Synopses & Reviews
“
We lean closer and closer, eager to catch every last word.” said
The New York Times Book Review. “
Bigger, richer, funnier, and more complex than any description of them can convey,” said the
San Francisco Chronicle. “
Some of the funniest and saddest stories ever to cozy up together,” said the
Los Angeles Times. Welcome to the short stories of Ron Carlson, where strange beach towels turn up in your living room; where the ordinary son of a family of geniuses spins a rollicking tale of happiness and disappointment; where a teenaged magician seduces the prettiest girl in his high school and the world, with devastating consequences. Long regarded as one of our finest living short story writers, Ron Carlson triumphantly returns with
At the Jim Bridger, nine stories that are epic in scope and confessional in tone; stories that enfold the reader in a world of love and mystery, and make us feel better than just about anything written on the page.
Review
“The subtle excellence of these stories makes it easy to lose oneself in them and, more impressively, to recall them later with such clarity and emotion that they seem like ones own memories.” —
The Philadelphia Inquirer“Trying to sum up a Ron Carlson story is like trying to hold sparkling spring water in your bare hands—no matter how you cup your fingers, some of the magical stuff leaks out.... At the Jim Bridger shows us a real master at work.” —The Seattle Times
“The stories in At the Jim Bridger—eleven exquisite tales of men and women...do the work of true art. Ordinary things, which never before seemed wonderful, suddenly, gracefully, are.” —Esquire
“Carlson [has] written an accomplished, open-hearted book, full of good, grown-up humor and fierce intelligence. Writers writer or readers writer, Carlson and the stories of At the Jim Bridger deserve all the attention they can get.” —The Boston Globe
Synopsis
Welcome to the short stories of Ron Carlson, where strange beach towels turn up in the living room; where the ordinary son of a family of geniuses spins a rollicking tale of happiness and disappointment; and where a teenaged magician seduces the prettiest girl in high school with devastating consequences.
Synopsis
Welcome to the short stories of Ron Carlson, where strange beach towels turn up in your suburban living room; where the ordinary son of a family of geniuses spins a rollicking tale of happiness and disappointment; and where a desperate ex-con with a broken heart must hide out in a desert hotel, only to make a startling discovery. Epic in scope and confessional in tone,
At the Jim Bridger enfolds the reader in a world of love and mystery, and makes us feel better than just about anything written on the page.
About the Author
Ron Carlson is the author of five books of fiction, most recently the New York Times Notable and Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year The Hotel Eden. His stories have been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's, Gentleman's Quarterly, Epoch and elsewhere, as well as being regularly anthologized in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES and THE O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES. He lives with his wife and children in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Table of Contents
I.
Towel Season
At the Jim Bridger
The Clicker at Tips
Disclaimer
II.
The Ordinary Son
Evil Eye Allen
At Copper View
Single Woman for Long Walks on the Beach
III.
The Potato Gun
Gary Garrison's Wedding Vows
At the El Sol