Customer Reviews

Tooth and Claw: and Other Stories

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If my memory serves me right, Tennyson in his long poem "In Memoriam" referred to nature as "red in tooth and claw." T. C. Boyle obviously takes a page from Lord Tennyson in his latest collection of short stories where nature at best is indifferent, at its worst, malevolent. Wind storms are so bad that the weather service's wind gauge was once torn from "its moorings and launched into eternity" ("Swept Away") and a "bird lady" probably was washed out to sea. Two individuals get lost in a blinding snowstorm in the Southern Sierras in "The Swift Passage of the Animals." The characters-- at least some of them-- in "Blinded by the Light" are obsessed with a hole in the ozone layer: "So the sky is falling. Or, to be more precise, the sky is emitting poisonous rays." In "Chicxulub" an asteroid collided with the earth "sixty-five million years ago: "The thing that disturbs me about Chicxulub, [the name of the asteroid or comet] aside from the fact that it erased the dinosaurs and wrought catastrophic and irreversible change, is the deeper impication that we, and all our works and worries and attachments, are so utterly inconsequential." Additionally, in several of these stories the characters must also deal with nature's animals: wind-driven falling cats in "Swept Away," man-eating alligators in "Jubilation," an African wild cat that the narrator wins in a bar bet-- coincidentally in a driving rain-- in the title story. Or what is even worse, at least one character ("Dogology") wants to become a dog.

Thirteen of these fourteen stories will open up your sinuses. The characters, many of whom would be described as losers-- but never dull losers-- step in front of the proverbial train and suffer the consequences-- a sleep-deprived man, a homeless man for the first time, a high school teacher who uses and deals drugs at night. Mr. Boyle is quite amazing at setting the tone for a twenty-page story in one sentence. Check out "Here Comes," for example: "He didn't know how it happened, exactly--lack of foresight on his part, lack of caring, planning, holding something back for a rainy day--but in rapid succession he lost his job, his girlfriend and the roof over his head, waking up on morning to find himself sprawled out on the sidewalk in front of the post office."

My favorite story is "Chicxulub" where parents, whose daughter is not home yet, get a late night telephone call-- every parent's worse nightmare-- that "there has been an accident." In a little over ten pages, Mr. Boyle tells a story so universal, so painful and so well-written that you almost forget you are reading fiction and hope with all your being that that child is safe. But isn't this what fine fiction should do?

"The Doubtfulness of Water: Madam Knight's Journey to New York, 1702"-- a story with a title that long had better have something going for it-- for me it didn't, went right over my head, or around it. I don't have the slightest idea what the writer wanted to say- which alone doesn't make a story bad-- I just found it dull; and there are too many other wonderful, satiric, funny and profound stories by this fine writer that I haven't read yet.

Mr. Boyle has to be one of our best short story writers.

Is there a more talented short fiction writer in America than T.C. Boyle? Probably not. Many of his considerable gifts and persisting preoccupations are on display in Tooth and Claw, his seventh published collection of stories.

Five of the fourteen stories are set in bars. They feature precariously-balanced young men being swept toward the realization that something has to give or change. Boyle shares this space with Richard Bausch, another fine short story writer. If Bausch's stories have the fiery burn of raw pulque, Boyle's go down like high grade tequila: the kick comes later. Given his storytelling skills, one suspects that Boyle could spin out guy-in-bar tales as effortlessly and endlessly as a spider can drop silk filaments from its abdomen.

His comic gifts are on display in Swept Away, a roistering tale of the affair between a visiting ornithologist and a local farmer on a bleak Scottish isle, and the satirical subset of those gifts is evident in Jubilation, which chronicles the natural disasters that befall a man trying to start a new life in a housing development built by a theme park company. Dogology, about a woman who wants to be one with the animal kingdom, and The Kind Assassin, about a drive-time DJ's attempt to set the record for going without sleep, show Boyle turning intriguing concepts into stories peopled by characters who engage our feelings.

Several of the stories revolve around nature. The Doubtfulness of Water takes us on an adventurous journey from Boston to New York in the year 1702. Tooth and Claw, a combo bar and animal story, gives us a lost young man trying to cope with a feral pet. In Blinded by the Light, a Patagonian rancher is afflicted by the visit of an environmental doomsayer obsessed by the ozone hole over the South Pole. In Boyle's fictional world there are two broad classes: those who know we're headed towards some sort of environmental catastrophe and those who are trying not to think about it.

Two of the stories could be prequels to Drop City, Boyle's novel about young people who head out west in the late sixties to join a hippie commune. All the Wrecks I've Crawled Out Of and Up Against the Wall are both narrated by young guys scrambling for purchase in the adult world. They're looking for answers in the emerging counterculture of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. These two stories deliver the strongest emotional punch in the collection because it feels like there's something more at stake than a verbal frolic. Boyle seems to be trying to nail down an American moment -late sixties/early seventies- in which he's emotionally as well as intellectually invested.

This collection shows yet again that Boyle is a brilliant stylist who moves nimbly over a broad swath of American terrain. If his jazzy riffs haven't yet achieved that higher synthesis, that reordering of our perceptions, which we ask of our greatest fiction writers, it's clear that he has the talent to get there.

As a fan of TC Boyle's novels and short stories, I was pleased to see that he stayed on course with this, his latest collection of short stories. Mr. Boyle has an uncanny talent for creating original characters and plots in his stories.

I liken each of his stories to a wonderful meal cooked by the hands of a professional chef. The first paragraphs of his stories, much like a carefully selected appetizer, will draw the reader in, allowing them to sample the foibles or eccentricities of the main characters and give them a tantalizing taste of the filling and ultimately satisfying course to come. Boyle picks his words carefully and -- like spices -- uses them to enhance but not overwhelm. The ending of the story comes quickly, like any good dessert should, finishing off the arc with a succulent twist or a thoroughly satisfying conclusion that will inevitably bring out a smile.

Boyle's stories are properly paced, much like a good meal is portioned to satisfy without stuffing. Each one can be read during a lunch break or before bed, and they are never drawn out or boring. Each story will satisfy the reader while tempting him or her to come back for more.

If you enjoy reading, then this book belongs on your shelf along with Boyle's other great works.

Boyle has a fondness for male characters, often young, who drink a lot and make bad mistakes in judgment through a callousness which reflects lack of maturity more than a lack of virtue. But Boyle can surprise you, with stories which don't fit the mold at all.

I particularly liked the account of a journey from Boston to New York in 1702 by a middle aged widow who is not particularly brave or resourceful.

Boyle also is quite capable of prose like "it was a dark and stormy night", and metaphors that don't really help, but he does this kind of thing almost tongue in cheek, or maybe I am imagining that. He also sent me to the dictionary a number of times, with words that turned out to be entirely appropriate.

The sheer contrast of these stories made the collection creative and artistic. Most stories entailed animal behaviour vs. reasoning; pain/joy, love/hate, and reality/escapism. I was impressed by the mixture of dark humour, intricate details, and emotional turmoil that lies in these pages: the title fits perfectly, and one cannot help but consider that some of the stories are semi-autobiographical. Ideas for the stories are bizarre, brilliant, refreshing and sometimes finish with unexpected twists of fate. Despite each character's repeated dance with diverse forms of substance abuse, one feels empathy for him as he struggles for his identity even if he's as desperate and pathetic as they get. It was a film-noir of story-telling, and a most enjoyable read.

I can't believe it took me so long to discover Boyle. His prose is entertaining, even if by some chance the story doesn't grab you. There's a lot of variety here. And there's not a dud among them.

"The Swift Passage of Animals" brings the mechanism of evolution into vivid focus for a man trying to impress his weekend date;

"Jubilation" is black humor at a planned community in FL;

"Chicxulub" intersperses facts about meteors hitting the earth with the story of a couple's ordeal upon hearing their daughter has been hit by a car;

"Blinded by the Light" is set in Argentina where ranchers are confronted by the dire predictions of an ozone layer scientist.

Compared to some of his earlier collections, this one is smooth and mature, but he hasn't lost the edge and talent for making the bizarre plausible.

I have read half of the stories in the Tooth and Claw short story collection, and I have had my usual share of laughs and more.

Many of the stories deal with people involved with substance abuse issues. The consequences, conflicts, and comraderie that result when people indulge and abuse substances are cleverly played out in fictional scenarios.

TC Boyle's work is never cliche', never boring, and always flawless.

What I enjoy the most is how the lives of quirky misfits make me laugh. I am not talking about making fun of these characters. I am talking about the way Boyle weaves the lives of those on the fringe of society into amusing vignettes of life.

T.C. Boyle is a master of short fiction, and his novels can

also be outstanding ("Drop City" is probably the book to

read, even if you never open anything else by him). I've read a number

of his collections of short stories, and this one was pretty typical.

None of the stories are terribly fanciful - most of them could

really have happened, and many probably did. However, Boyle

has a terrific sense of pace, and the stories do draw you in.

Unfortunately, some of them seem to be building up toward an

end which is not all too satisfying. In any case, this is an enjoyable

collection, and certainly fun to read.

Boyle's extraordinary precision with language, dark humor and believable characters are always a savory treat. This collection features the usual drunks, barflies, hipsters and mid-lifers I love in Boyle's fiction and each story has a unique voice and tone. Very enjoyable read, highly recommended.

T.C. Boyle is so prolific it's insane.

This is both a blessing and a bane.

Boyle works on his craft constantly, so he can put out a quality story in no time; but this is a problem, because I don't feel like he takes the time to fully form his characters. Often different characters in different stories seem like the same person: they all speak in SAT words, they always seem to go to movies alone, they often speak with irreverent interjections while thinking to themselves. These drawbacks, especially in the stories with weak plot, produce a variable overall output, which is indeed also seen in this particular collection. TOOTH AND CLAW has some gems, but also some losers. Four of the fourteen stories I couldn't even make it through.

Another four I rated 7/10 or above -- they all had engaging plots, well-formed characters, and ringing metaphor. The best story of the collection was "Chcxulub," a tale of a teenage girl's night out and her parents' worry over her safety, with the parallel telling of the history of tragic meteor impacts on the earth. Another masterpiece is the title story, "Tooth and Claw." A young man's quest for a girlfriend is symbolized by his win of an exotic wild cat in a bar bet. When he loses one he loses the other. This is classic Boyle. (Yet, this young man, despite his participation in such a symbolic and well-told tale, goes to the movies alone. Couldn't he just do something different? Doesn't Boyle remember he used that personality trait in a different story? I guess not.)

Overall, a nice addition to one's library.