Stories V!

by Scott McClanahan

The final installment of Scott McClanahan's collections of short stories, following STORIES and STORIES II.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, American

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2011

About the author

Scott McClanahan (born June 24, 1978) is an American writer, filmmaker, and martial artist. He lives in Beckley, West Virginia and is the author of eight books. His most recent book, The Sarah Book, was featured in Rolling Stone, Village Voice, and Playboy. NPR called the book "brave, triumphant and beautiful — it reads like a fever dream, and it feels like a miracle." McClanahan is also a co-founder of Holler Presents, a West Virginia-based production and small press company.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story I read by Scott McClanahan transports me to a world of other people. I hear their voices and I feel their stolid glances. I pass by and the words that I hear will resonate forever.

[xTx xTx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't read this book. Scott rips through each page and pokes you in the chest with bully fingers while you read it. He also yells at you. WHILE YOU ARE READING IT. He challenges you in a not nice way. If you like Scott on a personal level, you might be okay with all of his shenanigans. Maybe you are used to them. Maybe he invited you to dinner once and belittled you into finishing the casserole you weren't too fond of because "Sarah worked all day making that fucking casserole!" And so you asked for seconds, even when he smiled, laughed in a sincere way and said, "I was just joking man, really! You don't need to eat more if you don't want to." You still asked for them and you still ate them, because, well, you know... Scott.

So, unless you are cool with all of that shit i just wrote, DON'T READ THIS BOOK. I'm warning you. It's just a vehicle for Scott McClanahan to get his mitts on you, around your neck and squeezing.

Don't. Do. It.

[Sarah Etter · Rating 5 out of 5]

hearing scott mclanahan read a story is probably going to make you cry. and i don't mean that in a bad way. what i mean is, he is probably going to have the story half-memorized and probably going to sing southern hymns and probably going to end by reminding you that you are not dead and then press play on a boom box and dance a very slow waltz with a woman in a way that will definitely make you cry and then you will sit up and write a review about his book while someone is asleep in your bed and you have insomnia because that's the kind of writer scott mclanahan is.

after hearing scott read, i didn't know what to expect from stories v! i had heard a lot about his work but never really sat down with it until now. i read the book in public. people looked at me more when i was reading the book, i think because of the woman on it. that was sort of funny - it felt like scott was playing a prank on me.

scott has a very thick southern accent which is awesome and i heard each one of these stories being narrated in his voice, with the same rhythm i heard him read "jenny sugar" with. in that way, i didn't want the book to stop. because really, it's this man narrating his own life, tugging you through scenes in the south, teaching you how things are and what that means.

while i loved the stories each for different reasons, i maybe loved the small things between the stories even more. "so now a list of things i'm ashamed of" and "a chapter from a book i will start writing in 2012" both made this collection do something different from any collection i've read before - mclanahan doesn't just narrate stories, he narrates the whole collection. and then there's the multimedia - stories that take three-page long pauses, a picture of a child that he urges you to picture holding, etc.

there were a lot of new things happening on the page for me here and woven in among tales about sex tapes, dead baby jokes and stealing motorcycles, there was a man's heart, mclanahan's heart and it was a good heart and one that i hope keeps writing more stories because i want to keep hearing them in his voice.

[M. Sarki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short stories of Scott McClanahan are sometimes wonders to behold. He has within himself a childlike wonder of the world, even though he has lived, it seems, in a much different reality than most of us are faced with. His is a harsh environment with extreme characters roaming around in it. But McClanahan has made the most of it in his relating these stories meant to shed new and different light on what is often considered a frightening existence. While reading each of these stories I felt a wonderfully friendly and glowing smile emanating from the face of Scott McClanahan, and not some evil grin promising mischievous behavior lurking behind his words. Though a book not for everyone, I believe his work is an important exercise purposively structured for the artist to continue to evolve as a writer and person and to make an even greater contribution in the not-so-distant future. I am hesitant to give this book four stars as I think he has much better work ahead for us, but nonetheless "I really liked it" which in goodreads terms is what a four-star read constitutes.

[Kaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t remember how Stories V! wedged its way into my TBR list as I’ve never heard of niche author Scott McClanahan before BUT

1. I like short stories,
2. I was drawn to the cover (paradoxical to the subject matter),
3. and it’s included with Kindle Unlimited.

These autobiographical stories are at once hilarious and gut-wrenching, gripping in their simplicity and loaded with sentiment. I turned the pages greedily but didn’t want it to end. McClanahan takes us back to his fourth grade classroom, on a first date putt putt golfing, and around town looking for Razy (his macho cat). He smashed through the fourth wall and made me feel as if we were in the same room sharing stories.

[Roy Kesey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know very few young writers as strong in their remits as McClanahan is in his. Such quick shifts, such rock-solid voicing. What a pleasure, these stories.

Some favored bits:

"I told her I was the fucking king of putt putt golf and she would fall in love with me once she saw my mad putt putt golfing skills."

"All stories told by a man with a woman in it are always about the men who are telling it. So I won’t leave you with a story. I’ll leave you with a letter—a letter written to ghosts. I am writing to the ghost of my friend Ian Anderson, or maybe I’m writing to my own ghost because all stories about ghosts are always about the ghost who is writing them. So I am writing to the ghost of us."

"There were good things like ice cream cones, and trying to keep houses clean, towns buried beneath other towns, and your mother bringing you to Mary’s house wrapped in a blanket, so you could watch cartoons and dream your cartoon dreams."

[Caleb Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to say this upfront: With Stories V! Scott McClanahan has officially wedged himself into the canon. But which canon. The American Southern oral canon? Yes. The small press indie fiction canon? Yes. The Appalachian hipster canon. That too. McClanahan has always delivered. His first collection, Stories, described the real down-and-out American south beautifully. Stories II, true to its sequential title, continued and strengthened McClanahan’s role as an official voice of the South. Then comes this strangely non-sequentially titled Stories V! to solidify McClanahan as the official voice of the polished (but not too polished), clever (but not too clever) oral story telling southern elite.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get to see Scott McClanahan read IN PERSON really soon. It's gonna be like seeing Nirvana or the Beatles or Willie Nelson, or maybe all of them combined in a great soup! After each of the first couple of stories, I though to myself: I hope he reads that one. And then after the next few: I hope he reads those too. After the next one... you get the picture.
I want to hear him read the whole damn book!
Scott's stories are great and weird and sweet and kinda disturbing and the way he puts them on paper it's like someone just talking to you while you watch the day turn to night. Another fantastic collection of stories of fucked up friends, broken hearts, and petty crime from West Virginia's young literary light.

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really nice collection, though this one feels more like a b-sides to the first two, sort of like McClanahan's farewell to short stories. They mostly seemed to be a bit longer, with subtler arcs, and dealt with broader social themes. I'm pretty sure I've read all of his published books, and there's a really elaborate picture of McClahan's life building up; he's covered his childhood in quite a bit of depth, but I'm really looking forward to The Sarah Book, which sounds like its going to be the first book focused on his life as an adult. For anyone interested in McClahan's work, I'd definitely suggest the Collected Stories or Crapalachia, but this was a really nice, quick reminder of how great he is at writing short stories.

[Roxane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is wonderful and builds on the excellence of its predecessors. Scott does not disappoint with his insightful stories told in a unique, authentic voice. Each story blends humor and wisdom and chronicles the often difficult, awkward process of becoming a good man. I did not want this book to end.

[Max Mcgrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

autistic; good

[Dominika · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, I love everything I’ve read written by McClanahan. Somehow, with every one of his books, he has me bawling my eyes out. And I just want more.

[Sahra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has become my full time job to hunt down all the books on eBay

[Adam Lauver · Rating 5 out of 5]

"or maybe I'm writing to my own ghost because all stories about ghosts are always about the ghost who is writing them."

McClanahan writes words that when you read them for the very first time you feel like they're haunted and that they must have been haunted for a long long time before they were ever written.

and then you feel like you must have been haunted for a long long time too, before the words, without knowing it.

[SJ Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

still beautiful

[Ville Verkkapuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a terrible craving to read everything McClanahan writes, an almost mystic attraction of the dirty, beat-up, white trash world he draws his stories from. This didn't disappoint me – it was simple, deep, stupid, rebellious, harmonic and annoying. True punk literature in my eyes.
I'd love to see all these stories published under one book, as these are so short. That's the only complaint I have.
I love you Scott. I hate you!

[Edu Rodger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashley the feminist

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll never be this beautiful but I'll try.

[Ben]

With Scott the question isn't whether the work is good, it is, always, or even maybe whether he's one of our best short story writers, he is, but making sense of what he does, story after story, as they blend together into one long narrative about a guy named Scott, who we now think we know, and we might, because we know someone named Scott, and we know his stories, the ones he has shared anyway, and it's good, all of it.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the sense of magic I get when I read McClanahan's prose. I don't mean magic as in magical happenings, but something more like a sense of wonder that is often blended with sadness and tenderness. I'm probably just babbling, but it's what I think. In any event, these are some great stories.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get a similar feeling at the end of every Scott McClanahan book. With a big smile, I realize that an entire book has flowed through me before I knew it. Truly great storytelling, this is deceptive in it's simplicity. His writing seems so effortless. I recommend any of his books.

[Hosho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fine, fine offering. Run, don't walk to your nearest local internet...

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh.

[Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

really wonderful short stories that feel human in a way like it's someone you just met telling you a story while you're on a park bench and the sun is warming both of you before you say, "ahhh, I gotta go" and then you never see the person again. all feel that kind of realistic, the arcs and structures hidden behind a casual demeanor which also hides a kind of sadness or a kind of hopefulness or something but it's there, behind what seems like the easiest thing in the world, the hidden difficulties.

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott McClanahan and his (supposedly?) aurobiographical stories are totally unique and never fail to put a smile on my face. It's hard to break down what the stories are about and what my favoruites were because the nature of the book means they mesh together into one story that is essentially about Scott, life and the nature of the world. Give it a try and you'll see what I mean.

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott's a niche author who experiments with the same kind of dry wit and observation that's only comparable to Chuck Palahniuk or Sam Pink. If you're into little nuggets of curiosity in the world of short fiction, you'll totally dig this. Regular readers of fiction may find his stories a bit terse, however, which may be a turn off. An additional gift: Stories V! is available on Kindle Unlimited!

[Stephen Toman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott mcclanahan is the best short story writer in the world. How can someone be so sincere and yet so funny at the same time. Even if you don’t know his voice (though I recommend you hear him speak) you hear it the writing. Great collection.

[Riley Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

as always, poignant. he evokes sadness with every word, even when he claims it's a happy story, it's moving me to tears.

Dead babies, dying fathers, and stolen motorbikes. I'm torn up.


...a closed coffin is haunting me.

[AB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as his first collection of short stories but there are still some real gems in here

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection contains one of the best-told tales of grief and regret I have ever experienced.