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Seconds of Pleasure
In Seconds of Pleasure, acclaimed award-winning director and playwright Neil LaBute, brings to the page his cutting humor and compelling take on the shadowy terrain of the human heart. Best known for his controversial plays and films, his short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and Playboy. Seductive and provocative, each potent and pithy tale in Seconds of Pleasure finds men and women exploiting -- or at the mercy of -- the hidden fault lines that separate them: In “Time Share,” a woman leaves her family at their vacation home after discovering her husband in a compromising situation; a middle-aged man obsesses over a scab on the calf of a pretty young girl in “Boo-Boo”; and a vain Hollywood actor gets his comeuppance in “Soft Target.” LaBute infuses Seconds of Pleasure with his trademark wit and black humor, and unleashes his imagination in stories that offer unflinching insight into our very human shortcomings and impure urges with shocking candor.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2004
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163 people want to read
About the author
Neil LaBute
83 books120 followersNeil LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 21, 2024
Mediocrity under the guise of failed shock value. No attempts were made to even try disguising the blatant misogyny of the writer, and the desires in many stories of killing/violence towards women because they’re “annoying” or don’t “belong” to the male narrator are absolutely abhorrent. There is a difference between telling an unpleasant story that still conveys interesting or meaningful themes, and a story that just satisfies an author's incel fantasies about hurting women and only seeing them as property or a means to an end. Don’t waste your time, energy, or money reading this.
November 25, 2008
a collection of short stories, or maybe more like narrative vignettes because each one didn't necessarily have a real beginning or end but moreso just painted a literary picture of a very human situation. some were good, some were just ok. one of the main things i both liked and disliked was the narrator's train of thought. it seemed free-flowing and conversational yet the style was repetitive and got old quick.
November 2, 2018
Awkward and impressive as the Neil LaBute play I've seen a few years back.
I am not necessarily a fan of LaBute's writing style, but there are a few stories that made me hold my breath, especially the one with the flight attendant - mistress seeying the wife of his lover on the plane, knowing she will discover their romance and doing nothing to stop the drama to unfold.
I am not necessarily a fan of LaBute's writing style, but there are a few stories that made me hold my breath, especially the one with the flight attendant - mistress seeying the wife of his lover on the plane, knowing she will discover their romance and doing nothing to stop the drama to unfold.
September 1, 2022
Hmm, dit boek deed zich spannender voor dan het was. Elk verhaal heeft zijn eigen 'raadsel'. Een aantal wel leuk om te lezen, anderen erg saai. Dit boek gaat dan ook de minibieb in, aangezien ik het nooit weer zal gaan lezen.
July 5, 2023
This is something I will always have on the go, it's such a comforting read to me. It's a pretty cover in small package, and fits nicely into a bag when I just need to relax with my seconds of pleasure.
Read
February 2, 2017Neil Labute is the absolute master at portraying the thoughts behind the most quotidian situations in such a way as to expose the pettiest, most base elements of human nature.
February 21, 2023
Probably more of a 2.5/5 stars. Short chapters which was nice, but overall just “eh.”
May 5, 2024
Saw this in the bookstore and the book jacket noted LaBute had written and directed the films In the Company of Men, and Your Friends and Neighbors, as well as having directed the adaptation of A.S. Byatt's Possession, all great films. That sold me and it turned out to be one of the better short story collections I have read. I just reread the stories last year, such an easy enjoyable read.
These are stories of sex, some dark and twisted, some embarrassing and revealing, stories of lust, stories of the games men and women play.
These are stories of sex, some dark and twisted, some embarrassing and revealing, stories of lust, stories of the games men and women play.
February 26, 2008
It was really fun to read some short stories by Neil LaBute! He is known for his plays, and two of them are among my favorites. If you like contemporary drama, be sure to check out The Shape of Things and Fat Pig. They're both great.
He writes a lot about the nature of people and society's reaction to people or types of people. He is very interested in people's appearances, which sounds superficial, but LaBute seems to suggest society thinks otherwise.
Just do yourself a favor and pick up something that he wrote. You won't be sorry.
He writes a lot about the nature of people and society's reaction to people or types of people. He is very interested in people's appearances, which sounds superficial, but LaBute seems to suggest society thinks otherwise.
Just do yourself a favor and pick up something that he wrote. You won't be sorry.
May 13, 2008
as a lover of labute's (stage- and screen-)plays, i was disappointed in his fiction. the dialogue falls a little flat without an actor's delivery. the less-engaging stories leave bare the labute trope of introducing important information at the end, to shift the reader's perspective on that which came before.
July 31, 2008
sort of like James Baldwin in Prada reading glasses and a buisness suit.
September 16, 2008
Too much like a screenplay and not really stories. Dialogue was good though.
Want to read
April 6, 2013I've read a few stories out of this book...
October 19, 2010
Boring short stories. After about the 5th short story, I couldn't continue for fear of falling into a coma.
July 13, 2012
A very interesting collection of stories about the various sources of pleasure. Quite a few were surprising in their conclusion.
January 21, 2013
Ughhhhhhhhhh. Just how much more misogynist can Neil LaBute be on the page? A lot. A whole lot.
December 24, 2014
Not as engaging as his plays
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews