The Times Are Never So Bad: A Novella and Eight Short Stories [Paperback]

Andre Dubus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0879236418 | ISBN-13: 978-0879236410 | Edition: First Edition

The focus of this collection, which includes the often praised tale "A Father's Story," as well as the novella "the Pretty Girl," is on the twisting deformations of love, on domestic disturbances, and on marriages whose sanctity can no longer bind them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Pretty Girl . . . may be the most compelling and suspenseful work of fiction (Dubus) has written. --Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review

For the lyricism and directness of his language, the richness and precision of his observation, he is among the best short-story writers in America. --Judith Levine, The Village Voice

Mr Dubus is a shrewd student of people who come to accept pain as a fair price for pleasure, and to view right and wrong as a matter of degree; without moralizing, he suggests that their self-inflicted punishments are often worse that what a just court, or a just God, would decree. --John Updike, The New Yorker

From the Publisher

6 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine; First Edition edition (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879236418
• ISBN-13: 978-0879236410
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andre Dubus (1936-1999) is considered one of the greatest American short story writers of the twentieth century. His collections of short fiction, which include Adultery & Other Choices (1977), The Times Are Never So Bad (1983), and The Last Worthless Evening (1986), are notable for their spare prose and illuminative, albeit subtle, insights into the human heart. He is often compared to Anton Chekhov and revered as a "writer's writer."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Major Collection, June 1, 2010

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IUBookReviewer (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Times Are Never So Bad: A Novella and Eight Short Stories (Paperback)

Having read all of Dubus's collections, this is my third favorite, after Adultery and Separate Flights. In "A Father's Story" Dubus once again delves into Catholicism and delivers a poignant story of a man struggling between his love for God and his own daughter. The strongest piece in this collection is the turbulent novella "The Pretty Girl". With a quick and varied sentence structure, Dubus again proves he is a sentence level writer; also, the switch from 3rd to 1st person throughout is an evocative and pervasive tool. This novella is show's Dubus's believe that lives can suddenly change, often with sudden violence, sometimes with grace.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great writer, September 26, 2010

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Reader "JMV" (Kansas City, KS) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Times Are Never So Bad: A Novella and Eight Short Stories (Paperback)

Get his collected stories. Then, after that, like me, you'll probably wanna get every book separately. Highly enjoyable reading for the "literary" reader.