If the River Was Whiskey: Stories (Contemporary American Fiction) [Paperback]

T.C. Boyle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary American Fiction | Publication Date: May 1, 1990

Eccentrics, charlatans, and decent, vulnerable people. You'll find them all in this acclaimed collection of stories. From "Sorry Fugu," the tale of an improbable romance between a restaurateur and a food critic, to "The Little Chill," a chronicle of 60's survivors in arrested development, these works are magical, surprising, haunting, and hilarious.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 16 short stories, the author filters a diverse cast of characters through his witty, relentless narrative voice. Notwithstanding a few throwaway tales, "the pleasure of pure storytelling makes Boyle's new collection of fiction a joy to read," opined PW .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140119507
• ISBN-13: 978-0140119503
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,034,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

T. C. Boyle is the author of eleven novels, including World's End (winner of the PEN/FaulknerAward), Drop City (a New York Times bestseller and finalist for the National Book Award), and The Inner Circle. His most recent story collections are Tooth and Claw and The Human Fly and Other Stories.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars how can it be so funny and weird while the prose still sings, May 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: If the River Was Whiskey: Stories (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

wow, this book will basically just blow your mind. it's so upseting and weird in Boyle's tradmark darkly comic way (think Coen Brothers wooing Flannery O'Conner) and yet -- hotdamn -- on the sentence level, this prose is just out of sight. Beautifully written and laugh-out-loud funny, too? It's the perfect cross of high and low culture, like the Simpsons or the Coen Bros, if you're a smart, engaged reader, there really is something on every level of funny and weird, but the focous doesn't eclipse tender or meaningful . . . no, instead this collection really does match the wickedness of the smart-..., knowing hipster with the empathetic tug of "literary fiction." The perfect kind of thing to turn people on to short stories, this collection ends each time with a knockout punch.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a matter of justice, I must review..., December 15, 2001

By 

Adam Roberts - See all my reviews

This review is from: If the River Was Whiskey: Stories (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

...I don't have time to write much here, but the average customer rating is WAY too low for this great book of short stories. In fact, I'm here right now buying it for a friend. T.C. Boyle has such a unique perspective on the world, and I read this book 3 years ago and I still remember many of the stories like I just read them yesterday. Particularly "Sorry Fugu," the unforgettable opening story about a chef and his critic coming together through food. I'll also never forget the story about the adopted kid obsessed with bees. That one will freak you out. Ok, well sorry for not being eloquent here but this is a great book...

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Up all night, January 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: If the River Was Whiskey: Stories (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

My girlfriend was out of town for the weekend so I picked this up at the bookstore and started it around 10:00 when I got off work. I told myself, "Maybe I'll just read a few stories and then go to bed." No dice. The stories grab you with their spacey lyricism and surreal feel as Boyle's truly warped imagination leaves readers stranded in a fantasy world so fimiliar that they never want to leave. The stories go from the unimaginable to the undeniable in a matter of sentences, as Boyle disamrms readers with his bleak, obtuse sense of humor -- allowing the stories to unlock feelings of pain, regreat, isolation, nostalgia and revelation long ignored as a result of taking onesself too seriously. A truly novel collection of stories.