Customer Reviews

The Drowning: And Other Stories (Carnegie Mellon Series in Short Fiction)

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Received this book from a friend who loved it and thought I would also. She was absolutely right. The weird added bonus was that I soon realized that Mr. Delaney was my college creative writing professor over 12 years ago!

This is a review to look at:

From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly The credible, plainspeaking characters in Delaney's sure-footed first collection of nine stories--priests, drunks, conspiracy theorists, criminals--have taken wrong turns in the past that lend their present lives a sad irony. In "Travels with Mr. Slush," an ex-felon who drives a truck that sells crushed, flavored ice through urban neighborhoods suddenly finds himself the victim of crime when youths steal his car battery on the hottest day of the summer, melting his entire load. Yet the tale closes with a surprising, cautious optimism. In "O Beauty! O Truth!" a boy who ridicules his strict teachers foreshadows his shooting death years later by police officers as he leaves a crime scene. Characters usually find crucial life decisions made for them by forces beyond their control. The 17-year-old narrator of "A Visit to My Uncle" travels to New York to ask his rich, estranged relative for money for medical school; he is nonplused when his uncle (a lawyer) offers to pay his way, but only under manipulative conditions. The standout title story tells of a tormented former priest who suddenly emigrates in middle age from Ireland to America. His new life includes a new vocation as hod carrier and a new name, an act born of panicked necessity after he disposes of the dead body of a possible traitor, a constable in the RIC, in a lake. In the less dramatic pieces, Delaney wisely lets a poignant situation tell its own story. In "The Anchor and Me," a mild-tempered husband is unable to say whether he feels jealous or proud of his anchorwoman spouse's driven, successful life and career; the antihero of "Notes Toward My Absolution" robs convenience stores with an unloaded gun. Delaney's measured pace imparts a grace to his tales, which at their best are reminiscent of Cheever or Updike's grittiest efforts. Few words are wasted in this quietly triumphant collection. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Some of our best writers honed their craft in the belly of newspapers. Ted Delaney numbers among those. I have followed the work of Mr. Delaney since his days as a reporter for the Denver Post and then as a columnist for the newspaper in Colorado Springs. In 1990, he left daily journalism to teach college journalism near his hometown of Fall River, Mass. In the ensuing years, he has had great success in placing his fiction in famous magazines and in small literary quarterlies. Finally, we have them all in one place. One of the things I like most about Mr. Delaney is that his fiction is never about some angst-ridden writer looking for success or meaning. If you were to guess his occupation from his writing, you might guess he was a blue-collar narrator. That's because Mr. Delaney has lived life beyond his belly button, contemplating what it means to be a person, to really live. The son of a medical doctor, Mr. Delaney once dreamed of anthropology as a profession. As a writer, he has become that. He shows us what makes us work; in his work, we see ourselves or someone we know. We have been the places, emotionally, at least, his characters have been. His title story, The Drowning, which was an O'Henry award winner as well as Best Short Story winner, is worth the price of the book. Mr. Delaney is only beginning. Watch for more of this talented writer's work. Read him now so that you can say you knew of him before everyone else. It'll be a boast you'll love to make at your reading club.

The variety of worlds and realities written about in contemporary fiction are often exciting, extraordinary, and out of this world. Pages in today's fiction share a common theme, portraying and spurring on characters that are larger than life, characters that are out of this world. As readers we follow the story from chapter to chapter with the anticipation and realization of how every instance of drama is continued or concluded. We gnaw our own knuckles hoping true love is created, or dispersed. Sometimes it's true evil we watch out for, sometimes goodness or wholesomeness. Often it seems like it is the writer's job and duty to create super-real scenarios that the writer's audience can munch on. Readers often begin to represent hyenas munching on the flesh and bone of a prey-like book. We eat words rarely understanding our addiction to action and drama that is blown out of proportion to everyday life. Yet this is not so with Ted Delaney's The Drowning and Other Stories.
In this collection of short stories, Delaney reminds us of the real world. The real world is the world that is slower, quieter, humbler, and grimmer. The real world is most often about day-by-day existence where the smallest, most taken-for granted things are often the most important. Delaney is able to present the life inside his stories with an alternative, far less glamorous style. Delaney fortunately does not appear to be pushing buttons in response to mainstream literature, nor is he trying to be boring or dull. He is instead attempting to present the style of the ultimate realist writer by portraying life through an objective lens. The lens hovering above the people in Delaney's stories is a lens that bellows like a fog horn. It is a call to the reader, heralding desensitization. Delaney's work, however, comes with the cost of dragging the reader excitedly into his work.
Objectification should not come as a surprise when regarding Delaney's work. Having written for innumerous newspapers and magazines, Delaney carries the true spirit of the journalist. Some journalists focus on sensationalism, but Delaney carries a stern, matter-of-fact voice. Delaney's voice cuts deep into the fleshy substance that makes up reality. He has taken his background as a journalist and transferred it, philosophically and artistically, into his stories of fiction.
Unlike the boxed-in assignments of the reporter, Delaney is contrastingly able to choose the characters and environments in his stories. At first glance it is easy to call the freedom of choice in Delaney's stories merely a form of idealization; however, Delaney never lets his journalist guard down. The world or worlds his characters live in are not filled with explosions or first kisses. Delaney keeps his characters confined. Each foot of each character is masterfully restricted and forced to follow the rules and regulations--the narrative laws--of the world in which they live. Often this technique results in stories that are dark and anti-climactic. Often Delaney's stories are not capable of producing the typical form of enjoyment that most fiction is able to evoke from within the reader.
In "A Visit to My Uncle," the protagonist Mark struggles to try and find himself as part of an immediate, as well as extended, family that is both economically poor and socially disconnected. Mark wants to go to medical school and his parents cannot afford to send him, so Mark ends up visiting his rich lawyer uncle, who the family has not had contact with for some time, in an attempt to ask for help. The uncle does not agree to give Mark money on the grounds that Mark will not study law. The story results in disappointment that is hardly satisfying for the reader, yet all the while the story does not overhype the hard instances of reality.
But Delaney is not only about being a naturalistic or deterministic writer. "Notes Toward My Absolution" is a dark yet humorous look at the life of a man who is not morally capable of robbing convenience stores with guns that have bullets in them, and so his life as a criminal becomes a quirky roam through the life of the mediocre outsider. Delaney fascinatingly incorporates the theme of the comic social deviant throughout the story collection. The story "Conspiracy Blues" brings to the forefront Lyle, a man who enjoys a serious obsession with conspiracy theories, yet is unable to get over his own paranoia. "The Anchor and Me" is told from the point of view of an up-and-coming news anchor's significant other. The anchor tries desperately to be the best in her position, yet by holding herself up to the pedestal, she is unable to notice her own hubris lingering below, and fails in a fashion miserable and hysterical.
The pinnacle point in Delaney's book of stories is "Travels With Mr. Slush." This story is perhaps the most original and outstanding of all the stories, but at the same time it is also the most absurd. The protagonist only goes by "Mr. Slush," a young man who is on parole and has to work as a truck vendor travelling from street to street, neighborhood to neighborhood, selling ice slushy drinks. Even after the story's conflict and impending climax, the protagonist remains where he began: a truck vendor selling ice slushy drinks.
The cyclic monotony of everyday human existence is believable in Delaney's stories, but it is often overbearingly off-putting. While Delaney writes beautiful prose that describes environments and inhabitants accurately, he does not highlight, emphasize or blow up any aspect of each story. Many readers will find Delaney's style difficult to get a grip on or take a bit out of. But for those who are looking to read and experience the objective point of view on life that is relatable, believable, and seeable, the stories in this collection will succeed.

I think that edward delaney wrote an inspired, well worked on book that he worked hard for everyone should read this book and they will fell better afterreading it.Thankyou.

These stories really touched a chord... quiet but very moving

This book by Edward J. Delaney is the best book I have ever read. He must have worked very hard to acheive his dream. He is a very hard worker and is very determined. His book is inspired and everyone should read it. You will feel better once you read each story. You will feel how he felt, you will feel is dreams in your mind. thankyou.