Customer Reviews

Eating Naked: Stories

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4 star:		(4)
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This is the first Stephen Dobyns book I've read, but it won't be the last. These stories, about ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations, sing to me. They're funny, enlightening, well-written and accessible. His writing reminds me of that of Steven Millhauser, another little-known author who deserves a wider audience. Thank you Stephen Dobyns for such magic....

I'm a fan of the short story, and I'm always interested in finding new books of short story collections. Dobyns' title of this collection grabbed my attention immediately (Eating Naked), and hence, I had to buy it.

The first few stories I read in Stephen Dobyns', Eating Naked, I was really impressed. The stories flowed nicely, the characters were interesting, and the stories made you think.

Then, I realized, Dobyns has a fascination on marriages and/or relationships that are falling apart, cheating, and dreams of murdering a loved one (or used to be loved one). Having one or two or even three stories like this in a collection is fine, but having almost all of them repeating the same pattern, with just the characters and circumstances changing all the time, gets slightly tiring. I even had to check the author's bio to see if it said whether he was married or not because his characters seem so bitter about their marriages (possibly a reflection on his life?).

I was most impressed with the last story in the collection, mostly because it strayed a bit away from the theme of marriage as a wreckage in life, and centered on younger people. While the theme of ruined relationships was still there, it was tucked away a bit more than the others.

All in all, I did enjoy Dobyns as a writer, and would like to read some of his longer fiction. If you can get past all the stories being somewhat similar in nature, then Eating Naked is a great find.

Stephen Dobyns has a wonderful talent for making light-hearted, almost comic narratives work in conveying a deeper message to his readers. Eating Naked is a wonderful collection of short stories that will never stop amazing you with thier simply written, yet highly intriguing, not to mention- very original- plots. It is not simply a book of stories, but a book on some very interesting modern day/pop culture philosphies. You won't regret reading it, it can really inspire. And it's good reading material for those long but not too long bus rides.

I'd never heard of Stephen Dobyns, but the opening lines of the first story, A Happy Vacancy, convinced me I'd struck gold: "There are perils in life so disturbing that we need to hold ourselves in a state of readiness, ever alert to exercise our outrage and disbelief ... Jason W. Plover, a poet with six books, was killed when a pig tumbled out of the sky and crushed him as he was crossing Massachusetts Avenue against the light at Harvard Square." This unusual opener is more than just a ploy to get our attention, it leads us to the real point of the story: "Jason Plover was someone always in a hurry. Had he been a tad less serious, a tad more casual, he might be with us still today." Hooray! It's a cautionary tale about not taking yourself too seriously.

I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but if more writers took Dobyns's lead, short stories would be a lot more popular. Too often, short stories are a cheap way to skim on true character development, or w way to pull flashy tricks and twists, and collections are usually uneven, with only a few stand-outs among the filler. Dobyns has written a collection of stories that breaks the bar for short story collections.

The challenge of reviewing this collection lies in summarizing his delightfully bizarre creations without cheapening them. Dobyns creates a small world with each tale and unravels the lives of his characters as they achieve a major turning point. Each story covers an entire person's life, their entire backstory, but the present action focuses on one turning point or strange occurrence.

The collection opens with the tale of the unfortunate death of the poet Jason W. Plover, who was killed by a movie-star pig which fell out of the sky during a shoot and crushed Plover in Harvard Square. Unfortunately, the late Plover once composed a poem entitled "The Pig and I," and his bizarre death catapults him into frenzied superstardom, must to this discomfort of his widow Harriet.

How can Dobyns follow this story? With the title story about two disaffected persons brought together by a roadkill deer for an unforgettable night, and with my personal favorite, the life of mobile home owner Lilly Hendricks and her uncomfortable reunion with the five children she had given up for adoption over her lifetime. Other stories focus on the strained marital relations of a Chaucer professor, or on the intense friendship between two construction workers (and the dollhouse one builds as a tribute to the other), or a man dating a married woman and becoming obsessed with meeting her cuckolded husband and exposing the wife's indiscretions. In the chilling story Dead Men Don't Need Safe Sex, an abandoned ex-husband maneuvers a way to interview his former wife about the reasons she left him.

This is an unforgettable collection of well-crafted stories. Don't miss it!

Having never read anything by Stephen Dobyns, this was a new experience in other-worldliness. A compilation of short stories by Dobyns, the title story gives us a peak into the mind of a man dealing with the same frustrations which haunt each of us. His solution is far different than what we might seek, but there is an "everyman" quality to his choice -- we WISH we could do that...

The book is filled with images which will stay with you long after finishing the book -- from pigs hurling from the sky to a lovingly propped-up old dead man. You'll smile as you recall the vivid pictures painted by Dobyns.

If you've never tried this kind of book before, give it a shot -- you'll enjoy the adventure!

Steven Reis

and boy was it a bargain. I found these stories to be mesmerizing and I barreled through them in just a few days. One of the other reviewers mentioned that the themes of these stories are similar, but I still was riveted by the characters, their unusual situations and what they chose to do in them. Highly recommended.

Dobyns' dark genius spreads its wings through sixteen different airs of presumption and normality. You want to be as smart and funny as this guy, you really do

This collection of short stories tells the tale of otherwise normal human beings, explaining their lives in matter-of-fact and humorous voices. It is truly a delightful read. You'll want to explore the author more after fininshing.

I had high hopes based on the jacket and blurbs on the back. Dobyns writes like a talented high-school student in love with his own ideas. He has no feel for the English language, his characters are flat and ridiculous, and he hits you in the face with his stupid ideas. I hate this book.