Customer Reviews

Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money (P.S.)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are some of the strangest and bravest stories I have read. They completely broke my heart. There is so much honesty, anger, and compassion here. The characters are very compelling and Curtis brings them to such dangerous places, I could not stop reading--in that way, the book felt more like a novel than stories. And the writing is fantastic--funny, surprising, sad.

Clearly a writer of exceptional talent.

I first encountered Rebecca Curtis through her stories in New Yorker, "The Alpine Slide" and "Twenty Grand," coincidentally two of the strongest pieces in this collection. Other standout stories include "Summer, with Twins" and "Hungry Self". I have no doubt that Curtis will go on to write excellent collections and novels---which I'll eagerly seek---but at times this collection exhibits all the symptoms of a writer's first published book; at times, it vacillates clumsily between hard-nosed and acerbic realism (Curtis's best mode, when she flaunts her idiosyncratic black humor) and exercises in surrealism and allegory (her duds). At other times, she borrows heavily from George Saunders (see "The Sno-Kone Cart") and Matthew Klam (the speech scene in "The Near-Son" reminded me MK's "Issues I Dealt With in Therapy"). These caveats are to be expected, however, and Twenty Grand remains an auspicious debut with its fair share of knock-out stories.

It's been some time since I've been this excited by a contemporary fiction writer. I found myself reading my favorite parts out loud to my wife, then reading them over myself. Years ago, there used to be an expression about Raymond Carver's fiction--"Carver Country." Curtis's characters are pickled in the same wonderfully bleak atmosphere (wonderful for the reader, that is, who doesn't have to be the one tortured by two blonde twins, or hit on by a coke-sniffing chef, or stalked by a would-be one night stand). Whether it's the heartbreaking ending of "Hungry Self" or the completely unexpected turn that "The Alpine Slide" takes, this is the kind of fiction that keeps you up reading at 1.a.m. I think Curtis is the best short story writer in America today, and hopefully this collection will give her the attention she deserves.

Just get it. You will laugh. Maybe you will cry (if you do that sort of thing). Definitely you will be touched. And you will enjoy reading this fabulous collection. My faves: Wolf At the Door, The Witches, The Sno-Kone Cart. But you can pick your own - so get it and read and escape for a day.

One of my favorite short story writers. I just a read a glowing review in the Village Voice which called Ms. Curtis "one of the most promising short story writers in America today" --- based on what I've seen so far, I can't disagree.

Two of the stand-out stories in the collection the "Alpine Slide" and "Twenty Grand" appeared in The New Yorker (as well as a third that I haven't yet read). I remember reading them the first time and being hugely impressed and am happy to find them included in this new collection! Ms. Curtis really has a strong and clear voice and setting for her stories that bring a sense of immediacy and whimsy to the reader.

Definitely recommend.

A really good movie leaves you with "emotional thought hangover." After you read short stories in Twenty Grand by Rebecca Curtis, you will have "readers emotional thought hangover."
Her stories will have your mind twisted and your stomach empty and your lungs breathless-I am not kidding!
She takes you for the best ride ever. And that after thought will last.

There's something so visceral, so utterly seductive about these stories, that you just can't look away, even when you know that the characters are headed for destruction. This is the only collection I can think of that brings together some realistic and some surreal stories, and the combination really works. Though they might be different in style, the themes they focus on are similar -- the family betrayals, the loneliness, the desire to be a part of a larger world. It's as if they're two sides of the same coin. And sometimes it's the more surreal stories, like "The Wolf at the Door," that feel most real and truly get to the heart of human relationships.

Some of these characters are heartbreaking. The Sno Kone Kart protagonist and the stepfather in The Witches did a number on me.