Synopses & Reviews
A book of brilliant, adventurous stories from the award-winning Doug Dorst.
With the publication of his debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst was widely celebrated as one of the most creative, original literary voices of his generation-an heir to T.C. Boyle and Denis Johnson, a northern California Haruki Murakami. Now, in his second book, The Surf Guru, his full talent is on display, revealing an ability to explore worlds and capture characters that other writers have not yet discovered.
In the title story, an old surfing-champion-turned-surfwear- entrepreneur sits on his ocean-front balcony watching a new generation of surfers come of age on the waves, all but one of whom wear wet suits emblazoned with the Surf Guru's name. An acid-tongued, pioneering botanist who has been exiled from the academy composes a series of scurrilous (and hilarious) biographical sketches of his colleagues and rivals, inadvertently telling his own story. A pair of twenty-first- century drifters course through a series of unusual adventures in their dilapidated car, chased west out of one town and into the next, dreaming of hitting the Pacific.
Dorst's characters have all successfully cultivated a particular expertise, and yet they remain intent on moving toward the horizon, seeking hope in something new. Likewise, each of Dorst's stories is a virtuoso performance balancing humor and insight, achieving a perfect pitch, pulsing with a gritty and punchy, distinctly American realism- and yet always pushing on into the unexpected, taking us some place new.
Review
"[A] varied, inventive collection of stories....In this funny, poignant, risk-taking and mostly splendid collection, Dorst confirms the promise of his acclaimed first novel." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
"Dorst consistently finds the sweet spot between humor and pathos in this well-crafted and compulsively readable collection of 12 short stories." Booklist
Review
"The Surf Guru is one of the best collections I've read in years. Formally innovative, full of humor and terror and compassion in equal measure, and spanning an astonishing range of settings and characters, these stories renewed my faith in the short story as an art form. Dorst's work is utterly unique and visionary." Dan Chaon, author of Among the Missing and Await Your Reply
Review
"The stories in The Surf Guru are unusual not just for the frequent genius of their conceits, but for the tremendous sympathy they demonstrate toward characters who struggle with love, loneliness, and disappointment. Doug Dorst writes with a big, unbridled imagination and a big, commiserating heart, and the results, by turns devastating and hilarious, are always deeply moving." Chris Adrian, author of The Children's Hospital and A Better Angel
Review
"Whereas Doug Dorst's debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, imagined a world populated by ghosts and cops -- its surreal set-up given to realistic plot twists -- The Surf Guru, a collection of short stories, favors black humor and the occasional satire, boundaries of realism pushed to their comical, absurd ends.
Dorst writes about the disappointed and the irresponsible from all walks of life with such authority and nuance, such generous spirit and empathy at describing life's turns of fate. For example, the last story imagines a woman, Jo, who falls in love with Shane, a dog she's caring for while housesitting. After failing a test for a job license, she steals Shane before taking him on a road trip. I'd have found 'Astronauts' hysterical and heartbreaking if I hadn't read the story while housesitting, waiting to hear about a job I'd applied for, as a golden retriever named Buddy rested on my lap. The semi-circular driveway, the gooey tennis balls ... was Dorst tracking me? Had we 'met'?" Karla Starr, The Oregonian (read the entire Oregonian review)
Synopsis
A book of brilliant, adventurous stories from the award-winning Doug Dorst.
With the publication of his debut novel Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst was widely celebrated as one of the most creative, original literary voices of his generation-an heir to T.C. Boyle and Denis Johnson, a northern California Haruki Murakami. Now, in his second book, The Surf Guru, his full talent is on display, revealing an ability to explore worlds and capture characters that other writers have not yet discovered.
In the title story, an old surfing-champion-turned-surfwear-entrepreneur sits on his ocean-front balcony watching a new generation of surfers come of age on the waves, all but one of whom wear wet suits emblazoned with the Surf Guru's name. An acid-tongued, pioneering botanist who has been exiled from the academy composes a series of scurrilous (and hilarious) biographical sketches of his colleagues and rivals, inadvertently telling his own story. A pair of twenty-first-century drifters course through a series of unusual adventures in their dilapidated car, chased west out of one town and into the next, dreaming of hitting the Pacific.
Dorst's characters have all successfully cultivated a particular expertise, and yet they remain intent on moving toward the horizon, seeking hope in something new. Likewise, each of Dorst's stories is a virtuoso performance balancing humor and insight, achieving a perfect pitch, pulsing with a gritty and punchy, distinctly American realism- and yet always pushing on into the unexpected, taking us someplace new.
Synopsis
A book of brilliant, adventurous stories from the award-winning Doug Dorst.
With the publication of his debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst was widely celebrated as one of the most creative, original literary voices of his generation-an heir to T.C. Boyle and Denis Johnson, a northern California Haruki Murakami. Now, in his second book, The Surf Guru, his full talent is on display, revealing an ability to explore worlds and capture characters that other writers have not yet discovered.
In the title story, an old surfing-champion-turned-surfwear- entrepreneur sits on his ocean-front balcony watching a new generation of surfers come of age on the waves, all but one of whom wear wet suits emblazoned with the Surf Guru's name. An acid-tongued, pioneering botanist who has been exiled from the academy composes a series of scurrilous (and hilarious) biographical sketches of his colleagues and rivals, inadvertently telling his own story. A pair of twenty-first- century drifters course through a series of unusual adventures in their dilapidated car, chased west out of one town and into the next, dreaming of hitting the Pacific.
Dorst's characters have all successfully cultivated a particular expertise, and yet they remain intent on moving toward the horizon, seeking hope in something new. Likewise, each of Dorst's stories is a virtuoso performance balancing humor and insight, achieving a perfect pitch, pulsing with a gritty and punchy, distinctly American realism- and yet always pushing on into the unexpected, taking us some place new.
Synopsis
From the author of Alive in Necropolis "a brazen, roiling, confident collection." (Los Angeles Times). This is a book of brilliant, adventurous stories from award-winning author Doug Dorst, widely celebrated as one of the most creative, original literary voices of his generation-an heir to T.C. Boyle and Denis Johnson, or a Northern Californian Haruki Murakami. Here in The Surf Guru, Dorst's full talent is on display.
About the Author
Doug Dorst is the author of Alive in Necropolis, runner-up for the 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award, winner of the Emperor Norton Award, and San Francisco's 2009 One City One Book selection. Winner of a 2008 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dorst is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, Ploughshares, Epoch, and other journals, as well as in the anthology Politically Inspired. He is also a former Jeopardy! champion. A longtime resident of San Francisco, Dorst now lives in Austin, Texas, where he teaches creative writing at St. Edward's University.