What do you think?
Rate this book
Short People
James Michener Fellowship winner Joshua Furst's widely acclaimed debut collection explores the perils and paradoxes of childhood in ten harrowing, moving, and surprising stories, offering a rare and unsentimental depiction of the lives of American youth.
In "The Age of Exploration," two boys experience the world so differently--Billy through science; Jason with fantastical powers of imagination--that they sense their lives will stray irrevocably away from each other. In "Red Lobster," which won the Nelson Algren Award, a gaggle of children try to please the father who has rounded them up from their various homes to take them to a fateful dinner. And in the collection's climactic story, "Failure to Thrive," a maternity ward nurse takes compassion too far. Emotionally astute, brilliantly written, these stories mark the arrival of a powerful new voice in American literature.
In "The Age of Exploration," two boys experience the world so differently--Billy through science; Jason with fantastical powers of imagination--that they sense their lives will stray irrevocably away from each other. In "Red Lobster," which won the Nelson Algren Award, a gaggle of children try to please the father who has rounded them up from their various homes to take them to a fateful dinner. And in the collection's climactic story, "Failure to Thrive," a maternity ward nurse takes compassion too far. Emotionally astute, brilliantly written, these stories mark the arrival of a powerful new voice in American literature.
225 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
29 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Furst
5 books47 followersJoshua Furst’s critically acclaimed book of stories, Short People, was described by the Miami Herald as “a near magical collection.” The Los Angeles Times called it “Startling . . . a thoughtful if disturbing portrait of what it means to be a child. Or, more to the point, what it means to be human.” And the Times of London said "Any one of these stories is enough to break your heart. . . . Joshua Furst's debut is both enjoyable and important.” His work has been published in The Chicago Tribune, Conjunctions, Five Chapters and The Crab Orchard Review among other places and given citations for notable achievement by The Best American Short Stories and The O’Henry Awards.
Among the awards and grants he has received are a 2001-2002 James Michener-Paul Engle Fellowship from the James Michener Foundation/Copernicus Society of America, a 1997 Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award for his short story “Red Lobster,” and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and ArtOmi/Ledig House. He was a finalist for the 1992 Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a runner up in the 2001 Playboy College Fiction Contest.
From 1993 through 1998, he was an active participant in the New York alternative theatre scene. Among other accomplishments in this field, he helped organize and run Nada Theatre’s 1995 Obie award winning Faust Festival and was one of the producers of the 1998 New York RAT conference which brought experimental theatre artists from across the United States together for a week of performance and symposia. His plays include Whimper, Myn and The Ellipse and Other Shapes. They have been produced by numerous theatres, both in the United States and abroad, including PS122, Adobe Theatre Company, Cucaracha Theatre Company, HERE, The Demarco European Art Foundation, and Annex Theatre in Seattle.
He studied as an undergraduate at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, receiving a BFA in Dramatic Writing in 1993 and did graduate work at The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, from which he received an MFA with Honors in 2001.
Joshua Furst lives in New York City, and teaches fiction and playwriting at The Pratt Institute.
Among the awards and grants he has received are a 2001-2002 James Michener-Paul Engle Fellowship from the James Michener Foundation/Copernicus Society of America, a 1997 Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award for his short story “Red Lobster,” and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and ArtOmi/Ledig House. He was a finalist for the 1992 Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a runner up in the 2001 Playboy College Fiction Contest.
From 1993 through 1998, he was an active participant in the New York alternative theatre scene. Among other accomplishments in this field, he helped organize and run Nada Theatre’s 1995 Obie award winning Faust Festival and was one of the producers of the 1998 New York RAT conference which brought experimental theatre artists from across the United States together for a week of performance and symposia. His plays include Whimper, Myn and The Ellipse and Other Shapes. They have been produced by numerous theatres, both in the United States and abroad, including PS122, Adobe Theatre Company, Cucaracha Theatre Company, HERE, The Demarco European Art Foundation, and Annex Theatre in Seattle.
He studied as an undergraduate at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, receiving a BFA in Dramatic Writing in 1993 and did graduate work at The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, from which he received an MFA with Honors in 2001.
Joshua Furst lives in New York City, and teaches fiction and playwriting at The Pratt Institute.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Read
May 21, 2018I'm going to be totally lame and unoriginal -- I concur with the rest of the reviewers. The story collection as a whole is rather unremarkable, although it was by no means awful. With that one exception, "Red Lobster," which is a fucking perfect dagger in your back. Hints of Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor at their best.
I only got around to reading this because I read (and quite liked) The Sabotage Café when I was in my early 20s. I found a copy of Short People kicking around, which rather surprised me, as this will quite likely be forgotten -- a freshman short-story collection from 15 years ago by a relatively unknown American author. Which is rather sad to me, because he does have skill. The whole experience reminded me more of finding some dusty paperback as a kid at a used bookstore, and buying it because I liked the cover, or at someone's beach house, and reading it because it was the only thing there. The sort of reading we don't do much of now owing to infinite choice.
I only got around to reading this because I read (and quite liked) The Sabotage Café when I was in my early 20s. I found a copy of Short People kicking around, which rather surprised me, as this will quite likely be forgotten -- a freshman short-story collection from 15 years ago by a relatively unknown American author. Which is rather sad to me, because he does have skill. The whole experience reminded me more of finding some dusty paperback as a kid at a used bookstore, and buying it because I liked the cover, or at someone's beach house, and reading it because it was the only thing there. The sort of reading we don't do much of now owing to infinite choice.
November 4, 2020
First off, I didn’t dislike this collection. But after reading each story I was rather unmoved, more like I was almost lulled to sleep. Not really much here will stay with me.
March 14, 2019
Tough but good
These stories are tough. There's no relief. For these children, life is real and life is hard. The stories are good, though. Really good. They often approach, and at times attain, beauty. More shades of Breece Pancake for me, like when reading Carver, daddy of them all for stories that bring you places like these do.
These stories are tough. There's no relief. For these children, life is real and life is hard. The stories are good, though. Really good. They often approach, and at times attain, beauty. More shades of Breece Pancake for me, like when reading Carver, daddy of them all for stories that bring you places like these do.
September 11, 2009
I'm not a huge fan of short story books, but I read this because I had Josh as a professor for two semesters at Eugene Lang and I really enjoyed his novel [Book: Sabotage Cafe]. This one has thread-line going though it that makes for a good read beyond just being great stories. The best way I can describe this book is to say that I'd be wary to recommend it to a lot of folks for fear they'd be pissed off at me after they got all disturbed by the stories, which clearly was the point here. That said their is a lot more then just leaving the reader with an odd sensation going on here, the stories really capture parts of being a kid or teenager that most books miss.
October 22, 2023
Oof. Weirdly pitched somewhere between the spare unsentimentality of Raymond Carver and the headily-grotesque hightened naturalism of Joyce Carol Oates in style. Fortunately this is very much in my wheelhouse, but will definitely be off-putting for some readers. While Furst focuses on the disappointments and depravities of childhood to a degree that the anti-natalism of the final narrator is rendered somewhat sympathetically, it is not without moments of clear-eyed wonder. I have rarely read a writer better get across the sensorium of childhood (albeit within a specifically American culture that isn't my own). Only two stories didn't quite work for me. 'Failure to Thrive' explores the same territory as the latter half of Oates' 'The Rise of Life on Earth' but divorced from a broader socio-political (or even biographical) context that helps to make the protagonist's actions convincing. I found 'The Good Parents' powerfully disturbing in much the same way as a Lars von Trier or Michael Haneke film, but with the same limitations - the points made about the liberal bourgeoise are accurate, but obvious. I wished it had pushed a little further into the experimental territory it teetered on the edge of... though that is just personal bias and the recollection of similar (but weirder) stories by the likes of Robert Coover and Ben Marcus.
For me, 'Red Lobster' was the strongest story here, the sentimentality of the unrealiable narrator strong enough to almost counter-balance the critical inner-voice of the adult reader who judgementally reads between the lines. Furst is really skilled at making his first-person narrators convincing and providing a space of sympathy towards their flaws. This ultimately makes for a deeply human collection of stories, occasionally awkward rhythms, warts and all.
For me, 'Red Lobster' was the strongest story here, the sentimentality of the unrealiable narrator strong enough to almost counter-balance the critical inner-voice of the adult reader who judgementally reads between the lines. Furst is really skilled at making his first-person narrators convincing and providing a space of sympathy towards their flaws. This ultimately makes for a deeply human collection of stories, occasionally awkward rhythms, warts and all.
February 26, 2019
Short stories - some *very* short - about childhood but spectacularly unsentimental and often disturbing.
March 2, 2019
Dissapointed in this highly acclaimed collection of short stories
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2023
Top 1 short story collection
November 14, 2016
Long dates between start and finish for this one. Picked up between other books as some of the stories in here are disturbing. Not for one read through. These are stories about kids to teens and traumatic experiences growing up. They range from sad to frightening but are compelling. The things that got to me were not so much the stories themselves but in between the stories are short blurbs and micro fictions that can be heartbreaking. Furst is a writer who should be better known. I recommend this collection.
January 16, 2008
I do read classy books for literate grown-ups sometimes, you know. Totally rad stuff.
January 5, 2009
Read in order. "Red Lobster" will stick in your craw. Fantastic collection, neatly woven together.
January 27, 2012
For me, the collection was mostly forgettable, but one story, "Red Lobster," continues to stick with me. Horrifying with an anxiety that is completely recognizable.
April 3, 2013
Hmmm... Its a really nice book which discusses the human behaviors in different phases of life in terms of age...
October 26, 2016
A big, fat "meh."
December 16, 2007
some stories i liked alot and others not so much, but isnt it usually this way with stories?
August 20, 2014
If you don't enjoy this collection, you probably don't really enjoy short stories.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews