Synopses & Reviews
In this collection of stories, Tim Gautreaux chronicles the lives of "ordinary" people who face extraordinary circumstances and decisions: a farmer faced with the prospect of raising his infant granddaughter; a young man who falls in love with a voice on the radio; a train engineer who causes a colossal disaster. In stories filled with heart and humor, event and consequence, the customs and culture of Louisiana come to life in the hands of a writer who blends rare talent with an even more unusual humanity.
Tim Gautreaux was born and raised in south Louisiana. His fiction has appeared in Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Story, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. He has taught creative writing for many years at Southern Louisiana University.
In this collection of stories, Tim Gautreaux chronicles the lives of "ordinary" people who face extraordinary circumstances and decisions: a farmer faced with the prospect of raising his infant granddaughter; a young man who falls in love with a voice on the radio; a train engineer who causes a colossal disaster. In tales filled with heart and humor, with events and consequences, both the customs and culture of Louisiana come to life in the hands of a writer who blends rare talent with an even more unusual humanity.
"Astounding . . . Masteries of grace and understatement, reminders of a what is most precious in human life . . . [Written] with an exquisitely expressed tenderness and hopefulness."Polly Paddock, The Charlotte Observer
"As good as stories getany stories, in any time or place . . . Imbued with the rich roux of family, place, race, and religion that is the base of all good southern fiction."Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
"Gautreaux is as good a storyteller as just about anyone writing short fiction in America today."Joel Lovell, The Boston Phoenix
Review
"Astounding . . . Masteries of grace and understatement, reminders of a what is most precious in human life . . . [Written] with an exquisitely expressed tenderness and hopefulness."-
-Polly Paddock, The Charlotte Observer"As good as stories get--any stories, in any time or place . . . Imbued with the rich roux of family, place, race, and religion that is the base of all good southern fiction."--Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune
"Gautreaux is as good a storyteller as just about anyone writing short fiction in America today."--Joel Lovell, The Boston Phoenix
Review
"This man is a wonderful writer. . . . I can honestly say I love to read his stories. He never exaggerates, never manipulates the reader's affections, but nonetheless he always captures the heart."--James Lee Burke
"Moving and memorable . . . The gifted Gautreaux harkens back to the early work of Flannery O'Connor."--Kirkus Reviews "As good as stories get--any stories, in any time or palce . . . Imbued with the cich roux of family, place, race, and religion that is the base of all good Souther fiction."--The Times-Picayune
"Gautreaux is as good a storyteller as just about anyone writing short fiction in America today."--The Boston Phoenix
Synopsis
In this collection of stories, Tim Gautreaux chronicles the lives of "ordinary" people who face extraordinary circumstances and decisions: a farmer faced with the prospect of raising his infant granddaughter; a young man who falls in love with a voice on the radio; a train engineer who causes a colossal disaster. In stories filled with heart and humor, event and consequence, the customs and culture of Louisiana come to life in the hands of a writer who blends rare talent with an even more unusual humanity.
Synopsis
Set largely in rural Louisiana, Tim Gautreaux's masterful debut story collection follows men and women whose ordinary lives reach a point of rupture, a moment when convention gives way to crisis and everything changes: A drunken train engineer charges toward disaster, a father borrows and old airplane to chase down his daughter's kidnapper, a young man falls in love with a voice on the radio. Written with humor, suspense, and a powerful affection for humanity in all its wild forms,
Same Place, Same Things is the first great work by a master of the form.
About the Author
Tim Gautreaux has written three novels and two collections of short stories, one of which, Welding With Children, was selected by The New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year. His fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, GQ, and Zoetrope, and also in volumes of The O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, and New Stories from the South. He is a professor emeritus/writer in residence in the English Department at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Table of Contents
Same Place, Same ThingsWaiting for the Evening NewsDied and Gone to VegasThe Courtship of Merlin LeBlancNavigators of ThoughtPeople on the Empty RoadThe Bug ManLittle Frogs in a DitchLicense to StealFloyd's GirlReturningsDeputy Sid's Gift