Paper Trails: True Stories of Confusion, Mindless Violence, and Forbidden Desires, a Surprising Number of Which Are Not About Marriage (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: pinwheel cookies, Low Gear, Bad Peter, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this sprawling collection of finely etched prose, noted novelist Dexter (Paris Trout) lays bare the darker workings of the human experience. Assembled mostly from his newspaper columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Sacramento Bee, these short pieces chronicle the often violent, sometimes tender foibles of the denizens of America's lower socioeconomic strata. Senseless crimes are committed, alcohol flows like water and lives are damaged beyond repair. In clipped, world-weary prose, Dexter writes of Joline, a prostitute working the streets of West Sacramento—"The rent is $95 a week, and she still owes the manager fifty. She says that is two dates, maybe three. Joline is twenty-three years old. She says she'll have it in two hours." The stories are imbued with the spirit of the ink-stained old school journalist. While not all the tales are of degradation and mishap—Dexter writes tenderly of his wife and child—the self-inflicted woes of the less fortunate stay with you. "Mummers Day on Two Street: The body is laid out on the corner. The pink dress is pulled up around the neck, which is painted green. The eyes are partly open; but when you look into them all you see is white." With authority and a strange grace, Dexter has crafted a powerful portrait of the underbelly of the American Dream. (Feb.)
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From The Washington Post

Reviewed by Colbert King

If you love the kind of writing that transports you to places you never would imagine visiting, and coming across characters you never would expect to meet, then there are more than 80 reasons to get a copy of Pete Dexter's Paper Trails. Well, the number, to be exact, is 82.

Each is a journalistic gem within Paper Trails, a collection of columns and magazine articles written by Dexter during the 1970s and '80s when he worked for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Sacramento Bee. Some pieces in the collection also appeared in magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Esquire, although there's no way to tell when any of them was originally published. Dexter and his editor, Rob Fleder, agreed that nailing down the publication dates entailed more work than either cared to do. So in the introduction to Paper Trails, Dexter writes that they opted to leave the stories dateless "to avoid compromising the timelessness of these pieces." That's Pete Dexter humor. And he's right. When the stories were published actually is irrelevant since they do pass the test of time.

Many of the situations and behavior described in these stories don't seem, at first, out of the ordinary. They're the kind of everyday occurrences that you barely notice living in a city or checking into a hotel or just staring out your kitchen window. But Dexter, with his eye for detail and gift for recognizing the drama in daily living, changes the way we look at things.

Long after reading Paper Trails, you will remember the mother cat that was found shot, the female peacock's infatuation with the light on a trash compactor, a beautiful Appaloosa that dies and an indestructible 700-pound sow.

Some of the stories, especially those with animal characters, are a hoot. But not all. Take, for instance, the one about the old black dog that got run over by a police car and left screaming with his back broken. The cop wouldn't finish him off, and he wouldn't give Dexter his gun so that he could finish him off. The dog died on his own. Dexter walked into the house looking for a place to throw up.

But Dexter's rage really sears the pages when he writes about the brutal beating of a white guy -- "the closest thing to a lynching that has ever appeared on mass-market television" -- and the acquittal of his black assailant by a Los Angeles jury.

He takes you into the dispiriting world of a woman who worked for a Sacramento title company and let's you hear her tale of rape by a hot-shot "All-American boy" real estate salesman -- and how the crime went unpunished.

You sit with Dexter in the living room with "Louie the Dog Boy" and his mother and realize there is absolutely nothing ordinary or likable about Louie. "Louie the Dog Boy says he is reformed," writes Dexter. "He doesn't have sexual intercourse with dogs anymore. Doesn't choke them or tie them up and beat them with sticks or make them fight each other like he used to, either. Or torture them with broomsticks." Neighbors say he still does. You wish Dexter had not taken you there, but a little glad you came along, and even happier that you don't have to stay.

Not so with the boxing ring, the race track and movie set that you leave knowing a lot more about those places and the people who work at jobs you would never dream of doing.

When Dexter writes about his wife, who is referred to here only as "Mrs. Dexter," you sense a marital relationship that is different from the one he has put into words, and you suspect that Dexter wants you to know that, too. She's the perfect foil in his comic world, but it's obvious that, at least at the time the pieces were written, she was more than that to him.

Dexter abandoned his brand of spellbinding journalism for much greener writing pastures, labor not driven by newspaper deadlines. His novels, including the National Book Award winner Paris Trout, led the Los Angeles Times to describe him as "the Faulkner of our time." I'll leave that kind of judging to others. But for riveting storytelling and insight into people and circumstances that most of us either take for granted or can't see, Paper Trails is what great newspaper writing is all about.

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1 edition (February 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061189359
• ISBN-13: 978-0061189357
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,725 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PETE DEXTER'S UNIQUE STORIES OF LIFE, February 12, 2007

By	RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Four FASCINATING Stars! National Book Award-winning writer Pete Dexter wrote kaleidoscopic newspaper columns and magazine articles on his observations of life, love, marriage, death, and everything in between in preceding decades. These 82 vignettes are unique and engrossing, coming from multiple sources Iike Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Redbook, Inside Sports, Philadelphia Daily News, and the Sacramento Bee, focusing on many locations around the country. Although somewhat dated, this book proves the timeless phrase "The more things change, the more they remain the same": case in point, Dexter's 'O. J. Simpson vs the press' viewpoint is right on the money, as O. J. once again regretably rises to the attention of the world.

In the great tradition of writers like Jimmy Breslin, Mr Dexter writes with a keen eye, sardonic wit, and a gift for detail and opinion in rough-edged, highly-descriptive, and presumptive prose. The stories keep coming, letting the reader sometimes read between the lines and fill in missing details: here's how he describes how he rushed from Florida to Philadelphia in mid-winter to accept a much-needed new job: "I arrived three days later with one pair of boots, no coat, running as close to empty as I've ever been", a whale of a winter image in 21 words. You fill in the rest; unshaven, dirty laundry in the back seat? The book is loaded with these.

The specific stories are varied: a salute to a TV newsman murdered on his knees in a foreign country (no, not that newsman and not that country!), the escapades of two friends nicknamed Low Gear and Minus (no kidding!), a mother cat in a dangerous world, a beer throwing contest (seriously!), police stories, courtroom stories, stereotypical views on race but with an underlying fairness and fondness for all men, a paper bag that should have been left alone, murders that could and should have been avoided, an old boxer one should stay away from, and the Brian Spencer-involved murder case that he peels back like an onion. The stories run from the truly interesting to the mundane, but things are never boring based on the grittiness and uniqueness of Mr Dexter's vignettes of life. It may take a couple of stories to get your bearings, but by then he's pulled you into his world. Definitely Recommended!! Four INCISIVE Stars!

(Note: this review is based on an eBook digital download in secure eReader format.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, fun, sad, poignant ..., March 15, 2007

By	Charlie Stella (Fords, New Joisey) - See all my reviews

Dexter is truly one of America's greatest writers ... this collection is impossible to put down. If the first piece doesn't grab your heart, you don't have one. This is every bit as good as his novels ... and those are masterpieces.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!, August 29, 2009

By	K. Knutsson (Northern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really, really enjoyed this book. Very interesting stories. Only I should have saved it for a long flight in two weeks...