Cloudbursts: Collected and New Stories (Hardcover)
From the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade: Set in the seedy corners of Key West, the remote shore towns of the Bahamas, and the unforgiving landscape of Big Sky Country, a “uniformly brilliant” collection (The New York Times Book Review) of familial dysfunction, emotional failure, and American loneliness that celebrates the human ability to persist through life's absurdities
For more than four decades, Thomas McGuane has been heralded as an unrivaled master of the short story. Now the arc of that achievement appears in one definitive volume—forty-five stories, including two new and six previously uncollected pieces. These are stories of people on the fringes of society, whose twisted pasts meddle with their chances for companionship, moving from the hilarious to the tragic and back again.
“A master of the short story... Cloudbursts is clearly the product of a life's worth of thought and feeling and experience; it ought to be savored.” —The New York Times Book Review
For more than four decades, Thomas McGuane has been heralded as an unrivaled master of the short story. Now the arc of that achievement appears in one definitive volume—forty-five stories, including two new and six previously uncollected pieces. These are stories of people on the fringes of society, whose twisted pasts meddle with their chances for companionship, moving from the hilarious to the tragic and back again.
“A master of the short story... Cloudbursts is clearly the product of a life's worth of thought and feeling and experience; it ought to be savored.” —The New York Times Book Review
THOMAS McGUANE lives on a ranch in McLeod, Montana. He is the author of ten novels, including the National Book Award-nominated Ninety-two in the Shade, three works of nonfiction, and four collections of stories. His work has won numerous awards, including the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and has been anthologized in the Best American Stories, Best American Essays, and Best American Sporting Essays.
“Dazzling… Potent… Cleareyed… There’s so much to praise and parse… The stories are uniformly brilliant… Would it be ludicrous to list, say, 20 of them as favorites?... McGuane has emerged a master of the short story… Cloudbursts is clearly the product of a life’s worth of thought and feeling and experience; it ought to be savored. That said, if you find yourself tearing through the book like a flash flood washing out a dirt road, I say go for it. You can always reread later, and you probably will.”
—Justin Taylor, The New York Times Book Review
“Wonderful, essential . . . compelling and often astonishing. The stakes always feel high (characters can die and do die), and there's no such thing as a not-funny McGuane story. The result is a continuous succession of storytelling delights.”
—Gabe Habash, The Los Angeles Times
“[An] outstanding career-capping volume, , , , Brief, stormy, and refreshing, McGuane’s stories erupt like the namesake of this marvelous collection.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review)
“Powerful… Damn funny… McGuane is a master, choosing his words with a lapidary’s precision and setting them in sentences that burn brightly, finishing his stories with epiphanies to treasure…One of our finest living short-story writers.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“A career-spanning collection of short stories from McGuane, who’s observed America's outskirts with equal measures of pathos and humor...Putting all these stories in one place also spotlights the evolution of his prose over time. In his early stories, he could pull off a Cheever-esque domestic drama like “The Millionaire,” about a family secreting away their pregnant teenage daughter at a summer home...The newer stories, by contrast, are at once sturdier and more sensitive...A stellar writer on the outdoors who’s gotten better at describing interior wildernesses over time.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
—Justin Taylor, The New York Times Book Review
“Wonderful, essential . . . compelling and often astonishing. The stakes always feel high (characters can die and do die), and there's no such thing as a not-funny McGuane story. The result is a continuous succession of storytelling delights.”
—Gabe Habash, The Los Angeles Times
“[An] outstanding career-capping volume, , , , Brief, stormy, and refreshing, McGuane’s stories erupt like the namesake of this marvelous collection.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review)
“Powerful… Damn funny… McGuane is a master, choosing his words with a lapidary’s precision and setting them in sentences that burn brightly, finishing his stories with epiphanies to treasure…One of our finest living short-story writers.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“A career-spanning collection of short stories from McGuane, who’s observed America's outskirts with equal measures of pathos and humor...Putting all these stories in one place also spotlights the evolution of his prose over time. In his early stories, he could pull off a Cheever-esque domestic drama like “The Millionaire,” about a family secreting away their pregnant teenage daughter at a summer home...The newer stories, by contrast, are at once sturdier and more sensitive...A stellar writer on the outdoors who’s gotten better at describing interior wildernesses over time.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)