At the Jim Bridger: Stories [Paperback]

Ron Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

Welcome to the short stories of Ron Carlson, where strange beach towels turn up in your suburban living room; where the ordinary son of a family of geniuses spins a rollicking tale of happiness and disappointment; and where a desperate ex-con with a broken heart must hide out in a desert hotel, only to make a startling discovery. Epic in scope and confessional in tone, At the Jim Bridger enfolds the reader in a world of love and mystery, and makes us feel better than just about anything written on the page.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In his collection At the Jim Bridger, Ron Carlson exhibits an old-fashioned humanity. He not only believes in the self, he believes that it's a good thing. The men and boys in these stories stumble into quietly critical moments that invite them to surrender their integrity. Some succumb, some don't, but the author himself is clearly never in doubt that integrity exists and that it matters. The problem is brought up most explicitly in the exquisite, funny opening story, "Towel Season." Edison is a theoretical engineer who lives with his young family in a chummy suburb. Over the course of one summer--one "towel season"--Edison pursues a slippery engineering problem by day and socializes with his neighbors by night. The other dads all work in applied engineering, and they exert a gentle pressure on Edison to get his head out of the clouds. Normal life tugs at Edison, tempting him. His resistance turns the piece into an oddly resonant love story.

Short-fiction fans have likely bumped into "The Ordinary Son" in one anthology or another. It's the unforgettably comic story of the only nongenius in a family of geniuses: "I was hanging out sitting around my bare room, reading books, the History of This, the History of That, dry stuff, waiting for my genius to kick in." At the Jim Bridger is a convention of just such fascinating, ordinary characters. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In this taut, focused collection, veteran short story writer Carlson (The Hotel Eden) captures the ordinary occurrences that define our lives. Sharing graceful, unadorned prose and elegant metaphors, the nine stories and two brief sketches collected here portray characters at moments when the solid ground of reality slips out from under them. High school figures prominently: for Carlson, the teenage years offer the perfect transitional moments, when minor incidents are writ large. Fortunately, he depicts these mundane experiences a boy's first date ("The Potato Gun"), his first fistfight ("At Copper View"), his first car ("The Ordinary Son") with neither condescension nor irony, but a mixture of serious reflection and naive wonder. In "The Ordinary Son," Reed's average intelligence in a family of geniuses makes him its only distinctive member; he amazes his young brother, who is practicing quantum physics with crayons, with the simple pleasure of his brand-new car. Elsewhere, the teenager's unique sense of alienation is a chronic condition: in "Towel Season," Edison's absorbing interest in a highly theoretical engineering project separates him from the neighborhood husbands and wives; in the title story, Donner's recounting of a near-death incident on a camping trip leads to a brief connection between him and a woman who is not his wife. With a precision and consistency rarely achieved in similar collections, this volume should earn Carlson continued, well-deserved recognition. National advertising; author tour.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Picador (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312307241
• ISBN-13: 978-0312307240
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He knows more about the human heart in conflict with itself, October 13, 2002

By 

Scott (Mt Pleasant, SC, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: At the Jim Bridger: Stories (Hardcover)

than anybody. "At the Jim Bridger" is Carlson's third book of short stories in a row; each time I didn't think it was possible for him to surpass himself, but somehow he does. His whimsical, funny, sad stories about love and lost and possibility are far truer to me than Carver's stories of dissolution. Carlson has the amazing ability to tell a sweet or happy story without selling out to melodrama or senimentality; he can tell a gut-wrenching story of loss and despair without giving in entirely to cynicism and morbidity. I can't tell you how many friends who tell me "I don't like books of short stories" I've converted to worshippers of Carlson over the years through gifts of "Plan B for the Working Class" and "Hotel Eden"; now I have a new axe to grind, and grind it I will. I can't wait to see his new novel next year.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ron Carlson's Done It Again, April 23, 2002

By 

Adam Johnson (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: At the Jim Bridger: Stories (Hardcover)

Start with any of these stories, and you'll soon be hooked. Read "At the Jim Bridger" from the front, from the back, it doesn't matter. Soon you'll be grabbing other Carlson books--"News of the World," "Plan B," "Hotel Eden"--and the next thing you know, you'll have devoured everything he's written the way I have. Nobody cares more about the short story than Ron, and it shows. Stories like "Towel Season," "Ordinary Son" and "Potato Gun" are told by narrators who only get one shot making their stories matter to others, and all they have is heart, humor and voice to get them there. And the title piece is an explication on story telling from the master. You simply won't be able to put this book down. One caution, however: if you read this book in public be prepared for strangers glaring at you because of all your laughing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Warm, Elegant, Memorable, July 31, 2002

By 

Jody A. Reale "jody reale" (CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: At the Jim Bridger: Stories (Hardcover)

Reading At the Jim Bridger was like catching up with an old friend. These new stories will sound vaguely familiar, but will inevitably end up surprising you. No matter who you are, you'll not only see yourself in each set of characters, but you'll find yourself rooting for them.

A great collection that will serve you well at home, during travel, at the book club. Whatever and wherever you read, just read this.