The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards: Stories - Hardcover

Boswell, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1555975240 ISBN 13: 9781555975241

Publisher: Graywolf Pr, 2009

Synopsis

An enthralling and wise new collection from the author of Century's Son and one of America's most respected writers

I was twenty-nine years old and wanted to change before I hit thirty. Clete and I developed a plan for me . . . a plan that would work all that summer and beyond. Even after I left the mountain, it stuck.

Robert Boswell's extraordinary range is on full display in this crackling new collection. Set mainly in small, gritty American cities no farther east than Chicago and as far west as El Paso, each of these stories is a world unto itself.

Two marriages end, one by death, the other by divorce, and the two wives, lifelong friends, become strangers to each other. A young man's obsession with visiting a fortune-teller leaves him nearly homeless. And in the unforgettable title story, a man dubbed Keen recounts the summer he spent on a mountain with his best friend, Clete, and a loose band of slackers, living in a borrowed house, abstaining from all drugs (other than mushrooms and beer)--and ultimately asking just what kind of harm we can do to one another.

About this title

Review

“Like Richard Yates, Robert Boswell seems always to wish he had better news for us. In the wide-ranging stories of "The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards", he wishes we weren’t so lost, so conflicted, so stubborn in our misapprehensions. But he’s been watching us too closely, with too clear an eye, too keen an intelligence, and besides, Boswell’s real talent, like Yates’s, is for telling us the truth.” —RICHARD RUSSO
“[Boswell] shows a sensitive and comprehensive understanding of the quirks that can shake a person off course: from fear, passivity and pride to external knocks and dings that are easier to spot, harder to fix.” —"The New York Times Book Review
"“An unnerving, fascinating collection.” —"O, The Oprah Magazine"

"Like Richard Yates, Robert Boswell seems always to wish he had better news for us. In the wide-ranging stories of "The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards", he wishes we weren't so lost, so conflicted, so stubborn in our misapprehensions. But he's been watching us too closely, with too clear an eye, too keen an intelligence, and besides, Boswell's real talent, like Yates's, is for telling us the truth." --RICHARD RUSSO

"[Boswell] shows a sensitive and comprehensive understanding of the quirks that can shake a person off course: from fear, passivity and pride to external knocks and dings that are easier to spot, harder to fix." --"The New York Times Book Review

""An unnerving, fascinating collection." --"O, The Oprah Magazine"

Like Richard Yates, Robert Boswell seems always to wish he had better news for us. In the wide-ranging stories of "The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards," he wishes we weren't so lost, so conflicted, so stubborn in our misapprehensions. But he's been watching us too closely, with too clear an eye, too keen an intelligence, and besides, Boswell's real talent, like Yates's, is for telling us the truth. "RICHARD RUSSO"

[Boswell] shows a sensitive and comprehensive understanding of the quirks that can shake a person off course: from fear, passivity and pride to external knocks and dings that are easier to spot, harder to fix. "The New York Times Book Review"

An unnerving, fascinating collection. "O, The Oprah Magazine""

"Like Richard Yates, Robert Boswell seems always to wish he had better news for us. In the wide-ranging stories of The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, he wishes we weren't so lost, so conflicted, so stubborn in our misapprehensions. But he's been watching us too closely, with too clear an eye, too keen an intelligence, and besides, Boswell's real talent, like Yates's, is for telling us the truth." --RICHARD RUSSO

"[Boswell] shows a sensitive and comprehensive understanding of the quirks that can shake a person off course: from fear, passivity and pride to external knocks and dings that are easier to spot, harder to fix." --The New York Times Book Review

"An unnerving, fascinating collection." --O, The Oprah Magazine

About the Author

Robert Boswell is the author of five novels, two short-story collections, and a collection of essays.He teaches creative writing at New Mexico State University, the University of Houston, and in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program.

About this edition

• Publisher: Graywolf Pr
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1555975240
• ISBN 13: 9781555975241
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 258