Toward the Sun: The Collected Sports Stories of Kent Nelson [Hardcover]

Kent Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

Literary fiction using a variety of sports to plumb the depths of the human experience.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are no last-minute touchdowns or cheering crowds in these 13 exquisitely crafted tales about men, women, and sports; Kent Nelson is far too intelligent and thoughtful a writer for prefab heroics. Instead, his interest lies in sports as obsession, as the crucible that both shapes and deforms his characters' lives. "Projections" is a series of snapshots, capturing a hockey player's career in brief chronological tableaux of violence, anger, and helplessness. In "Alton's Keeper," a Charleston real-estate agent finds that squash breaks down all the barriers of his background and breeding: "I wished for a new world undiscovered, where property was not bought and sold or spoken for, where no houses stood, and power was a word with no meaning." The grief-stricken son of "A False Encounter" traces his father's suicide back to a single defining moment, when he got up from a knockout punch to face certain defeat. And then there is the extraordinary title story, in which a legendary athlete runs his way back into a pure animal state. "Some say to cage an animal destroys its essence.... What kind of animal has it become when it knows it will be fed at intervals, when it is cared for, when it cannot hunt and run free?" his girlfriend wonders, as she tries to urge him toward some form of domesticated life. As his protagonists run, climb, or ski their way into increasingly rarefied states, Nelson lays bare their deepest hopes and fears in spare, moving language that evokes Richard Ford or Jim Harrison. On the basis of these stories alone, Kent Nelson is a name more readers should know. --Mary Park

From Publishers Weekly

These 13 sports stores from the much-anthologized Nelson (Language in the Blood) are lit by a Carver-esque suggestiveness. SportAprimarily winter games like skiing, ice climbing and hockey, with a little golf and tennis thrown inAbecomes a metaphor for struggles of the heart. The agonies of aging and strategies of human relationships are played out by way of the squash court in "The Squash Player" and "Alton's Keeper," two of the collection's best. Each story is meticulously crafted, and the characters, drawn mostly from the Birkenstock and cableknit crowd of Colorado, are all fully realized. What disappoints here, though, is that engrossing as these short narratives often are, none feels quite finished. Rather than concluding, they merely stop in mid-stride, as if the ref forgot to tell the characters to resume play. There is usually no glorious victory, no round defeat. The characters' backstories are well established, and captivating situations emerge. But too often, just as interest builds and a climax looms, one finds oneself at the story's end.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Breakaway Books (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891369059
• ISBN-13: 978-1891369056
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,318,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Stories, December 16, 2005

By 

Leslie O. Olivas (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toward the Sun: The Collected Sports Stories of Kent Nelson (Hardcover)

The theme of stories about sports is only part of these engaging stories, with deep insight into the human condition and appreciative of those living 'outside of the box'.

Follows in the footsteps of the best of the short story writers, forging new and interesting directions.