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The Buffalo Hunter
The Buffalo Hunter chronicles the fixations of a 35-year-old who numbs his fear of women in some very unusual ways...
155 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Peter Straub
264 books4,269 followersPeter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub.
Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents; his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.
Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionally
After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King.
In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime.
In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children; their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards.
Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City).
Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents; his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.
Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionally
After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King.
In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime.
In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children; their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards.
Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City).
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 35 reviews
March 31, 2015
I absolutely love this story. It is not about baby bottles; it's about attachment. It isn't about magically transporting yourself to the world of books; it's about escape. It isn't about a man that lies to friends and family about his personal and professional success; it's about struggling to find one's place in a world that feels banal and vapid.
The protagonist Bob Bunting is out of place in every sense. He does not fit in at work, with his family, or with his attempts at romance. He builds up a veneer of success and class with lies upon lies, only to further alienate himself. His private life is his only refuge, where he regresses to an especially childlike state of drunkenness and escapism.
This escapism takes the form of Bunting becoming part of the book he is reading, and like most of the supernatural elements in Straub's work, it is open to interpretation whether or not something paranormal is actually taking place. It could be simply a manifestation of Bunting's neuroses. The distinction is less important than the meaning behind it: Bunting feels a sense of place, of authenticity, in the story that is lacking in his humdrum, ordinary life.
The narrative eventually unfolds to emphasize Bunting's isolation from the world around him. Issues concerning parental attachment, the dehumanizing nature of a meaningless job, and the individual's ability to find meaning only in a retreat from their environment leave this book open to multiple possible interpretations. In this story I have found something of a contemporary retelling of Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener, but that may be my bias reading too deeply into it.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you are, like me, a bookish office drone that occasionally finds solace in the escape of a good book.
The protagonist Bob Bunting is out of place in every sense. He does not fit in at work, with his family, or with his attempts at romance. He builds up a veneer of success and class with lies upon lies, only to further alienate himself. His private life is his only refuge, where he regresses to an especially childlike state of drunkenness and escapism.
This escapism takes the form of Bunting becoming part of the book he is reading, and like most of the supernatural elements in Straub's work, it is open to interpretation whether or not something paranormal is actually taking place. It could be simply a manifestation of Bunting's neuroses. The distinction is less important than the meaning behind it: Bunting feels a sense of place, of authenticity, in the story that is lacking in his humdrum, ordinary life.
The narrative eventually unfolds to emphasize Bunting's isolation from the world around him. Issues concerning parental attachment, the dehumanizing nature of a meaningless job, and the individual's ability to find meaning only in a retreat from their environment leave this book open to multiple possible interpretations. In this story I have found something of a contemporary retelling of Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener, but that may be my bias reading too deeply into it.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you are, like me, a bookish office drone that occasionally finds solace in the escape of a good book.
April 5, 2013
Bob Bunting ignores his parents. He used to visit his parents in his twenties during the holidays but now that he is in his thirties, he exchanges monthly letters. Once in a great while he will call his parents but they don’t seem to know him when they talk. He is an excellent liar, I mean really, really good!! He invents women and places to talk about to his parents, to make his life seem exciting and full. These fictitious people lives come with him to other event in his life, if it’s convenient for him. To me, just keeping everything straight would be tricky. Bob does have a job and he seems to be able to handle that okay. He has a good friend there who likes to talk about women. Bob talks about his fictitious women to his friend so Bob can go home at night and hang out by himself. Bob’s house is a whole different story. He loves to read and he also likes to drink. Doing these two things at the same time while laying in bed, can get messy so he needs to find something to fix this- baby bottles! Yes, he decides to try loading up his favorite liquids inside baby bottles and reading in bed. Problem solved. He loves his new solution but other problems transpire and he now has a new obsession. You have to read this short story as it is comical and sad at the same time.
June 24, 2012
"The Buffalo Hunter" doesn't leave you with an opportunity to imagine what Bunting would do next. It ends abruptly but satisfactorily in my opinion. Although blurbs about the book talked about his need to avoid women, I thought that was a minor thread in the novel. Bunting needs to get away from everything and he does it by surrounding himself with an object of his infancy--the baby bottle, and his ability to lose himself in reading. Having done that myself to the extent of missing ringing phones and appointments, I understood how he could glean some comfort from his immersion. Stories have always been my escape from reality. Overall this story is a tale of an uninteresting man wrapped tightly in madness and for all intents and purposes should be as boring as oatmeal. I did not find it so. I found it suspenseful, and sympathetic in a twisted sort of way.
August 9, 2012
As always, Straub leads the reader down a winding road with the smooth ease of a masterful storyteller. Bob Bunting is a classic middle aged character: a 35 year old man socially stunted, single, frustrated, adrift, and aimless. So when his fixation with baby bottles first begins, we automatically assume we know where this story is headed. And that's its beauty, because Straub excels at creating complex characters that evoke sympathy, and - like so many of his works - this story very quickly becomes like nothing we're expecting.
January 3, 2013
Just couldn't get into it.
March 15, 2017
Odd little story.
February 27, 2023
A fine example of what the late Peter Straub was capable of. The way he gets under the skin of Bob Bunting - a socially awkward (cowardly?), extremely introverted, book-addicted, father-hating clerk - is astounding. The prose is lyrical, dissecting Bob all the way from his rather brilliant inventiveness (not just in creating fictional girlfriends but a whole life around them) to his neurotic tendency of finding peace and happiness in the bizarre activity of buying baby bottles by the dozen.
There are many literary references too, and to add to the reader's delight, you actually get to live inside a book as well-known as The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler. These books are Bunting's moorings in the sea of tumult that’s normalcy. You just have to read the episode of Bob meeting the girl Marty on a blind date to realize what a womanless, apartment-confined existence does to a man. Despite the outlandishness of Bob's obsession with the baby bottles I found a stark naked realism in Straub's portrayal of how someone who doesn't enjoy other people's company would behave when such company is foisted upon him, no matter if it's an attractive woman. I may have been there too, for a while, which makes it relatable, engendering sympathy for him. So lost in the El Dorado of a bookish existence that the real world turns you clueless. It's sad rather than mad.
There are many literary references too, and to add to the reader's delight, you actually get to live inside a book as well-known as The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler. These books are Bunting's moorings in the sea of tumult that’s normalcy. You just have to read the episode of Bob meeting the girl Marty on a blind date to realize what a womanless, apartment-confined existence does to a man. Despite the outlandishness of Bob's obsession with the baby bottles I found a stark naked realism in Straub's portrayal of how someone who doesn't enjoy other people's company would behave when such company is foisted upon him, no matter if it's an attractive woman. I may have been there too, for a while, which makes it relatable, engendering sympathy for him. So lost in the El Dorado of a bookish existence that the real world turns you clueless. It's sad rather than mad.
January 14, 2022
Straub has seemingly transitioned from straight up horror and mystery to this hard-to-define realm of unseemliness and opacity in his latest works. After so much mastery I guess he is either winding it down, or spiraling out of control. Both, maybe. I have been waiting to read this book for years and years, as it was never digitized that I was aware of, but then I found it on openlibrary.org at long last! Free books! Hell yes. This started off rather mundane, but then swerved ever so modestly, like a car losing traction on an icy road but at such a slow speed it feels like it will never actually hit anything , just drift forever, somewhere. Straub can do fucked up, and after that not-quite-scary skidding, he serves it up. In handfuls. Bottlefuls? Whichever, it ws icky. About halfway through I felt like I was in a room full of people watching a film that had suddenly shifted from mildly unsettling to aggressively fetishishtic and all-too-realistically violent, bordering on snuff film territory. It's not all gory and nasty and unseemly, it just feels that way. Shameful, even, like you did something you want to be sure no one would ever find out about but you are worried somehow lots of people did. Just icky and gross. Your mileage may vary, but I was griped by a weird sense of wrongness and not many authors can do this at all, let alone as capably and subtly as Straub. Well worth the effort to find, and not a tale to easily scrub off my mental slate.
November 9, 2023
This is a very good story about a man with an extreme fear of woman, as well as society more generally, who is do deprived in his need for a motherly affection never given him that he collects and sucks on the plastic nipples of collected baby bottles.
I feel like I would have given this four stars if I had read it fresh and on its own, instead of within the larger and, thus far as I read it, not so great short story collection, Houses without Doors.
I feel like I would have given this four stars if I had read it fresh and on its own, instead of within the larger and, thus far as I read it, not so great short story collection, Houses without Doors.
Read
August 21, 2021weird but not in the way i anticipated. somehow reminds me of those few stories i recall wherein Thurber gets moody & slouches about New York? also made me want to play that song "Everything is everything" by Phoenix. & reminded a little bit of 7-Day Magic by Edward Eager. Peter Straub is so good. oh & somehow reminds me as well of Nathanael West...
September 16, 2021
What an odd little novella. I have really enjoyed all of Mr. Straub's novels... this one was not much like them. It was okay, but not really to my tastes; had it been novel-length, I might have left it unfinished.
I'd encourage you to check it out for yourself, especially if you enjoy offbeat dark stories, but I imagine you'll figure out pretty quickly whether or not it's a story for you.
I'd encourage you to check it out for yourself, especially if you enjoy offbeat dark stories, but I imagine you'll figure out pretty quickly whether or not it's a story for you.
January 23, 2026
Interesting, well executed story. Recollects JG Ballard’s work in its depiction of a character graduating through advancing levels of alienation, psychosis and obsession. Vodka in baby bottles? Anna Karinina? There’s enough clever touches here to make ‘The Buffalo Hunter’ a unique and memorable read
May 14, 2019
Bobby Bunting you poor strange son of gun. You just aren't sure how this ones going to end for him. I just love how well written and weird the story is...can't say I've read one like this. I'll read it again ...and that's the true test of a good story.
November 19, 2017
Once in a while Straub delivers a less than stellar read— like this novella. I never really engaged with the story. Still, not as silly as as Straub's awful novella Mrs. God.
October 15, 2020
a book about a loner who likes to drink vodka out of a baby bottle.. no thanks.. did not finish..
April 28, 2023
Read as part of the collection Houses Without Doors.
Weird stuff.
Weird stuff.
September 19, 2023
Currently baffled. If you understood this more than I did, please explain.
December 13, 2016
Strange story!
July 24, 2024
Straub at his finest. What a magnificent piece!
Re-rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. Heartbreaking, as Straub dissects the life of a depressed and lonely individual in true realist fashion. The choice of dialogue is astounding, and I was reminded of certain experiences in my own personal life through situations in this work.
100/100
Re-rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. Heartbreaking, as Straub dissects the life of a depressed and lonely individual in true realist fashion. The choice of dialogue is astounding, and I was reminded of certain experiences in my own personal life through situations in this work.
100/100
October 19, 2015
This novella is reminiscent of some of the better episodes of the original Twilight Zone, in which an unassuming--at times, even unlikable--individual is exposed to some element of the fantastic in his otherwise predictably dull life. This exposure plays havoc with the character's personal affairs, and reframes everything we know about the character. The character's response to the exposure becomes increasingly extreme, until the character's flaws are sufficiently emphasized to the audience, and the promise of either a change or an otherworldly punishment for the character delivers a cathartic resolution.
In this case, Straub does an excellent job of detailing Bob Bunting's many flaws, his interpersonal failures, and his obsessive behavior. Straub doesn't seem to play these details for empathy, which perhaps is one reason why this story is not novel-length. I'm not sure many readers would want to follow Bunting for much longer than he is presented here.
The fantastic element here is Bunting's ability/gift/curse to enter the reality of a novel, so that he becomes part of its landscape and the world of the novel becomes his world. Some fun is had as Bunting reads Raymond Chadler's "The Lady in the Lake," and he becomes increasingly immersed in the L.A. of Philip Marlowe. (The title of the novella is also the title of a Western novel Bunting reads.)
Straub's exploration of Bunting is the main reason to read this short work. This is more of a character study than a plot-driven story, but it is no less enjoyable because of that. The novella builds to a kind of extended gag involving Bunting's reading of "Anna Karenina," and though the gag is amusing, it is also, upon reflection, a bit of a groaner.
This is pure escapism. Though there are a lot of literary references for the well-read reader, I don't think Straub is striving for any larger significance. The length of the story makes it digestible in one or two sittings.
In this case, Straub does an excellent job of detailing Bob Bunting's many flaws, his interpersonal failures, and his obsessive behavior. Straub doesn't seem to play these details for empathy, which perhaps is one reason why this story is not novel-length. I'm not sure many readers would want to follow Bunting for much longer than he is presented here.
The fantastic element here is Bunting's ability/gift/curse to enter the reality of a novel, so that he becomes part of its landscape and the world of the novel becomes his world. Some fun is had as Bunting reads Raymond Chadler's "The Lady in the Lake," and he becomes increasingly immersed in the L.A. of Philip Marlowe. (The title of the novella is also the title of a Western novel Bunting reads.)
Straub's exploration of Bunting is the main reason to read this short work. This is more of a character study than a plot-driven story, but it is no less enjoyable because of that. The novella builds to a kind of extended gag involving Bunting's reading of "Anna Karenina," and though the gag is amusing, it is also, upon reflection, a bit of a groaner.
This is pure escapism. Though there are a lot of literary references for the well-read reader, I don't think Straub is striving for any larger significance. The length of the story makes it digestible in one or two sittings.
April 9, 2014
I can't lie: I love reading about oddballs and weirdos, and Bobby Bunting, the man-child who inhabits Peter Straub's novella, The Buffalo Hunter, fits the bill perfectly. If you're familiar with Straub's work (and shame on you if you're not), you'll undoubtedly know that The Buffalo Hunter first appeared in Straub's stellar short-fiction collection, Houses without Doors, which is also well worth your time. But this Bobby Bunting is quite a character. Thirty-five and fond of expensive suits, Bunting has a social life that makes him the envy of other men--well, mainly just Frank Herko, his shaggy-maned coworker at DataComCorp in New York. To hear Bobby tell it, he spends his nights and weekends dining at fancy restaurants and taking in fabulous Broadway plays, all arm-in-arm with his gorgeous Swiss girlfriend, Veronica, whom he hopes to marry soon. Now Frank's never met Veronica, nor have Bobby's parents, and there's a very good reason for that: she doesn't exist.
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For the rest of this review, please go here: http://wcplfineprint.blogspot.com/201...
Our Fine Print Blog http://wcplfineprint.blogspot.com provides suggestions from our well-read library staff. The perfect resource for finding your next great read.
November 15, 2015
Peter Straub doesn't publish a whole lot these days, so when I ran across this novella at the library, I was happy to pick it up. I'm always pleasantly reminded of what a lovely writer he is. He seems to put the right words together in the most pleasing way.
That was the case with this story, although I found it disturbing and unsettling. Bobby Bunting is a rather...unusual...person. He gets lost in books, but not just the way many of us get immersed. He imagines that he is actually in the situation and has strange visions. This is no doubt fueled by the copious amounts of vodka he drinks out of baby bottles. Yes, he has an odd obsession with baby bottles. He also has some obvious mental issues.
I read that Straub attended an art opening in which some of the pieces were beds with baby bottles lashed to them, and it was something that lingered with him. Thus was born Bunting.
I found it a sad and disturbing story, and I think it will linger with me the way the baby bottles did with Straub.
That was the case with this story, although I found it disturbing and unsettling. Bobby Bunting is a rather...unusual...person. He gets lost in books, but not just the way many of us get immersed. He imagines that he is actually in the situation and has strange visions. This is no doubt fueled by the copious amounts of vodka he drinks out of baby bottles. Yes, he has an odd obsession with baby bottles. He also has some obvious mental issues.
I read that Straub attended an art opening in which some of the pieces were beds with baby bottles lashed to them, and it was something that lingered with him. Thus was born Bunting.
I found it a sad and disturbing story, and I think it will linger with me the way the baby bottles did with Straub.
August 22, 2021
This made a lot more sense to me after some light googling. It seems Straub was inspired by an art piece made from bottles tied to a bed to write a story about the psyche of a person that would create something like this outside of the context of art. What comes out is a mind bending story that reads like a lucid but disturbing dream. Doesn’t end well in my opinion but it did elicit very strange thoughts and feelings while I was reading it, so I guess you could say it did the job. The information above about his inspiration would have helped me a lot before reading.
April 17, 2015
Amazing. This was what I would call literary horror, and could be read on many different levels. It is about an odd little man and the extraordinary things he experiences. I don't know how to describe it better than that but it is one that I am keeping rather than donating. I think it would actually take several reads to absorb the full impact of the book.
September 10, 2015
I thought it was entertaining. His abrupt change at the end was puzzling, and at the same time formulaic as an author isn't really going anywhere with the story and has to wrap up the story in the last 20 pages.
3 stars is generous I think.
3 stars is generous I think.
December 23, 2012
Slowly we are immersed into a world where nothing matters but the protruding milk bottle nipples until ... the thirst is quenched by implosion ....
February 8, 2013
A little to esoteric for my taste
January 23, 2013
So completely and uniquely weird, a tale of an urban myth of extreme creative loneliness.
September 29, 2013
An odd little piece.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 35 reviews