Fast Lanes [Paperback]

Jayne Anne Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2000

Jayne Anne Phillips has always been a master of portraiture, both in her widely acclaimed novels and in her short fiction.  The stories in Fast Lanes demonstrated the breadth of her talent in a tour de force of voices, offering elegantly rendered views into the lives of characters torn between the liberation of detachment and the desire to connect.

Three stories are collected in this edition for the first time: in "Alma," and adolescent daughter is made the confidante of her lonely mother; "Counting" traces the history of a dommed love affair; and "Callie" evokes memories of the haunting death of a child in 1920's West Virginia.  Along with the original seven stories from Fast Lanes--each told in extraordinary first person narratives that have been hailed by critics as virtuoso performances--these incandescent portraits offer windows into the lives of an entire generation of Americans, demonstrating again and again why Jayne Anne Phillips remains one of our most powerful writers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

These seven stories, which include two that use characters and situations from her novel Machine Dreams, demonstrate the evolution of the author's gifted style. PW was dazzled, stating that "it seems as though there's nothing Phillips can't do." (February) BANDITS Elmore Leonard. Warner, $4.95 An ex-jewel thief, ex-nun and ex-cop and others cast their greedy glances on the millions of dollars being raised secretly by a Nicaraguan on behalf of the contras. PW's contribution: "This is a top-notch thriller with a real moral resonance."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Phillips's writing has developed chiefly through the voice of her characters: first in the collection Black Tickets ( LJ 1 0/1/79), then the novel Machine Dreams ( LJ 7/84), and now in Fast Lanes , a collection of seven stories. (A limited edition presenting only the story "Fast Lanes" was published under that title by Vehicle Edns. in 1984.) A West Virginian, Phillips is often strongest when treating the isolation of that state's rural communities, as in "Bess," a woman's reminiscence of life in turn-of-the-century Coalton. But the author's voice now broadens, exploring in fluid style a rock star's life and love ("How Mickey Made It"), a woman's yearnings for her unborn child ("Bluegill"), and the drifter's dreamy possession of reality ("Fast Lanes"). Phillips's perspective on contemporary life is refreshingly honest, her style engaging. Paul E. Hutchison, English Dept., Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Contemporaries ed edition (May 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375702849
• ISBN-13: 978-0375702846
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #481,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phillips is Amazing!, August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fast Lanes (Hardcover)

As I was checking to see if Fast Lanes was still in print (I've had scored of copies over the years since it's release in hard cover and I've passed them along to friends) I was jolted (by the one HORRIBLE and misinformed Amazon reader comment) that I couldn't let that stand by itself. One, it is almost criminal that this book is out of print. WHY?? And two, from this collection of short stories, to her other works (Shelter, Black Tickets) Phillips is a master poet who ties together magical language, a connection to her West Virginia roots and a her unique skill to write from a woman's viewpoint. This collection is filled with a voice like no other and I'm off to the British version of Amazon.com to see if the Brits are a little hipper than American pubishers. A wonderful collection!!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Height of her powers, January 3, 2003

By 

Steven L. Patterson (New York, NYUSA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fast Lanes (Paperback)

This, for me, still stands as Jayne Anne Phillips finest and most accomplished achievement. Ravishing use of language which never loses sight of the essential humanity of her characters. Not to play favorites, but the stories here that speak most eloquently to me are the two chapters that were excised from her novel MACHINE DREAMS and reworked -- BLUE MOON and BESS. Exquisite.

10 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Fast Lanes" equals fast asleep, January 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fast Lanes (Hardcover)

As a tightly woven collection of thought provoking short stories, this book is a miserable failure. However, as a showcase for flaccid verbiage, trite characterization, and themes so worn as to be almost pitiably jejune, it is a success on a scale unparallelled since the publication of C. S. Lewis's "Boxen," which the author wrote between the ages of 7 to 12. Since Jayne Ann Phillips is well in her forties, she cannot be granted the benefit of the doubt granted to Lewis. Phillips's characters were so undeveloped as to resemble pencil sketches rather than portraits; her sex scenes were almost comical, seeming to lack any real feeling or even anatomical knowledge; and her plots seem to alternate between contrived and derivative. One of the characters in "No Left Turn" seems to be the prototype for "Friends'" Chandler, and her story "Daddy's Farm" bears a plot so reminiscent of "Starship Troopers" that it borders on plagiarism. There are redeeming qualities Ms. Phillip's magnum opus. It deals with themes such as incest and botulism which are inherently fascinating. One only wishes that a more masterful hand had taken up these most serious of themes. It has one final redeeming quality, one shared with all other books, it ends... eventually...