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Father Brother Keeper
"Heartfelt, lyrical, and moving, these stories make you feel the texture of your life alter while you're immersed in them. This remarkable book announces the arrival of a brilliant young writer."—Robert Boswell Stories set in rural Georgia investigate small moments that illuminate life-altering a man slipping into dementia is abandoned at a diner with his granddaughters; a farmer's son discovers his love of carving wooden birds but buries his creations in shame; bait dogs are left to die, chained in the woods, when they grow too old to fight.
198 pages, Paperback
First published December 25, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 5, 2015
It's easy to see why this collection received the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.
I have been waiting anxiously for this book ever since I fell in love with Nathan Poole's writing when he won the Narrative prize for "Stretch Out Your Hand." (That short story is contained in this collection).
As a reader - I strongly identify with the main characters, and respond with significant empathy to the conflicts.
I'm struck by the way ordinary people in ordinary situations are portrayed in such extraordinary ways. These stories move me, and in several cases, bring me to tears.
I appreciate the southern gothic feel of the work.
Fine language, stories that matter, about people who I will remember.
Very skilled writing.
I could find nothing to complain about - therefore, five stars.
LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Thank you Nathan!
I have been waiting anxiously for this book ever since I fell in love with Nathan Poole's writing when he won the Narrative prize for "Stretch Out Your Hand." (That short story is contained in this collection).
As a reader - I strongly identify with the main characters, and respond with significant empathy to the conflicts.
I'm struck by the way ordinary people in ordinary situations are portrayed in such extraordinary ways. These stories move me, and in several cases, bring me to tears.
I appreciate the southern gothic feel of the work.
Fine language, stories that matter, about people who I will remember.
Very skilled writing.
I could find nothing to complain about - therefore, five stars.
LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Thank you Nathan!
July 6, 2021
This is a fantastic collection of short stories! One of those fine collections you never hear about until you just happen upon it. Do yourself a favor & find this book, you will not be disappointed.
Nathan Poole has several homeruns here. I really thoroughly enjoyed these stories.
The collection includes 12 stories, all worth your time. None of the stories are exceedingly long, a mistake many authors make in story collections.
My favorites included:
Year of the Champion Trees
The Firelighter
A Map of the Watershed
Stretch Out Your Hand
This is the kind of writing that literally "transports" you to the story. Thank you Nathan Poole, looking forward to whats next.
Highly, highly recommended collection!
Seek out good books & enjoy!
BJ
Nathan Poole has several homeruns here. I really thoroughly enjoyed these stories.
The collection includes 12 stories, all worth your time. None of the stories are exceedingly long, a mistake many authors make in story collections.
My favorites included:
Year of the Champion Trees
The Firelighter
A Map of the Watershed
Stretch Out Your Hand
This is the kind of writing that literally "transports" you to the story. Thank you Nathan Poole, looking forward to whats next.
Highly, highly recommended collection!
Seek out good books & enjoy!
BJ
December 18, 2021
Nathan Poole has such a captivating style of writing. This was my first time reading his work and wow. I was taken. Lyrical but not overly so. It feels very grounded but never overbearingly heavy. It sits in a very comfortable place, being both easy to read and moving all the same.
My favourite story was A Map of the Watershed (coincidentally the first in the collection). Fallow Dog, Year of the Champion Trees, and The Strength of Fields all tied for my second favourite. I'm so glad I picked this book up, it definitely now holds a special place on my shelf
My favourite story was A Map of the Watershed (coincidentally the first in the collection). Fallow Dog, Year of the Champion Trees, and The Strength of Fields all tied for my second favourite. I'm so glad I picked this book up, it definitely now holds a special place on my shelf
May 13, 2015
Nathan has written a deeply spiritual, moving collection of stories rooted in the American pastoral soul. If it was a wine I'd say: earthy, rich, with a touch of Faulkner, hints of Flannery, and a resonating finish full of compassion.
Full disclosure, I'm lucky enough to call him my friend.
http://fictionwritersreview.com/inter...
Full disclosure, I'm lucky enough to call him my friend.
http://fictionwritersreview.com/inter...
October 2, 2015
Poole just might be one of my new favorite short story writers. These stories are emotionally intelligent, boldly imagined and lyrically composed. Any fan of deep Southern lit and the struggle of the human condition will find refuge here. I want more.
February 22, 2018
Heartbreaking and renewing, Poole writes with deep appreciation for the land around him and the heart of each of the characters he creates. My copy of this collection of short stories is well-worn and I would recommend it to anyone willing to feel things.
February 21, 2018
Excellent writing with a deep sense of place and a thoughtful, well-paced narrative voice. The story “The Year if The Champion Trees” is one if the best pieces of short fiction I have ever read and by far the strongest of the collection.
February 3, 2022
Puts me in mind of Alice Munro, and also Richard Powers at his best. Loved it.
February 19, 2023
Very sad. Very beautiful. An amazing showcase of talent for storytelling and a keen understanding of the human condition. An incredible collection from start to finish. I will not wait long to reread this gem.
May 2, 2015
Nathan Poole’s Father Brother Keeper is a collection of symbol-rich, superbly crafted short stories set in the harsh landscape of the southern United States—driven, significantly, by the imagery of place. His characters suffer, and their personal hardships—sickness, suicide, dementia, violence, poverty—affect their family relationships.
Like the mounds, fields, and tributaries that surround them, Poole’s characters have mysterious inner lives that other people do not necessarily see or understand. This unknowability is perplexing, and even disturbing—yet for some characters occasions of bewilderment become opportunities for tenderness. In one story, a father is angered by the strange behaviors of his son, which include running naked through the woods. He recognizes in the boy “another side . . . a hemisphere waxed always away from him, an unlit landscape he couldn’t map or reckon with.” After he discovers one of his child’s odd gifts, he finds a way to share his care amidst his bafflement.
These are also stories of revelation. A brother watches the “incandescent movement” of his sister’s dangerous fever and admits, with anxiety and wonder, that “sickness can show you things, things you have acknowledged time and again and yet, in a more mysterious way.” The presence of God is often associated with imagery of physical light. In Poole’s rhythmic, calmly measured prose, even this oft-explored connection is freshly thrilling.
The tranquil intensity of these stories deserves to be savored. This is not a book to mull over in a classroom setting only—it should also be enjoyed on a peaceful stretch of grass or forest, or read aloud to listeners who long to be swept up by an evocatively poetic work.
(Review originally published in The Banner: https://adelegallogly.wordpress.com/2... )
Like the mounds, fields, and tributaries that surround them, Poole’s characters have mysterious inner lives that other people do not necessarily see or understand. This unknowability is perplexing, and even disturbing—yet for some characters occasions of bewilderment become opportunities for tenderness. In one story, a father is angered by the strange behaviors of his son, which include running naked through the woods. He recognizes in the boy “another side . . . a hemisphere waxed always away from him, an unlit landscape he couldn’t map or reckon with.” After he discovers one of his child’s odd gifts, he finds a way to share his care amidst his bafflement.
These are also stories of revelation. A brother watches the “incandescent movement” of his sister’s dangerous fever and admits, with anxiety and wonder, that “sickness can show you things, things you have acknowledged time and again and yet, in a more mysterious way.” The presence of God is often associated with imagery of physical light. In Poole’s rhythmic, calmly measured prose, even this oft-explored connection is freshly thrilling.
The tranquil intensity of these stories deserves to be savored. This is not a book to mull over in a classroom setting only—it should also be enjoyed on a peaceful stretch of grass or forest, or read aloud to listeners who long to be swept up by an evocatively poetic work.
(Review originally published in The Banner: https://adelegallogly.wordpress.com/2... )
March 21, 2015
A series of stories, human, sympathetic, and understanding, from the American South.
Set in rural Georgia, Nathan Poole’s first collection of stories (Father Brother Keeper) explores the lives of abandoned sons coming to terms with their relationship to their mentally-ill father, of spent and abused bait dogs found by a farmer on his property, and of a man attempting to comprehend the disappearance of his brother among the woods of Champion Trees. In the story “A Map of the Watershed” a grandfather suffering from the onset of dementia is suddenly left with his daughter’s young twin girls. In the course of the story, the grandfather Jim finds his role as a new caregiver as he balances his long disaffected relationship with his daughter Callie. In “Stretch Out Your Hand” a young girl named Ruth and her neighbor Sam come down with a fatal case of milk fever. While the Ruth survives, Sam does not. Each family deals with grief in their own ways, close in proximity, but separated over the survival of one daughter and the loss of another. In “Silas” a son pf farmers discovers a gift for carving wooden birds. Within the exquisitely crafted stories of Father Brother Keeper, Poole’s treatment of his characters, their decisions, and the Georgian pastoral landscape reads with a profound emotional poignancy and intentional care.
From Poole’s stories, readers can expect an affecting wisdom and cutting insight into the most innately human experiences.
Set in rural Georgia, Nathan Poole’s first collection of stories (Father Brother Keeper) explores the lives of abandoned sons coming to terms with their relationship to their mentally-ill father, of spent and abused bait dogs found by a farmer on his property, and of a man attempting to comprehend the disappearance of his brother among the woods of Champion Trees. In the story “A Map of the Watershed” a grandfather suffering from the onset of dementia is suddenly left with his daughter’s young twin girls. In the course of the story, the grandfather Jim finds his role as a new caregiver as he balances his long disaffected relationship with his daughter Callie. In “Stretch Out Your Hand” a young girl named Ruth and her neighbor Sam come down with a fatal case of milk fever. While the Ruth survives, Sam does not. Each family deals with grief in their own ways, close in proximity, but separated over the survival of one daughter and the loss of another. In “Silas” a son pf farmers discovers a gift for carving wooden birds. Within the exquisitely crafted stories of Father Brother Keeper, Poole’s treatment of his characters, their decisions, and the Georgian pastoral landscape reads with a profound emotional poignancy and intentional care.
From Poole’s stories, readers can expect an affecting wisdom and cutting insight into the most innately human experiences.
August 14, 2022
This set of landscape-wallowing and exceptionally rich and dark short stories is masterfully and subtly brilliant. The way Poole manipulates chronology and sparkling iconic moments makes the trivialities of life seemed lush. Hope, Fear, Disappointment, Lust, and Resolve are all placed in the confines of a rural and historical bandage that bleeds through in familiar and haunting ways.
July 13, 2015
I fell immediately in love with this collection. Poole's writing is mesmerizing, beautiful, detailed, and one of its strength is its ability to point toward the metaphysical in the ordinary. There is a sadness in these stories, but a deep well of hope and goodness, despite the tragedy and depression. I look forward to reading everything else by Nathan Poole.
July 1, 2015
There's some good stuff in here. Clean lines, a sense of grittiness, and a down to earth tone that sneaks in a bit just out of reach now and again. It's got some good hammer blows in the lines and moves the reader nicely. Some good stories.
July 31, 2015
Review TK.
August 23, 2015
Outstanding. Beautifully crafted stories that unfold in line after line that I find myself compelled to read again and again.
August 4, 2015
See my review at www.shortstoryinsights.com.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews