Customer Reviews

The William Saroyan Reader

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If you've never been lucky enough to be exposed to the down-to-earth writing of William Saroyan, you are definitely missing out on a treat. Saroyan's short stories, autobiographical writings, and novels are simple realism, stretched to heart rending emotional height. This book is a fine compilation for a new reader of Saroyan, who, like his California colleague, Steinbeck, doesn't get enough attention these days. Also, this collection contains the wonderful novella, "Tracy's Tiger," an incredible allegorical tale of love and struggle in the postmodern world.

This book does a great job of introducing you to the writings of William Saroyan. His novels, plays and short stories capture life in a succinct style I have never seen repeated. My favorite are his short stories, which I never want to stop reading. In a few pages he brings characters, events and places to life.

William Saroyan is a wonderful writer for would-be writers to take a deeper look at. Not because his prose is so wonderful or because his stories are so engaging, but because he states most succinctly what every writer feels. That, though they have plenty of written pages, they feel like they have said nothing at all. And if Saroyan can feel this way and still produce what he has, well, there is hope then.

"Oranges" and "Finlandia" are the stand-out pieces in the collection as far as I'm concerned, though many others have a thought or two that linger. "Oranges" is heartbreaking, a story about a little orphan boy forced to sell oranges on the street corner, a little orphan boy who doesn't know what it is to laugh. And "Finlandia" deals with the idea of time and geography in a very thought provoking and musical manner. Many images and sounds are striking.

I was rather surprised myself that I liked Saroyan's work and ended up keeping the book when I had thought to donate it to a local library.

I first read the stories in this collection from 1956 to 1961. They are as great as ever with "The Adventures of Wesley Jackson" having a whole new meaning and as beautiful,warm and poetic as always. (Why don't they make a TV series out of Wesley Jackson?)

What a great gift idea for Saroyan fans and those who have never had the pleasure of reading one of his stories. The stories were selected by Saroyan himself and there is an introduction by his son Aram. The collection includes some of my alltime favorites such as "The Man With His Heart In The Highlands," and "70,000 Assyrians," and also his Pulitzer Prize winning "The Time of Your Life." (Be sure to read the speech he gave when he turned down the award.)

I bought it to take on a trip and it was a fond companion. Well worth the investment. Enjoy!

William Saroyan was a great American author of short stories, short novels, plays and poetry. As an Armenian-American from Fresno, California, many of his stories touch upon that background; but there is much more in Saroyan. He writes about simple, ordinary everyday people (anti-heroes), caught in the grind of every day life.

His most outstanding works are presented in this anthology including: "Saroyan Prizes", "70,000 Assyrians", "A Cold Day", "The Living and the Dead", "Finlandia" and "A Writer's Declaration". Every one of these works is existential, pondering love, art, war, peace and prosperity. The characters are your real, everyday people taken out of thier mundane circumstances that most of us face daily.

Saroyan's eloquent but essentially simple style makes for easy but reflective reading.

I first read William Saroyan's stories in a German translation some twenty years ago. One was called 'The Summer of the beautiful white horse'. Since that time I have read and kept anything I can get my hands on by this magnificent writer.I just went looking in my files for this book, only to find out it is misplaced , so I am livid as I write this review. Mr. Saroyan should be posthumously awarded the Nobel Prize. He richly deserves it for the way he has lived his life, and remained so true to his calling to be a writer. The high quality and integrity of his work has withstood the passing of time and shines ever more brightly now than before. One of the all-time greats of American Literature and someone who can restore the esteem of American Literature, which has lost some of it's lustre in recent years.

William Saroyan short stories.
Rather than reviewing the book, which hasn't arrived yet, as i am certain it's great, I'd like to tell all the English readers how lucky you are being able to get all this wonderful British and English literature through amazon. As myself, a Mexican living in México find it difficult to get all the good writers translated at once, for example, this Saroyan book. Also, through amazon, i got "the bread of those early years" by Heinrich Böll. I had to read it in english because his books in spanish are now not very easy to find. so ... thanks to amazon.com