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Author: Boyle, T. Coraghessan
Title: If the river was whiskey : stories / by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Pub info: New York : Viking, 1989
Descript: 224 p. ; 22 cm
Subject: Short stories
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0670826901
Condition: good health, with good dusk jacket. marked as returned book
«The pleasure of pure storytelling makes Boyle's new collection of fiction a joy to read. The author ( World's End ) filters a diverse cast of characters through his witty, relentless narrative voice. Employing parody, social satire and traditional storytelling methods, Boyle's 16 stories invoke vastly different fictional worlds. The author gives us a death-defying stuntman (in "Human Fly"), a fast-talking pitchman briefing the Ayatollah on how to improve his image ("Hard Sell"), a businessman who sells his soul to the devil ("The Devil and Irv Cherniske"), a New York construction worker's vision of the Virgin at a religious shrine in Ireland ("The Miracle at Ballinspittle"), even a young man romancing a woman pathologically afraid of germs ("Modern Love"). All of these stories seem fueled by the writer's own curiosity about people and places, but a few, unfortunately, read like throwaways. These stand out because most of the book is so full of diversity, wit and daring.»
Publishers Weekly
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