories have several of these and I think ultimately Shepard's point is the opposite of Tolsoy's: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this case, we are all dysfunctional in similar ways.
There were also several quotes that I found amusing or interesting:
"I answered that the discontented were the least capable of living with only themselves, since the same goad that drove them to isolation would spoil their solitude as well. The true traveler left not to renounce but to seek."
"But we look on everyone's transformations as fluid except our own."
"Remember when you told me that the one thing physics teaches you is that the reality you think you observe doesn't have much to do with the reality that's out there?"
"People talk about, Oh this kid's sick and that kid's bipolar and this and that and I always say, Well, does he piss all over himself? And the answer's always no. That's because he chooses to go to the bathroom. Because he knows better. He controls himself. People control what they do."
"The difference between us and addicts was that you never got us to admit that anything was wrong with what we loved to do."
Overall, it wasn't a bad read. Personally, I did not care for a few of the stories (at the end of March living in WI I am really rather done with ice and snow and don't want to read about it), but I recognize their worth and Shepard's overarching argument.
December 1, 2011
“The map was from the Survey of India series, four miles to the inch, and manifested its inaccuracy even in the few features it cited” (21).
“For one stretch we had to unload their saddlebags and drag them by the halter ropes while Aziz shouted into their ears distressing facts about their parentage” (22).
“Dip your foot in the water and here's what you're playing with: Xiphactinus, all angry underbite and knitting-needle teeth, with heads oddly humped and eyes enraged with accusation, and ribboned bodies so muscular they fracture coral heads when surging through to bust in on insufficiently alert pods of juvenile Clidastes, who spin around to face an oncoming maw that's in a perpetual state of homicidal resentment” (34).
“But he's the kind of guy given to building tall towers of self-pity and then watching them sway” (36).
“Exasperation makes him close up shop like a night-blooming flower” (36).
“Years ago she had a traffic mirror mounted outside on the frame to let her spy on the street unobserved” (47).
��Along the new athletic complex in the distance, sapphire-blue searchlights are lancing up into the rain at even intervals, like meteorological harp strings” (56).
“The mid-day sun raised blisters on an arm in ten minutes” (67).
“We were told to splash or make noise when crossing the creek, because the aborigines said it was happy with crocodiles” (74).
“The last time we saw him he was trying to open a can of apricots with a bayonet” (76-77).
“You couldn't talk to our mom about it. She was so upset the cat refused to come out of the cellar” (78).
“Willi said it was one of those rare places where nothing could be grown or sold, that the world had produced exclusively for someone's happiness” (95).
“By May, scraps from the two missing children poked through the spring melt like budding plants...” (98).
“It's not normal. The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it” (157). *This does not bode well for me.
“...Boys Town, the movie where Spencer Tracy's the priest and Mickey Rooney's the tough kid who goes straight because he gets a new baseball glove or smells some home-cooked bread or some fucking thing” (159).
*A strange collection of stories, some I found incredible (“Happy with Crocodiles” and “Boys Town”); some I wish I'd never read (“Classical Scenes of Farewell). Although I felt I was slogging though at some points, the odd turn of phrase or sentence that delighted helped make the journey worthwhile. Still, if half stars were available, I'd probably give this a 2.5.
“For one stretch we had to unload their saddlebags and drag them by the halter ropes while Aziz shouted into their ears distressing facts about their parentage” (22).
“Dip your foot in the water and here's what you're playing with: Xiphactinus, all angry underbite and knitting-needle teeth, with heads oddly humped and eyes enraged with accusation, and ribboned bodies so muscular they fracture coral heads when surging through to bust in on insufficiently alert pods of juvenile Clidastes, who spin around to face an oncoming maw that's in a perpetual state of homicidal resentment” (34).
“But he's the kind of guy given to building tall towers of self-pity and then watching them sway” (36).
“Exasperation makes him close up shop like a night-blooming flower” (36).
“Years ago she had a traffic mirror mounted outside on the frame to let her spy on the street unobserved” (47).
��Along the new athletic complex in the distance, sapphire-blue searchlights are lancing up into the rain at even intervals, like meteorological harp strings” (56).
“The mid-day sun raised blisters on an arm in ten minutes” (67).
“We were told to splash or make noise when crossing the creek, because the aborigines said it was happy with crocodiles” (74).
“The last time we saw him he was trying to open a can of apricots with a bayonet” (76-77).
“You couldn't talk to our mom about it. She was so upset the cat refused to come out of the cellar” (78).
“Willi said it was one of those rare places where nothing could be grown or sold, that the world had produced exclusively for someone's happiness” (95).
“By May, scraps from the two missing children poked through the spring melt like budding plants...” (98).
“It's not normal. The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it” (157). *This does not bode well for me.
“...Boys Town, the movie where Spencer Tracy's the priest and Mickey Rooney's the tough kid who goes straight because he gets a new baseball glove or smells some home-cooked bread or some fucking thing” (159).
*A strange collection of stories, some I found incredible (“Happy with Crocodiles” and “Boys Town”); some I wish I'd never read (“Classical Scenes of Farewell). Although I felt I was slogging though at some points, the odd turn of phrase or sentence that delighted helped make the journey worthwhile. Still, if half stars were available, I'd probably give this a 2.5.
August 18, 2016
This is another solid offering from Jim Shepard, one of America's most consistent and challenging storytellers. He seems to challenge himself as much if not more so than the reader. Shepard reguarly dives into a complicated scientific or technical or historical subject, and does a ton of reading about it, in order to come up with a single story. He's amazingly disciplined and admiringly thorough in his preparation. The stories in this book are both contemporary ad historical and range from subjects as diverse as as avanlache science, murderous medieval sadism, flood control in the Netherlands, the allied attack on Japanese held islands during WW II, winter season mountain climbing, the making of the original Godzilla movie, black budget defense projects, cretaceous period sea life, and more! Admittedly there's a cool tone to some of these stories, as Shepard grapples with the challenge of how to transfer technical or historical information to the reader without seeming to mere info dump. But he always develops a human, emotional element in each story, an emotional element that really does come to drive the story and hold the reader, apart from the historical or scientific importance of the background material. The best example of this might be "Happy with Crocodiles" in which an allied soldier about to engage the Japanese reviews, and finally can't seem to figure out, the behavior of his girlfriend back home during his last days with her. That sounds flippant, but the girlfriend material is as subtly powerful as the coming--in fact, arrived--battle with the Japanese is dangerous. And Shepard is certainly the master of subtlety. As "loud" as some of his subjects are, his handling of human relationships and human feeling is delicate, intelligent, and canny.
I'm a fan of historical fiction, and I've long admired Shepard's willingness to write stories--as opposed to novels--in this form. But with some regret I must say that with a few exceptions I found the contemporary stories in the volume the most gripping. My two favorites were "Boys Town," about a pscyhologically damaged vet (who doesn't realize exactly how damaged he is), and "Poland is Watching," a semi-terrifying and thoroughly heartbreaking study of the men who valiantly/stupidly try to climb some of the world's tallest peaks during the winter season. Those two stories will really stick with you. Of the historical fictions, I think the most successful is "Gojira, King of the Monsters," an asute--and again--heartbreaking--story of a driven film director who can't seem to adjust to the lack of control he exerts in his own household. That one too will stick with you.
I'm a fan of historical fiction, and I've long admired Shepard's willingness to write stories--as opposed to novels--in this form. But with some regret I must say that with a few exceptions I found the contemporary stories in the volume the most gripping. My two favorites were "Boys Town," about a pscyhologically damaged vet (who doesn't realize exactly how damaged he is), and "Poland is Watching," a semi-terrifying and thoroughly heartbreaking study of the men who valiantly/stupidly try to climb some of the world's tallest peaks during the winter season. Those two stories will really stick with you. Of the historical fictions, I think the most successful is "Gojira, King of the Monsters," an asute--and again--heartbreaking--story of a driven film director who can't seem to adjust to the lack of control he exerts in his own household. That one too will stick with you.
March 3, 2011
Until I read this book, I hadn't realized how much the authors I generally read tend to limit themselves when it came to characters and settings. In fact, I hadn't really thought about that at all. And then I read these stories, most of which are set outside of the United States and many of which are not set in the late 20th century/early 21st century, and suddenly those limitations have become painfully evident.
Maybe the reason why you don't see it that often is because of the tremendous amount of research necessary to bring unfamiliar cultures, time periods and landscapes to life. Shepard's acknowledgement/resources page is evidence of how much extra work this kind of writing requires, how it's not enough to spend time hibernating within your imagination, stewing in your own experiences - at least, not if you are going to do it right.
But oh, how that extra effort is worth it! The cumulative result of all of the stories in all of those settings is the realization that, even though we may be separated by time and culture and geography, the experience of being human - what it means to love, to feel pain, to cause pain, to feel desperately alone, to feel driven by deep-seated compulsions that no sense of duty can override - these are things that have not changed much.
Not only are the stories sensitively written, but they are so textured, so full of subtext and ideas, they practically demand they be read and re-read. There is no way a single reading, even an attentive one, is enough to capture all of that.
I would recommend this book to just about anyone. I enjoyed it that much. Even the stories that were not so excellent - and there were a couple - were still worth reading.
Maybe the reason why you don't see it that often is because of the tremendous amount of research necessary to bring unfamiliar cultures, time periods and landscapes to life. Shepard's acknowledgement/resources page is evidence of how much extra work this kind of writing requires, how it's not enough to spend time hibernating within your imagination, stewing in your own experiences - at least, not if you are going to do it right.
But oh, how that extra effort is worth it! The cumulative result of all of the stories in all of those settings is the realization that, even though we may be separated by time and culture and geography, the experience of being human - what it means to love, to feel pain, to cause pain, to feel desperately alone, to feel driven by deep-seated compulsions that no sense of duty can override - these are things that have not changed much.
Not only are the stories sensitively written, but they are so textured, so full of subtext and ideas, they practically demand they be read and re-read. There is no way a single reading, even an attentive one, is enough to capture all of that.
I would recommend this book to just about anyone. I enjoyed it that much. Even the stories that were not so excellent - and there were a couple - were still worth reading.
May 18, 2011
I'd give this 3.5 stars if you could do half-stars on Goodreads.
My advice would be to skip the first four stories (and especially the first), which simply aren't on par with the rest of the collection. Those four stories (with the possible slight exception of the second, "The Track of the Assassins") aren't much distinguished from the sort of clunky, obvious efforts you'd see in an average literary journal, and they don't do anything to support the idea (which you often hear advanced) that Shepard is one of the best short story writers working today.
I can't say I'm super crazy about the rest of the collection, but the last 7 stories are all more than worth reading, and "Your Fate Hurtles Down at You" and "Boys Town" are really, really good. Shepard is an amazing line-by-line writer, there's no waste or laziness in his best stories, and "Poland Is Watching" (about a group of Polish mountaineers winter-climbing in the Himalayas) is probably the best example of what I mean. What he does visually and aurally with that environment is dauntingly impressive.
Generally, the stories feel over-researched to me--Shepard lists two entire, numbing pages of background reading in the Acknowledgments--and it's not a stretch to say that he's written the same story over and over through all 11 pieces. Every story documents some extreme state attained (consciously or unconsciously) by the main character, always at the cost of love and community, usually in the service of some expertise or art. If that story arc (which is probably an analogy to the writer's craft) interests you, you'll be in tune with the collection; if not, you'll be worn down by the inevitable separation, loneliness, extremity, and death.
My advice would be to skip the first four stories (and especially the first), which simply aren't on par with the rest of the collection. Those four stories (with the possible slight exception of the second, "The Track of the Assassins") aren't much distinguished from the sort of clunky, obvious efforts you'd see in an average literary journal, and they don't do anything to support the idea (which you often hear advanced) that Shepard is one of the best short story writers working today.
I can't say I'm super crazy about the rest of the collection, but the last 7 stories are all more than worth reading, and "Your Fate Hurtles Down at You" and "Boys Town" are really, really good. Shepard is an amazing line-by-line writer, there's no waste or laziness in his best stories, and "Poland Is Watching" (about a group of Polish mountaineers winter-climbing in the Himalayas) is probably the best example of what I mean. What he does visually and aurally with that environment is dauntingly impressive.
Generally, the stories feel over-researched to me--Shepard lists two entire, numbing pages of background reading in the Acknowledgments--and it's not a stretch to say that he's written the same story over and over through all 11 pieces. Every story documents some extreme state attained (consciously or unconsciously) by the main character, always at the cost of love and community, usually in the service of some expertise or art. If that story arc (which is probably an analogy to the writer's craft) interests you, you'll be in tune with the collection; if not, you'll be worn down by the inevitable separation, loneliness, extremity, and death.
June 27, 2011
I devoured this book. These are incredibly well-researched short stories. The situations are from the far corners of reality: Avalanche researchers in 1930s Switzerland; physicists working projects on a supercollider; hapless Lake States soldiers thrown against Japanese forces (if they and their equipment don't rot in the jungle of Papua); an impulsive young man stumbling on the path from deadbeat father and layabout to rampaging survivalist. Three are world-class: speculative fiction about how European nations will fend with increased floods brought about by climate change; a Victorian adventuress who wants to uncover a lost city in Persia; and a look into the making of the original Godzilla movie, which was done quick and cheap but reflected Japanese experiences not just of World War II but of Tokyo's huge earthquake of the 1920s.
So what's not to love? I was sad when most of these stories ended--I wanted them to go on. But, as fascinating as Shepard's protagonists can be, their personalities cover only a narrow range. Many are self-destructive in similar ways, and many are in similar predicaments with their loved ones. Several stories here wrap up in just about the same way, and told in the same tone. Considering the brilliant variety of subject matter and starting points, the endings as a set earn a mixed grade.
In an odd way, these stories are throwbacks to a time when readers picked up books to discover a little more about fascinating aspects of history, foreign cultures, daring vocations and avocations. Yes Shepard is fully up to date in subject choices, and his characters are good fits for a post-ironic age. I've got to try some more of this author--and soon!
So what's not to love? I was sad when most of these stories ended--I wanted them to go on. But, as fascinating as Shepard's protagonists can be, their personalities cover only a narrow range. Many are self-destructive in similar ways, and many are in similar predicaments with their loved ones. Several stories here wrap up in just about the same way, and told in the same tone. Considering the brilliant variety of subject matter and starting points, the endings as a set earn a mixed grade.
In an odd way, these stories are throwbacks to a time when readers picked up books to discover a little more about fascinating aspects of history, foreign cultures, daring vocations and avocations. Yes Shepard is fully up to date in subject choices, and his characters are good fits for a post-ironic age. I've got to try some more of this author--and soon!
May 3, 2011
"In those last few nights with her, I spent what time we had let trying to recover the irrecoverable with only my presence. I wanted to believe that nothing had been lost of what we had shared so many years before. But we look on everyone's transformations as fluid except our own. 'Dress them up as you like, but they will always run away,' the King of Naples is reported to have said of his inadequate soldiers. The mother I trusted, the Vera I loved, the woman I imagined myself to be: all of those phantoms have clip-clopped into limbo."
"When I told my dad we were getting married, his way of putting it was, "Well, it could work for a short while, if everything breaks right.'"
"...Nowhere in which he chose to dwell was the abode of perfect focus."
"You get lonely, is what it is. A person's not supposed to go through life with absolutely nobody. It's not normal. The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it."
"They say whatever your worst memory is, you see it again most often right before you sleep. I climb because once I go back down, the world while I recover is easier for me. Agnieszka's eyes and mouth become again my garden and our entangled sleep my chair in the sun."
"When I told my dad we were getting married, his way of putting it was, "Well, it could work for a short while, if everything breaks right.'"
"...Nowhere in which he chose to dwell was the abode of perfect focus."
"You get lonely, is what it is. A person's not supposed to go through life with absolutely nobody. It's not normal. The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it."
"They say whatever your worst memory is, you see it again most often right before you sleep. I climb because once I go back down, the world while I recover is easier for me. Agnieszka's eyes and mouth become again my garden and our entangled sleep my chair in the sun."
October 5, 2011
This was a wildly creative batch of short stories by an author I'd never read before. He's extremely talented at jumping into different voices and characters and I don't know how he does it--it would be interesting to hear where he gets his ideas. He went from an American ex-military private with severe PTSD, to a serial killer/pedophile medieval French lord (seriously! This is what I mean by wildly creative), to the creator of Godzilla, etc. Having said that, I found the stories hit-or-miss, and some I found myself skimming through. But that's the beauty of short story collections--if you hit one you don't like, you can either skip it, or know it'll be done with quickly.
One common theme for this author seems to be scientific topics. There was a story about avalanches, and another about Dutch dam technology, and these stories seemed to be extremely well-researched. If you like scientific topics, you might really enjoy these stories, but if you don't, it may be too much detail for you. Another common theme that cropped up in at least a few of the stories was the various head-buttings, competitions and envies between brothers, usually told from the point of view of the less-gifted/talented/handsome (or whatever) brother. Interesting.
All told, this was enjoyable but something I might not remember in a year.
One common theme for this author seems to be scientific topics. There was a story about avalanches, and another about Dutch dam technology, and these stories seemed to be extremely well-researched. If you like scientific topics, you might really enjoy these stories, but if you don't, it may be too much detail for you. Another common theme that cropped up in at least a few of the stories was the various head-buttings, competitions and envies between brothers, usually told from the point of view of the less-gifted/talented/handsome (or whatever) brother. Interesting.
All told, this was enjoyable but something I might not remember in a year.
June 6, 2013
Some stories are more interesting than others here, but I really have not read anything by this man that I haven't liked. As usual, there are startling moments of humor in sad stories. I don't know if it's my personal life but the first few stories here had me on the verge of weeping. This from "Minotaur" when a wife discovers, after a devastating betrayal, that she doesn't know her husband. From husband's POV:
"She thought she'd put up with however many years of stonewalling for a good reason, and she'd just figured out that as far as Castle Hubby went, she hadn't even crossed the moat yet.
Because here's the thing we hadn't talked about, nose to nose on our pillows in the dark: how 'I've never been closer to anyone' isn't the same as 'We're so close.'"
I don't know what that thing is about his observations and prose that lays waste to me, but I'm glad he does. He's a good reminder for people like myself who crave STORY that in the midst of crazy circumstances like the creation of the phenomenon of Gojira, like ensuring the Netherlands doesn't become Atlantis, like the workaday lives of black ops defense contractors, humans and their experiences are really what is interesting. Read it.
"She thought she'd put up with however many years of stonewalling for a good reason, and she'd just figured out that as far as Castle Hubby went, she hadn't even crossed the moat yet.
Because here's the thing we hadn't talked about, nose to nose on our pillows in the dark: how 'I've never been closer to anyone' isn't the same as 'We're so close.'"
I don't know what that thing is about his observations and prose that lays waste to me, but I'm glad he does. He's a good reminder for people like myself who crave STORY that in the midst of crazy circumstances like the creation of the phenomenon of Gojira, like ensuring the Netherlands doesn't become Atlantis, like the workaday lives of black ops defense contractors, humans and their experiences are really what is interesting. Read it.
April 15, 2012
Almost a year after reading this two stories from the collection stick with me. The first one in the line-up, Minotaur, I initially identified with the most. I read it three times before I was done with it. But the title story, about a vet of a recent war returning to a civilian situation that is like throwing a lit match on the gasoline of his PTSD, is the one that I can't get out of my head. Especially this quote.
"You get lonely, is what it is. A person's not supposed to go through life with absolutely nobody. It's not normal. The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it."
I've seen the world, especially those sitting on the fringes of life, differently since I read the story You Think That's Bad. Making a stranger see the world differently after only a few thousand words of your writing is a feat and now I will always take a look at Jim Shepard's work if I see it.
The longer stories were harder. I could tell the author had put a lot of work into them, but they just didn't have the same magic as the two that have stayed with me.
"You get lonely, is what it is. A person's not supposed to go through life with absolutely nobody. It's not normal. The longer you go by yourself the weirder you get, and the weirder you get the longer you go by yourself. It's a loop and you gotta do something to get out of it."
I've seen the world, especially those sitting on the fringes of life, differently since I read the story You Think That's Bad. Making a stranger see the world differently after only a few thousand words of your writing is a feat and now I will always take a look at Jim Shepard's work if I see it.
The longer stories were harder. I could tell the author had put a lot of work into them, but they just didn't have the same magic as the two that have stayed with me.
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