Customer Reviews

Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives: Stories

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

a cross between raymond carver, richard ford and david lynch. each story takes a wonderfully unexpected, usually inspired weird/odd/brilliant turn. deft, moving characterizations. watson's is a world of great compassion amidst (comical) violence, where the boundaries between human, animal and otherworldly are blurred. a very unique american voice. thoroughly enjoyed.

These are amazingly inventive stories, beautifully written, haunting and humorous, eccentric and engaging. Every last one of these stories is powerful, worth a second reading or more. The title story is unlike anything I've read for the imaginative risks it pulls off, the places it took me as a reader. Some of my favorite moments in the collection: a woman at the end of a wild night with friends, drifts down the current of the Black Warrior River, where her husband fishes, her friends running along the bank in pursuit of her; an arrogant, showoff breaks the diving board he's springing up and down upon; a divorced father has his palm read beside a motel pool by a woman whose face is complex, unsettling, and beautiful.

I've been waiting for something new to read from Brad Watson since Heaven of Mercury. He works slowly, and thank God. This book is good in a way that creeps on you. There's no fireworks as far as flashiness goes. Unless of course, you're a writer yourself. In that case, you'll realize that Watson is blazing trails in term of narative voice. His stories "Falen Nellie" and "Alamo Plaza" are the proof in the pudding. I love this book and recommend to readers and writers alike.

I just finished reading this book. I read it all in one day. You really just cannot stop. Wow.

"Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives" is a collection of snapshots of real, animalistic life. Characters aren't just stories - they're humans beings with raw emotions. It is very easy to get caught up in the settings, smells and feelings of stories like "Noon" and "Water Dog God". You want to know the kids in "Vacuum" and you relate to the father in "Visitation" (well...kinda...).

All in all, this is definitely one of my fave collections of short stories that I've read this year, and I will definitely be reading more of Brad Watson's works!

The spine of this book, which conceivably reveals one of the greatest titles of a nonfiction novel (excluding the wacky sci-fi titles which arrive monthly), has beneath its edges a novel which catches your attention from the start, and can grasp you for a 263-page single sitting.

Numerous short stories connected loosely by chronological events, and a geographical area from anywhere appurtenant to the Gulf of Mexico, to somewhere not far from the same, this book is a work where each part is very independent from the others.

Part of the magic is the topic. Part is the perspective. And, to each the writing is responsive.

The author effortlessly jumps into the skin of the main writer - often written in the first person - and delivers the patois, slang, articulate or inarticulate, and feminine or masculine perspective of the character around which the story revolves.

In the beginning, the author sees through the eyes of the young boys who seek to remedy their mother's blues - abandoned by a husband and left with three frolicking boys. In another, the story is seen through the eyes of a young man who pops in and out of reality while trying to handle his last teenage years together with parenthood. Others involve single fathers with troubled sons - reminiscent to Richard Ford's depressing Frank Bascombe; lonely-hearted drunks whose wives have left them; and, similarly lulling Americans seemingly imprisoned by their personal midlife crisis.

The cover mentions the similarities of this novelist to Flannery O'Connor. I see some, but O'Connor is much more edgy and touches a darker side of Americana which many would care not to read about or learn exists - often such stories are accompanied by rape, murder or mayhem. These are not, with one very small exception which is written in a way that the rape is almost indecipherably indiscreet.

Strong prose directed at difficult subjects such as depression and mental anguish, make this a strong book about serious topics with little comic fanfare or relief.

I am still trying to figure out how I feel about this book. The stories are more than interesting, they are intriguing. I have read some of them more than once trying to get a better idea of what is going on, and every time I come away from the reading thinking something new. The reading was fun, and I would definitely recommend this book to someone, if only to get their take on it and see how varied our opinions of the various stories are.

As so many of the other reviewers have written, it is mostly a book about alienation, feeling a little like the characters feel as though they don't belong in the lives they are living. A well written collection about life and the rough spots many people find themselves in. Though each story shows a darker feeling about humanity and life, it is still a very readable and interesting book, one you will want to finish quickly.

Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, by Brad Watson is a book of strange, lively short stories. The characters and plots of each story are interestingly intriguing as well as weirdly funny.

This book is filled with off moments in the character's lives and each leads to a "breaking point" of sorts. These breaking points lead to strange encounters with strangers followed by an epiphany of the main character.

Brad Watson's writing is extremely descriptive and at times makes you wince. He also writes from multiple perspectives, in some cases from an animals point of view. This not only makes you think as you are reading, but makes this book fun and exciting.

Aliens in the Prime of their lives is a page turner and hard to put down once you start.

Watson delves into the depths of human emotions exposing the dark humor of human nature. The book contains true to life short stories with themes of alienation, spirituality and the unchangeable nature of people. Watson delivers interesting insight into dysfunctional relationships and family life. He exposes the common tragedy of average people and everyday life. A thought-provoking collection of stories, essential to any reader's reading list.

Watson's book has an out worldly feeling even though each short story is essentially different. There is a sense of Aliens in the book, but more than that there is a feeling of alienation in the characters of several of the short stories.

Many of the pieces inside the book end leaving the entire thing up to reader interpretation. Watson toys with the supernatural, surprise, sublime, and the unpredictable. My favorite idea of the book is that as a reader I have expectations of characters, and these expectations are turned around as Watson goes against the grain of change.