"A Father's Story"
In some ways this story sneaks up on you. The man telling the story is in his fifties and he talks about his previous life with his wife and four children, and his life now, after his wife left and took the children. Twelve years after she left, the children are grown although his youngest, a daughter, is only twenty and still visits him once a year and meets her old friends in the area. All of a sudden the story switches to a traumatic event that happened when his daughter visited, and tells about that event and how it has affected his life and hers since then. Religion and morality play a big part in this story. Of course, family relationships also have a role.
I liked the story, although I could not fully relate to it. I love the author's writing, and how he tells the story.
This story is collected in Selected Stories of Andre Dubus, originally published in 1988. There are 23 stories by Andre Dubus II (1936–1999) in this book. Not to be confused with his son, Andre Dubus III, who is also a writer of novels and short stories.
I first learned about this author at Patricia Abbott's blog in these posts on two other stories... "Leslie in California" and "The Winter Father."
I tried to find any book of the author's short stories at last year's book sale but failed. This year, I was lucky and found this book on the last day.
This was my first experience reading anything by that author. I will be reading more stories from this collection.
This sounds pretty autobiographical if you have read his son's memoir, TOWNIE.
ReplyDeletePatti, I checked out Townie, and I can see why you would say that. The memoir sounds interesting.
DeleteYou know a writer has talent if you were drawn into the story even though you haven't had similar experiences, Tracy. And this story does sound compelling in its way. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteMargot, reading this story whetted my appetite for more of his stories, even though I have read them many of them are dark and gritty.
DeleteI'm glad you managed to find this collection. I'm not familiar with him or his son, but this collection sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteKelly, I had not heard of either of these authors until I saw the posts at Patti's blog. From what I can see, the son has written more novels and not so many short stories. Andre Dubus II wrote The House of Sand and Fog, which was adapted to film. Andre Dubus II was very well known for his short stories and some of those were made into films.
DeleteI loved The House of Sand of Fog!
ReplyDeleteMarmee, that is good to hear. I had wondered if I should give that book a try. Based on what I read about it, House of Sand and Fog sounds like a good read but also pretty tense.
DeleteTHE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG was AD III's novel. The only film adaptation of Dubus pere's work I've seen is similarly tense, IN THE BEDROOM, based on 2's "Killings"...a hard life in many ways for both father and son, at least early on for the latter.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Todd, that was a typo. I appreciate you letting me know, I will try to correct the information above.
DeleteI am very interested in the two novellas in this collection, “The Pretty Girl" and "Voices From The Moon". I just discovered that I have this book in eBook format also which is good because the print size and leading in this books sucks.
As Todd noted in his comment, I said earlier that Andre Dubus II wrote The House of Sand and Fog, but it was actually Andre Dubus III.
ReplyDeleteI have read his son Andre Dubus III novel Such Kindness and the son is very talented as well. But Such Kindness is such a sad novel. I think father and son cover a similar territory.
ReplyDeleteKathy, from what I have read about the two authors and their books, it does sound like a lot of what both of them wrote is grim or sad or both. I am sure I will be reading more of this book of the father's stories, and I hope to try out something by the son also.
DeleteInteresting look at this one. I have read the son but not the father. I wonder if the short story is a bit autobiographical? hmm.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I get the impression that it is autobiographical, and when I read summaries of some other stories he wrote, I could see parallels between the father's life and the stories.
DeleteIn the collection I was reading, there was no indication of when the stories were written or published. Maybe some of his earlier stories would not be so autobiographical.