The Cage Keeper and Other Stories [Hardcover]

Andre E. Dubus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 1989

Passion and betrayal, violent desperation, ambivalent love that hinges on hatred, and the quest for acceptance by those who stand on the edge of society-these are the hard-hitting themes of a stunningly crafted first collection of stories by the bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog.

A vigilant young man working in a halfway house finds himself unable to defend against the rage of one of the inmates in the title story. In "White Trees, Hammer Moon," a man soon to leave home for prison finds himself as unprepared for a family camping trip in the mountains of New Hampshire as he has been for most things in his life. And in the award-winning "Forky," an ex-con is haunted by the punishment he receives just as he is being released into the world. With an incisive ability to inhabit the lives of his characters, Dubus travels deep into the heart of the elusive American dream.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first collection, Dubus displays a firm grasp of the requirements of satisfying short fiction and a wide-ranging eye tightly focused on the telling detail. Many of his stories center around prisons, their main characterswhether guards or inmatesbeing men on the edge of incarceration or release, an in-between state rendering them particularly vulnerable to failure and its legacy. The title story tells of a young guard in a minimum-security facility whose sympathies for crime victims are tempered when he is taken hostage by an escapee and, trapped with him during a long night's drive, learns the story behind his conviction. "Duckling Girl" is about a teenager who seeks relief from her sexually abusive father with two similarly abusive teenage boys. The particularly accomplished final story, "Last Dance," is narrated by a young man who learns to accept the end of an affair during a night-long hunt for a snapping turtle; with echoes of The Old Man and the Sea , this story captures powerful emotional movement in the carefully rendered details of a metaphor. Often violent, given to drink, vulnerable to sexual desire, Dubus's characters are equally capable of compassion and love. No unessential information diminishes the impact of these stories , but what does matterto both characters and readersis grippingly and generously portrayed.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This author takes risks, launching a fiction career just as his critically praised father publishes a story collection (see review above), and treating themes likely to startle, if not repel, some readers. The risks pay off. Dubus here reveals a talent that may one day make him equal to his father in narrative mastery. His characters live on the lower end of U.S. society, enmeshed in sometimes violent struggles as they clutch at the rim of sanity. The stark descriptions of these disaffected souls in the first six stories jolt readers into contemplating the nature of evil. The final tale, "Last Dance," is gentler in its Faulkneresque evocation of a nighttime turtle hunt in Louisiana but matches the rest in clarity of vision. Recommended.Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: E.P. Dutton; 1st edition (January 30, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525246916
• ISBN-13: 978-0525246916
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,980,779 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:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like Father Like Son, October 29, 2001

By 

Okla Elliott (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cage Keeper: And Other Stories (Paperback)

Andre Dubus III is keeping in the family tradition by writing masterful short stories like his father, Andre Dubus. For me the best story is "Forky," the story of a man recently out of prison trying--bluntly said--to get laid. Despite the harsh setting, we are given, via the remembrances of the ex-convict, the heart-felt stories of his brother and a fellow prisoner who reminds him of his brother. Also, without a drop of sentimentality, we are shown a touching affection that grows between the ex-con and the more or less random woman he picks up at a bar. This story proves once and for all that real life is interesting enough. We don't need car explosions or alien take-overs to make a story engaging. What we need are authors with insight, of which Andre Dubus III has an abundance.

Any fan of the stark realism of Richard Ford, Raymond Carver, or Russell Banks' more recent writing will appreciate these short stories.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can something be great, yet mixed?, October 22, 2001

By 

Timothy Gager "some call me Tim" (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cage Keeper: And Other Stories (Paperback)

I was up in the mountains of New Hampshire when I read this collection of short stories so I found the New England settings of these stories just about perfect. The writing is thoroughly enjoyable. Andres Dubus III knows how to turn a phrase and describe a scene with the best of them. The reason that I gave this collection 4 stars was the fact that many of the ending disappointed me. The endings made the stories disappear. Dubus III has a style that really locks you in to the characters. Many of the main characters are problem individuals who you end up viewing with or reading with empathy. When some of the endings fall off the cliff, so to speak you end up feeling cheated for developing this empathy. Other than that the stories are creative and fantastic in the ways of Carver, Chekhov and Johnson.