This collection of short stories, which was awarded the 2007 Jefferson Press prize for Best New Voice in Fiction, explores the milieu of what post-Katrina New Orleans residents have come to call "the isle of denial"—a resilient and intact sliver of civilization surrounded by a sea of devastation. Evoking the comic grotesque legacy of Flannery O'Connor and John Kennedy Toole, these pieces inhabit a variety of piquant souls, including a Creole spinster, a transvestite plumber, a gambler who makes prosthetic eyes, a food critic who winds up with a mouthful of his best friend's ashes, and a grief-stricken young woman who sneaks a clock radio into her boyfriend's casket. They share a common trait of perverse denial in the face of historic or private defeat. Each story provides a window into aspects of the city and its’ captivating neighborhoods while tendering startling revelations on elemental themes of death, sex, and restoration.
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Editorial Reviews
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"These are big stories, not afraid to venture into ruined cities and ruined hearts . . . stories bold to tackle big themes with perfect detail." —Tom Franklin, author, Smonk
"A broad spectrum of vividly realized characters . . . in settings so tangible you [can] feel the humidity and smell the cape jasmine." —William Gay, author, Twilight
"James Nolan's Perpetual Care is the real deal." —New Orleans Times Picayune
"Nolan's prose is both languid and biting." —Seattle Times
About the Author
James Nolan is a poet and regular contributor to Boulevard, and his work has appeared in The Georgia Review, The North American Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, The Washington Post, and other publications. He is the author of two poetry collections, What Moves Is Not the Wind and Why I Live in the Forest, and translator of the poetry of Pablo Neruda and Jaime Gil de Biedma. He currently directs the Loyola University–New Orleans Writing Institute. He lives in New Orleans.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New and Clear Voice,
By J.Michael Hargrove (Waxahatchie,Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Perpetual Care and Other Stories (Paperback)
For all of us who have reread out Tennesee Williams, Carson McCullers, Truman Capotes, John Kennedy Tooles, etc., until they are falling apart there is good news. A new kid is in town and he's fantastic. James Nolan's new collection, Perpetual Care and Other Stories, is right up there with these southern icons. There are echoes of all the above there, but a clear and gorgeous voice all his own. These are some of the best stories I've read in years, each creates a wonderful mood and ambience. His characters are true originals. If you love southern fiction, here's a true rebirth. I will love reading them over and over. It's like a drought is over.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Supurb And Witty,
By
This review is from: Perpetual Care and Other Stories (Paperback)
Perpetual Care is chock full of stories that never make you want to put the book down. For anyone interested in literature, not just stories, this is the book for you. I was blown away by each story's wit and description of characters and places. Each piece certainly makes you think. James Nolan is a master story teller.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get ready. Get set. ENJOY!!!,
This review is from: Perpetual Care and Other Stories (Paperback)
JAMES NOLAN is a comedic genius. "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard," British actor Sir Donald Wolfit reportedly pronounced on his deathbed. We all love comedy, but few can do it. I believe comedy is something you are born with and that it cannot be learned. The great performance comedians of the 20th century you can count on your fingers and toes: Allen, Ball, Bruce, Burnett, Carlin, Cosby, DeGeneres, Gleason, Goldberg, Hope, Jessel, Murray, Nichols & May, Pryor, Radner, Williams -- and I'm about running out, with three digits still left. Among writers, the humorists number more, but there are not many. James Nolan is one of the best. His humor is dry, dark, acerbic, subtle, but occasionally Rabelaisian: Aleichem, Almond, Allen (again), Baggott, Beckman, Bombeck, Franklin, Montaigne, Thurber, Twain, Vidal, Vonnegut, Wilde, Wisniewski, and Wylie come to mind. Nolan is a Southerner, but not a "downhome" type. Nolan is sophisticated, well-educated and widely traveled. So he has a context to put his Southern characters in, and a rich, rich one it is! In PERPETUAL CARE, he moves from city to city with ease, hunting down great stories and delivering them with wit, aplomb and savoir faire to leave you breathless. As with Philip Wylie's "Mom" ("the thin, enfeebled martyr whose very urine. . .will etch glass"), women in general, and "Mom" in particular -- in the hands of Nolan -- get a drubbing: "In belligerent silence, Jake pushed his mother's wheelchair up the steep ramp to the cemetery office, her right leg sticking straight out like the prow of a frigate." "Like an ostrich, Mrs. Hokum strained her wrinkled, pointy face to the height of a long, curved neck, trying to see over the top of a paneled counter." As do teenagers: "Why couldn't Jay have become a normal gutter-punk? . . .with green hair and a shirt-stud in his tongue to click against his front teeth for attention?" The title story, "Perpetual Care," is the funniest one. The situation -- I'm not giving it up here -- will absolutely blow you away. Southerners (I am one) can carry prejudice and discrimination against people, places and things not Southern to ridiculous extremes, and Nolan pokes hilarious fun at all of it. But this is not to say that PERPETUAL CARE is all comedy; far from it. Below the surface, Nolan lets us know that prejudice is a serious matter, that moms and teenagers deserve to be taken seriously as human beings, and that San Francisco is. . .well, let Nolan tell you! James Nolan's deep love and compassion for the zany characters he portrays is always apparent, heightened by the contrast between his true feelings and the shallowness of widespread attitudes he dramatizes for us in his lively and resonant fiction. His writing is the greatest, his incredible sentences like multifaceted jewels polished to a high sheen: I challenge you to find English sentences more perfectly and movingly crafted than James Nolan's. Read these stories. Savor every word. Enjoy!
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