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Chase Us
In this beautifully imaginative collection, young people attempt to negotiate the often surreal terrain of childhood and adolescence where family, friends, clergy, and teachers often pose a threat instead of providing safe harbor. At the heart of the collection is the relationship between the meek narrator, his best friend alpha-male Clip, and the near-feral Roger but there are also agoraphobic mothers, gorgeous babysitters from New Zealand, paranoid stoned veterans, and deeply sad older sisters.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
198 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2014
6 people are currently reading
467 people want to read
About the author
Sean Ennis
12 books12 followersSean Ennis is the author of CHASE US: Stories (Little A) and his fiction has appeared in Tin House, Crazyhorse, Diagram, Wigleaf and The Adroit Journal. More of his work can be found at seanennis.net
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 28, 2023
A lightheartedly dark collection of tales of growing up in Northeast Philadelphia surrounded by dysfunctional adults and a dysfunctional environment. Our hapless narrator (the cast of characters remains the same) frequently finds himself in dangerous situations, often under the sway of his sinister companion Clip, who, among other things, has him jumping random joggers to blow smoke in their faces and kidnapping a younger kid to live ferally in Pennypack Park with them. My favorite story, however, was actually the final one "This is Tomorrow" about the MC and his wife and son. Set in today's world and facing an uncertain future of climate change and social upheaval, here the undercurrent of surrealism breaks through to the surface as maladjustment now permeates everything.
The experts on TV have been talking for a while about the "new normal." Five-dollar gas and eight-dollar coffee. It feels like a sophisticated way of admitting defeat. How could something be both "new" and "normal"? How could tasteless produce, tornadoes in Philadelphia, tee ball sinkholes, possessed zoo animals, kids holding teeth, and every horrid thing I've mentioned here be normal? There is no comfort in that phrase. Talking fancy about something doesn't explain it.I was introduced to Sean Ennis through the collaborative novel Those Who Scream: A Novel by 30 Writers from Philadelphia publisher Thirty West. I found his chapter one of the better ones.
June 19, 2014
Oh, man. I loved CHASE US! This is a legitimately great and new book of stories, and I don’t mean new in that it’s hot off the presses. I mean that it uses characters and time and identity in ways that I’ve not come across in any collection since Jesus’ Son. This is not to say it’s experimental or too heady or any of that bo-hunk. The individual stories are traditional in their arcs and still, thankfully, aim at the heart over the head.
The cast of characters, however, employ this strange dance where all of the stories involve basically the same group of guys (kids from Philly, starting as preteens and tracking them to dangerous teens all the way to nervous parenthood), anchored by one steady and unnamed narrator. Yet, although the characters’ names remain the same throughout, the characters themselves seem to shape shift. Their back-stories and motivations are not always in line from one story to the next (parents are dead in one story and then alive again a few stories later, for example) and you end up getting the sense that the boys operate more as if part of a wolf-pack than a traditional group of friends. It’s less about individual boys and more about alpha and beta males and the narrator among them; the kid with the big anxious heart.
And these stories, as much as they are an ode to the author’s hometown of Philadelphia, are also an ode to Anxiety. From the funny brand of anxiety that teens can have (What’s a blow job? Does she actually blow on it?) to the scary brand (hassled by neighborhood gangs and drug dealers, being kidnapped or kidnapping someone) to the most earnest brand (staring down at your baby in the crib), these stories are all fueled by anxiety. This propels us from page to page at a quick and intensely satisfying pace (even the longer stories, it seemed to me, flew by) and prepares us for the last two stories of the collection (“The Dependents” and “This is Tomorrow”) which, for all their humor, left me with a damn lump in my throat.
So, the good news: For those of us out there who love story collections, who still believe this is where we find some of the best writing in America, period, then Sean Ennis’s CHASE US is our newest irrefutable evidence. Read this book and say yeah!
The cast of characters, however, employ this strange dance where all of the stories involve basically the same group of guys (kids from Philly, starting as preteens and tracking them to dangerous teens all the way to nervous parenthood), anchored by one steady and unnamed narrator. Yet, although the characters’ names remain the same throughout, the characters themselves seem to shape shift. Their back-stories and motivations are not always in line from one story to the next (parents are dead in one story and then alive again a few stories later, for example) and you end up getting the sense that the boys operate more as if part of a wolf-pack than a traditional group of friends. It’s less about individual boys and more about alpha and beta males and the narrator among them; the kid with the big anxious heart.
And these stories, as much as they are an ode to the author’s hometown of Philadelphia, are also an ode to Anxiety. From the funny brand of anxiety that teens can have (What’s a blow job? Does she actually blow on it?) to the scary brand (hassled by neighborhood gangs and drug dealers, being kidnapped or kidnapping someone) to the most earnest brand (staring down at your baby in the crib), these stories are all fueled by anxiety. This propels us from page to page at a quick and intensely satisfying pace (even the longer stories, it seemed to me, flew by) and prepares us for the last two stories of the collection (“The Dependents” and “This is Tomorrow”) which, for all their humor, left me with a damn lump in my throat.
So, the good news: For those of us out there who love story collections, who still believe this is where we find some of the best writing in America, period, then Sean Ennis’s CHASE US is our newest irrefutable evidence. Read this book and say yeah!
September 7, 2014
Full disclosure: I was supposed to receive Chase Us as part of Goodreads First Reads, but never actually received the book. However, I had already purchased the book when I found out that I won it—and I had already purchased it because Sean is a friend and a stand-up guy—we studied at the University of Mississippi together, where he was a year or two ahead of me.
That being said, Chase Us is an incredible first book that chronicles the growing up of group of boys in Philadelphia, including their youth, families, school, and eventually, into their own adult hood. The stories do not follow a straight line, and Ennis experiments with surreal elements as well as the hyper-real. In one piece, the narrator and his friend Clip move into a park, where they live off of mysteriously gotten money and terrorize the adults. In another story, they witness the death of a friend at the hands of righteous adolescents.
Perhaps Ennis’s most moving and emotionally honest piece is the final story, “This Is Tomorrow” in which the whole gang experiences a tornado, including the wife and son that the narrator has acquired, in the middle of a barbecue. As he tries to save them all, he says, in his narration, “It should be clear by now that I spend a lot of time trying to make everyone else happy. It’s not clear to me what would make me feel that way.” This chord twangs so strongly with the earlier stories—in which the narrator suffers from varying levels of disconnection with the other characters—that it is clear, painfully clear, that we have become lost to one another in ways which are painful and at time seem irreparable.
As with best books, there is both humor and despair. An excellent, excellent first book.
That being said, Chase Us is an incredible first book that chronicles the growing up of group of boys in Philadelphia, including their youth, families, school, and eventually, into their own adult hood. The stories do not follow a straight line, and Ennis experiments with surreal elements as well as the hyper-real. In one piece, the narrator and his friend Clip move into a park, where they live off of mysteriously gotten money and terrorize the adults. In another story, they witness the death of a friend at the hands of righteous adolescents.
Perhaps Ennis’s most moving and emotionally honest piece is the final story, “This Is Tomorrow” in which the whole gang experiences a tornado, including the wife and son that the narrator has acquired, in the middle of a barbecue. As he tries to save them all, he says, in his narration, “It should be clear by now that I spend a lot of time trying to make everyone else happy. It’s not clear to me what would make me feel that way.” This chord twangs so strongly with the earlier stories—in which the narrator suffers from varying levels of disconnection with the other characters—that it is clear, painfully clear, that we have become lost to one another in ways which are painful and at time seem irreparable.
As with best books, there is both humor and despair. An excellent, excellent first book.
August 29, 2017
Okay...I really don't want to come down hard on a book, especially of a young writer with a lot of imagination, but I end up just finding the book "ok".
Here's what I enjoyed. There was a fairly imaginative narrator, a bit interior, and the relationships with his friends develop throughout the book. There are tragedies that occur, written surreally, with a grizzly ragged violence depicted, that can be very stunning.
But I found myself observing, and unable to get caught into the story. Events pass faster than the characters can really dive into the meaning of the events. The characters aren't built out with the level of detail that really got me interested in them.
Glad so many have enjoyed the read, just not my flavor I guess.
Here's what I enjoyed. There was a fairly imaginative narrator, a bit interior, and the relationships with his friends develop throughout the book. There are tragedies that occur, written surreally, with a grizzly ragged violence depicted, that can be very stunning.
But I found myself observing, and unable to get caught into the story. Events pass faster than the characters can really dive into the meaning of the events. The characters aren't built out with the level of detail that really got me interested in them.
Glad so many have enjoyed the read, just not my flavor I guess.
September 24, 2014
Sean Ennis's 'Chase Us' is like a funfair hall of mirrors - each story features characters with the same names living in the same Philadelphia suburb, but in each story the characters or their relationships are slightly skewed, each offering a distorted reflection of what has come before. So in one story the narrator's parents might be dead but then alive again in the next (chronologically later) tale; a character called Roger is first introduced as the older boyfriend of the narrator's sister, then he's the narrator's nemesis, then a friend of the same age, a feral younger boy met in a park, eventually becoming the son of one of the other kids (now grown up) in the book. Two different origins are offered up for a dog called 'King Kong', whilst a girl called Janet briefly becomes Korean, and there is an endless cast of 'Julie's who eventually turn up together as a sisterhood of Julies.
Whether all this is a comment on the way memory and nostalgia function, the general unpredictability of the world, or if the stories each exist in parallel universes is unclear but it is a fascinating - and increasingly exciting - approach to character and storytelling. But this isn't just about games and narrative trickery - these are solid, emotionally honest stories about adolescence and about growing up and taking responsibility. It is an impressive debut and I look forward to seeing what Ennis does next.
Whether all this is a comment on the way memory and nostalgia function, the general unpredictability of the world, or if the stories each exist in parallel universes is unclear but it is a fascinating - and increasingly exciting - approach to character and storytelling. But this isn't just about games and narrative trickery - these are solid, emotionally honest stories about adolescence and about growing up and taking responsibility. It is an impressive debut and I look forward to seeing what Ennis does next.
July 31, 2014
Sean Ennis’ Chase Us is a fabulous story collection by a supremely talented and gifted writer. I’ve been a fan of Sean’s for many years, having admired the stories of his I’ve read in a number of fine publications. Many of them are published here, and not only do they stand the test of time, I’m happy to report they’re actually more impressive on later readings.
The stories in Chase Us are set in the Fox Chase neighborhood of Philadelphia over a span of a decade or two. They follow an unnamed narrator and his buddy, Clip, among other friends and family, through adolescence, late teenage years, adulthood, and finally, parenthood. Ennis’ prose is exquisitely incisive and his stories sublimely insightful, providing the reader with fresh takes on a mundane world.
Reading Chase Us and being drawn instantly to the voice and the interesting shenanigans of its narrator was often reminiscent of reading Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son and riding along with the observations of its raconteur, Fuckhead. This is a truly excellent collection of stories that perfectly understands the prevalence of life’s anxieties and maladies but still offers hope and sees a glint of happiness leading up to the finish line.
The stories in Chase Us are set in the Fox Chase neighborhood of Philadelphia over a span of a decade or two. They follow an unnamed narrator and his buddy, Clip, among other friends and family, through adolescence, late teenage years, adulthood, and finally, parenthood. Ennis’ prose is exquisitely incisive and his stories sublimely insightful, providing the reader with fresh takes on a mundane world.
Reading Chase Us and being drawn instantly to the voice and the interesting shenanigans of its narrator was often reminiscent of reading Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son and riding along with the observations of its raconteur, Fuckhead. This is a truly excellent collection of stories that perfectly understands the prevalence of life’s anxieties and maladies but still offers hope and sees a glint of happiness leading up to the finish line.
October 23, 2014
While all of the stories in Ennis' collection are imaginative and entertaining, it was the 'adulthood' stories in the latter half of the book that stood out best for me. The first handful of stories were about younger men, with a younger narrator, and this younger narrator was often insightful, and the events of the stories, at times, were bizarre and fantastical. I liked them well enough. The stories had common characters throughout the collection, too. His best friend Clip. His sister Lovely. Etc. This created a familiar place for the reader. But there was something more attractive about the stories when the narrator is older--just out of college, or married with children. Perhaps because I'm older myself? Married. With children. Even then Ennis' stories share elements of the fantastical--such as a young girl who hits a man in the face with her baseball bat during a t-ball game and then immediately gets struck by lightning, or when the narrator's sister accuses her husband of being a werewolf--but the narrator in these stories is more wise, dark, and often scathing with his profound insight. I'm hoping to see more of Sean Ennis.
February 26, 2015
I have no qualms about the writing style; Ennis writes in an accessible way, but I really loathed the narrator and the majority of the characters; a bunch of savage boys/men. Most of the stories are gritty, and didn't really leave with anybody to root for. The timeframe of these stories are something else I wasn't too keen on; the jumps are too big, if that makes any sense. Also, I feel as if the collection would've been greatly improved if some points in the story were explored further, such as the narrator's parents and their strange behaviour.
September 3, 2014
I loved this funny, dark box of tricks. Just when you think it's one thing, it spins the wheel and becomes something else. It's a short story cycle, it's a novel, it's a POMO fractured narrative, it's a beautiful interior examination of male friendship, of self and other, of families, it's a coming of age story, it's a sardonic comment on society, it's an elegy for the future.
July 13, 2015
I really didn't mind the writing style- it was plain and simple... Yet somehow i found myself wondering what the heck was going on half of the time. It's not a bad book... I think it just isn't my type of thing. I didn't really feel myself attaching to any characters, or finding any feelings toward them... It was just odd...
September 12, 2014
This book consist of good (but not always whole-some) stories about family, friendship and growing up. They all follow the same person, but some of them contradict things that happened in other stories.
July 16, 2015
I really just didn't "get" these stories at all.
October 4, 2014
Stellar. I picked it up this afternoon and did not put it down until it was finished.
January 3, 2015
Clever, surprising and surprisingly touching short stories.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews