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Tobias Wolff

The Night In Question: Stories Paperback – September 30, 1997

by Tobias Wolff (Author)

93 ratings

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One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff's new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist's young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know.

A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

September 30, 1997
Dimensions

5.13 x 0.58 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0679781552
ISBN-13

978-0679781554
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A wonderful collection...these stories seize the imagination."
--The New York Times

"Tobias Wolff's fiction soars...His descriptive prose rings like a struck bell."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"An artistry shot through with colors, subtleties, nuances and fantasy."
--Los Angeles Times

From the Inside Flap

One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff's new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist's young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know.

A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reprint edition (September 30, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679781552
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679781554
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 0.58 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #316,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,764 in Short Stories Anthologies
- #5,318 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #7,064 in Short Stories (Books)

Customer Reviews:
93 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		71%
4 star		19%
3 star		7%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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AnandaK

Excellent collection

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

I'd never read this author before, but I'm so glad I did. I love Raymond Carver's stories, and these are different, but apparently the two men were friends. All the stories were so well-crafted and well-written, I didn't want the book to end. Even a story about soldiers, which I didn't think I'd relate to, was totally engrossing. I recommend this collection to anyone who understands and appreciates good story telling and writing.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Il'ja Rákoš

When Less Is More

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2012

Verified Purchase

A 1996 collection of short stories from the writer that Ernest Hemingway always wanted to become, but never quite got there. Wolff creates a fully realized character in half a page; a universe takes a full page. In about a page-and-a-half, he gets you to fall in, out, around, and through love, and leaves you with a head full of questions and a heart full of ache so efficiently that you'll think non-prescription drugs were involved. Joy. Betrayal. Lust. Envy. Rage. Childhood innocence. Adult disillusionment. Everything that makes us what we are so carefully observed, chronicled, and most important, so true. In the top tier of post-Viet Nam American writers. Author! Author!

I can't list a 'favorite' story. I don't know, literature doesn't work that way for me, but "Bullet in the Brain" certainly deserves mention as the most powerful closing to a collection of stories I've read. A metaphor for Wolff's writing as a whole: so clean, so deep, it goes through you and brings sweet, agonizing release.

For Proust, all it took was a cookie. I must be American; I prefer a bullet. And 5 pages to 700.

For some of us, escaping life is critical to the reading choices we make; for others, just living life colors our preferences. Tobias Wolff is one good reason I'm more or less in the second group. Every word is true, and every word is beautiful. I'd fill this page with stars. ★★★★★

8 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Purchased for a friend

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

I can read some authors' short stories in a bunch, not Mr. Wolff. Each of his leaves a weight that I must go back and
ponder, and perhaps re-read if I have time. I'm hoping my friend has the same encounter with this author.

One person found this helpful

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Michael Meyerhofer

Brilliantly ironic and insightful...

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2003

Verified Purchase

I've only read Tobias Wolff's short stories--both this book and the ones from "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs"--but this collection has continually left me speechless. Story after story focuses on the everyday happenings of mostly "ordinary" people with an attention to detail that reminds me of eastern poets. Yet Wolff blends his take on things with a distinctly "American" flavor--that is, he's an American writer at his best. Stories like "The Chain" and "Bullet in the Brain" are emphatic in their declarations of the human condition. After reading many of them, I couldn't wait to share some particular passage or insight with a loved one--or a stranger, for that matter. In this collection, moreso than "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs", I got the distinct impression of a vibrant, funny, quietly wise writer who--as Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye" might have said--I really wish were a personal friend.

14 people found this helpful

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Cynthia Sally Haggard

"The Chain" is about a chain of events that ends in tragedy.

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2014

Verified Purchase

“The Chain”, a short story by Tobias Wolff in his collection THE NIGHT IN QUESTION, begins with a dog attacking Brian Gold’s daughter Anna. Anna is saved, but Brian is still upset, and thus a chain of events is set in motion that leads to the murder of Marcel Foley by an enraged Victor Barnes, who believes his car has been damaged by the drug-pusher to whom he owes money.

When Victor forces his way into the home where Marcel Foley is staying, he ends up murdering Marcel with the crowbar that was used to damage his car. After Marcel’s death, Victor drops the crowbar, runs downstairs and drives to his grandmother’s house where she comforts him. This is a truly wonderful story, which repays close study. Five Stars.

One person found this helpful

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angie platt

I liked it

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

It says I have to use at least 20 words. I don’t want to. These are just good solid short stories. If you like the stories that Chekhov writes where it’s setting up for a good ending, but then there is no ending, you’ll love it.

2 people found this helpful

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Larry Weissberger

A GREAT WRITER AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME.

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Tobias Wolfe never fails to move the reader. He is to the short story what Rembrandt was to painting. Chiarosuro.

One person found this helpful

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A. Nony Mouse

Short stories from a master of the technique

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

At the urging of my oldest son (the one with degrees in Journalism) I purchased this volume to see what "real" writing is supposed to look like.

Wolff is, of course, a well-known author and holds a First Class Honours degree in English from Hertford College at Oxford and an M.A. from Stanford University. He teaches classes in creative writing and was director of the Creative Writing program at Stanford from 2000-2002.

Myself, I'm more of a classic space opera genre fan so this volume of short stories, while obviously well-written by a master of the technique, didn't contain enough story elements to keep my interest long enough to read more than a few of the selections available. Those that I did read were well crafted and, as my son pointed out, thrashed over so thoroughly that there was very little non-productive debris left over.

4 people found this helpful

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