Synopses & Reviews
"The depth of understanding that this collection of stories displays is profoundly impressive. The characters, whether on the verge of coming apart or coming to life, are treated with humanity and humor under the skillful influence of an expansive talent." -Antonya Nelson, author of Female Trouble
The proprietor of a bowling alley whose artist daughter paints only phalluses. A ninth-grade girl who marries in haste only to be faced with her husband's impotence. A libidinous poet who learns the meaning of harassment. The life and loves of a professional lawn-mower. These are just a few of the distinctive stories that make up Mark Winegardner's remarkable debut short-story collection.
Winegardner, whose rich and epic novel Crooked River Burning gave the much-maligned city of Cleveland a fresh and vibrant aspect, now returns to the Midwest that he knows so intimately and casts a piercingly compassionate eye on its denizens. The result is a kaleidoscopic picture of a people who are arrogant and humble, faithful and disloyal, driven and floundering--a people who are finally, America itself.
"Winegardner manages to find humor and moments of hope amid the chaos." --The Washington Post Book World
"[These] stories might be grand in scope, but it is attention to nuances of settings, plot and character that ultimately makes the difference in Winegardner's fiction." --The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Mark Winegardner is the author of the bestselling Crooked River Burning and the award-winning Veracruz Blues. He is currently at work on the next novel in the Godfather series, to be published by Random House. Mr. Winegardner is Janet Burroway Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida where he makes his home with his wife and three children.
Review
PRAISE FOR THAT'S TRUE OF EVERYBODY
"Manages to find humor and moments of hope amid the chaos."
-The Washington Post Book World
"These stories have a ring of truth, as if Winegardner were not inventing their dramas but dredging them up from someplace deep inside him."-Chicago Tribune
"The stories might be grand in scope, but it is attention to nuances of settings, plot and character that ultimately makes the difference in Winegardner's fiction."-The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Synopsis
The proprietor of a bowling alley whose artist daughter paints only phalluses. A ninth-grade girl who marries in haste only to be faced with her husband's impotence. A libidinous poet who learns the meaning of harassment. The life and loves of a professional lawn-mower. These are just a few of the distinctive stories that make up Mark Winegardner's remarkable debut short-story collection.
Winegardner, whose rich and epic novel Crooked River Burning gave the much-maligned city of Cleveland a fresh and vibrant aspect, now returns to the Midwest that he knows so intimately and casts a piercingly compassionate eye on its denizens. The result is a kaleidoscopic picture of a people who are arrogant and humble, faithful and disloyal, driven and floundering-a people who are finally, America itself.
Synopsis
The stories in
That's True of Everybody are tales of ordinary, mostly blue-collar middle Americans, each of whom is leading a life of often silent, often noisy desperation. Some are without hope. Some are desperately trying to keep afloat with varying degrees of success. The settings, too, are ordinary: a bowling alley, a lawn-mowing business, a drive-in theater. But the themes are startlingly familiar and unmistakably American.
A father and bowling alley owner, Harry Kreevitch, searches for his missing "lane girl" and navigates the uncertain terrain of father-daughter relationships. A fourteen-year-old girl who has a mother with a penchant for leaving, manages her dad's finances and witnesses his awkward affair with their next door neighbor. A tall boy from the west side of town meets a pudgy, moon-faced girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Each story stands alone, and yet the whole has a magic all its own.
The stories in this collection have previously appeared in the following publications:
"Thirty-Year-Old Women Do Not Always Come Home" DoubleTake, Summer 1999
"Ace of Hearts," American Short Fiction, #17 (Spring 1995)
"Song For a Certain Girl," Ploughshares, Fall 2000
"The Visiting Poet," Playboy, April 1993
"The Untenured Lecturer" [published as "That's True of Everybody"], TriQuarterly, Spring 2001
"Janda's Sister," Witness, Fall 1992
"Last Love Song at the Valentine," The Greensboro Review, Fall 1994
"Traveler's Advisory," Third Coast, Spring 2000
"Obvious Questions," Northeast Corridor, Fall 1997
"Rain Itself," Passages North, Spring 1995
"How We Came To Indiana," Story Quarterly, Fall 2000
About the Author
Mark Winegardner is the author of the bestselling Crooked River Burning and the award-winning Veracruz Blues. In addition to his books, has published short stories in Esquire and Playboy, among others. He is a member of the National Advisory Board for Writers, and Share Our Strength's national reading to benefit hunger relief. Mr. Winegardner is currently Janet Burroway Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida where he makes his home with his wife and three children.
Table of Contents
ContentsThirty-Year-Old Women Do Not
Always Come Home
Ace of Hearts
Song for a Certain Girl
Tales of Academic Lunacy: 1991-2001
I. The Visiting Poet
II. The Untenured Lecturer
III. Keegan's Load
Janda's Sister
Last Love Song at the Valentine
Travelers Advisory
Obvious Questions
Rain Itself
How We Came to Indiana
Halftime