Amazon.com: Whiskey Nipple: Doug Frelke: Books

Editorial Reviews

Review
Frelke's characters, like his stories, are skillfully crafted and unforgettable. His voice as storyteller alternately stuns, sooths and shocks. -- Midwest Book Review, December 2005 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
The first collection of stories by Doug Frelke connects human desire with human frailty. Frelke's characters range from a 15 year-old punk rocker to a love-obsessed "ugly little dwarf," but they all have one thing in common. Each of these characters are consumed by a desperate longing. The reader is pulled along through each of these compelling stories. A must read.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whiskey Nipple, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

Although the book is slight--a mere 94 pages--its reach is huge, its seven stories spanning a geographical and emotional depth rarely seen in short fiction today. Half the stories center around Navy life, and we are taken to places that recall an earlier time in American fiction, landscapes as rich and evocative as those of Melville. The comparison doesn't end there. Just as Ahab was haunted by his uncaught wale, Frelke's characters are haunted by the unfinished business of their lives: the used car salesman contemplating a life unlived, the young Naval officer coming to terms with the death of a father he never really knew, the Philipino engineman, willing to bleed freely for a tattoo that will "say it all," the "Navy Legacy" turned tattooist who beat his bunkmate to death for the last life preserver. Frelke, like his ancient tattoo artist, is a "skillful renderer," creating characters that are at once unique--almost fantastic--and struggle with real dilemmas. They elicit our empathy as well as our fascination.

Frelke is also a master at creating setting. From the swampy, unmarked gravel roads of "Blackbeard's Country" to the seedy Australian port of bars and whorehouses to a makeshift medical clinic in a run-down VA hospital, Frelke shows the ability to transport the reader. The sparseness of the prose provides a stark background for the luminous symbols and characters that seem to emerge from the page and straight into our consciousness. I enjoyed this collection immensely.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching, April 28, 2000

By	Kathleen Annore (Greenville, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

In Whiskey Nipple, Doug Frelke's first collection of short stories, he has given voice to the unheard. These are stories about everyman. The person who is trying so hard to get it right but never does. He is reaching for the gold ring on the merry-go-round of life, but it is always just out of reach. You will feel his pain, frustration, desperation and lonliness. Although the collection of stories is short, Whiskey Nipple's characters will haunt you long after you have finished reading.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whiskey Nipple:a different glance into American culture, April 24, 2000

By	Clifford Francis (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

Through the collection of these stories the reader is able to encounter a diverse look at the darker side of human existence in our modern American culture. This culture is one that many of us want to ignore, or find it as a form of amusement on such shows like Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake. The fact is that this dimension of our society exists and the author respectfully details the plights of these individuals through his vivid portrayal of their experiences. These stories offer an insight into our society that we all must be aware of in order gain the full picture of our American culture

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another whiskey please, make it a double..
I've just completed reading Whiskey Nipple, ( I'm familiar with that old practice). It is a delicious easy read. Read more

Published on January 2, 2006 by Sandra A. Marsh

5.0 out of 5 stars Believable characters, stunning stories, well told.....
Stunning cover art by Wolff is the ideal adjunct to Doug Frelke's short stories. His style is haunting and wrenching, his words whittled precisely to reveal humanity's frayed... Read more

Published on December 18, 2005 by Laurel Johnson

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories That Will Draw You In and Keep Pulling You Back
I found these eight stories extraordinary in their ability to stay with me long after I'd put the book down. Read more

Published on November 14, 2005 by R. Morrison

5.0 out of 5 stars Whiskey Nipple brings the emergence of a great new author
As I finished reading Doug Frelke's "Whiskey Nipple" I felt two distinct emotions. First a sadness, the kind that you feel when a great summer vacation comes to an end. Read more

Published on August 20, 2002 by John

5.0 out of 5 stars Being there at the beginning
When I was in college, the Dave Matthews Band was just starting out, playing at private parties, fraternity houses, and small clubs around Virginia. Read more

Published on January 8, 2001 by ARuskell

5.0 out of 5 stars Whiskey Nipple
In the Foreward to this superb collection of stories, Doug Frelke explains that its unusual title refers to a family remedy for soothing teething pain, a bottle with a nipple... Read more

Published on August 26, 2000 by David Flynn

5.0 out of 5 stars Begin Your Acquaintance with Doug Frelke Now
It's likely you've never heard of Doug Frelke, but the time is coming when everybody who reads fiction will know the name. The proof is a single story in this collection. Read more

Published on April 16, 2000 by arthur cochran

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully provocative.....buy this book!
I like the stories that I've read in Doug Frelke's "Whiskey Nipple". They are well written and wonderfully provocative. Read more

Published on April 2, 2000 by Ed Marsh

5.0 out of 5 stars A new name on the literary scene!
This collection of short stories reads like the first shot in the war against the complacency that has settled on American literary fiction. Read more

Published on March 4, 2000 by Joe O'Farrell

5.0 out of 5 stars Young Writer finds successful with first publication
This first work by young Havard graduate Doug Frelke captures the passion and fire that readers grasp for in these days of pop fiction. Read more

Published on February 29, 2000 by Alex. G. Landus

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