Customer Reviews

The Novellas of John O'Hara (Modern Library)

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John O'Hara, once an equal to Hemingway or Fitzgerald in the realm of the modern short story, shows us once again why he was so popular--and so praised--for forty years. These stories seem to encompass everything middle America became after the 1970s, about the time of O'Hara's death. O'Hara has a simple writing style that nonetheless captures the complexities in human relations, to say nothing of the complications of human sexuality. His characters were "shacking" up long before the sexual revolution of the 1960s and he was one of the first of the modern writers to show us the destructiveness of alcohol and the terrors of small-minded people that surround us all with their bitter stench of failure. These novellas catch him at his best and you'll never forget "Andrea".

One of the things that I like about O'Hara's short stories or novellas is that after reading one, I may end up thinking about the story for days. Or, sometimes I will think about the ending of one of his stories weeks or months after reading it and realize that what seemed to be the obvious ending was possibly something more subtle. One reviewer mentioned that "Andrea" was one that he would never forget. I agree. As with a lot of his short stories and novellas, the very last paragraph or line gives you the unforgettable ironic "punch".