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The Fate of Others: Stories
A new collection of short stories examining the extraordinary shades of ordinary life, from the prize-winning fiction writer Richard Bausch (“A master of the short story" —The New York Times Book Review)
In ten piercing new stories Richard Bausch fleshes out the rich inner worlds of his characters and plumbs the nuances of infidelity, loss, and profound loneliness. In “Donnaiolo,” a young divorcee moves back into her childhood home, with no plans other than to eat her parents’ food and smoke cigarettes in her room. In “Isolation,” a woman pines for her lover while quarantining from the COVID-19 pandemic with her husband, a situation that deteriorates when she learns her beloved has fallen gravely ill. In “Broken Home,” a Catholic school field trip takes a violent turn when the unsupervised altar boys discover an abandoned house in the woods. And in “The Widow’s Tale,” a recent widow attends a séance after her sister reports having reoccurring dreams about her late husband.
Throughout The Fate of Others, Bausch illuminates the tender, comic, and profound facets of the human condition, affirming once again his status as a modern master of the short story form.
In ten piercing new stories Richard Bausch fleshes out the rich inner worlds of his characters and plumbs the nuances of infidelity, loss, and profound loneliness. In “Donnaiolo,” a young divorcee moves back into her childhood home, with no plans other than to eat her parents’ food and smoke cigarettes in her room. In “Isolation,” a woman pines for her lover while quarantining from the COVID-19 pandemic with her husband, a situation that deteriorates when she learns her beloved has fallen gravely ill. In “Broken Home,” a Catholic school field trip takes a violent turn when the unsupervised altar boys discover an abandoned house in the woods. And in “The Widow’s Tale,” a recent widow attends a séance after her sister reports having reoccurring dreams about her late husband.
Throughout The Fate of Others, Bausch illuminates the tender, comic, and profound facets of the human condition, affirming once again his status as a modern master of the short story form.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published May 20, 2025
25 people are currently reading
3726 people want to read
About the author
Richard Bausch
92 books216 followersAn acknowledged master of the short story form, Richard Bausch's work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper's, The New Yorker, Narrative, Gentleman's Quarterly. Playboy, The Southern Review, New Stories From the South, The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Pushcart Prize Stories; and they have been widely anthologized, including The Granta Book of the American Short Story and The Vintage Book of the Contemporary American Short Story.
Richard Bausch is the author of eleven novels and eight collections of stories, including the novels Rebel Powers, Violence, Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America And All The Ships At Sea, In The Night Season, Hello To The Cannibals, Thanksgiving Night, and Peace; and the story collections Spirits, The Fireman's Wife, Rare & Endangered Species, Someone To Watch Over Me, The Stories of Richard Bausch, Wives & Lovers, and most recently released Something Is Out There. His novel The Last Good Time was made into a feature-length film.
He has won two National Magazine Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lila-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund Writer's Award, the Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The 2004 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and the 2013 John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence . He has been a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers since 1996. In 1999 he signed on as co-editor, with RV Cassill, of The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction; since Cassill's passing in 2002, Bausch is the sole editor of that prestigious anthology. Richard Bausch teaches Creative Writing at Chapman University in Southern California
Richard Bausch is the author of eleven novels and eight collections of stories, including the novels Rebel Powers, Violence, Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America And All The Ships At Sea, In The Night Season, Hello To The Cannibals, Thanksgiving Night, and Peace; and the story collections Spirits, The Fireman's Wife, Rare & Endangered Species, Someone To Watch Over Me, The Stories of Richard Bausch, Wives & Lovers, and most recently released Something Is Out There. His novel The Last Good Time was made into a feature-length film.
He has won two National Magazine Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lila-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund Writer's Award, the Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The 2004 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and the 2013 John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence . He has been a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers since 1996. In 1999 he signed on as co-editor, with RV Cassill, of The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction; since Cassill's passing in 2002, Bausch is the sole editor of that prestigious anthology. Richard Bausch teaches Creative Writing at Chapman University in Southern California
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 17, 2025
A Nuanced Exploration of Human Experience
Richard Bausch’s “The Fate of Others: Stories” is a thought-provoking and masterfully crafted collection of short stories that delve into the complexities of human relationships and the intricacies of the human condition. Through a diverse range of characters and narratives, Bausch explores the subtleties of human emotion, revealing the intricate web of motivations, desires, and flaws that shape our lives.
Key Strengths
-Lyrical Prose: Bausch’s writing is characterized by its lyricism and precision, crafting a narrative voice that is both nuanced and evocative.
-Complex Characters: The characters in these stories are multidimensional and richly drawn, embodying the complexities and contradictions of human nature.
-Thematic Depth: The collection explores a range of themes, from the fragility of human relationships to the search for meaning and connection in a chaotic world.
Potential Considerations
-Emotional Intensity: Some readers may find the emotional intensity of certain stories to be overwhelming or challenging to navigate.
-Ambiguity: Bausch’s stories often resist easy interpretation, leaving readers to ponder the complexities and nuances of the narrative.
Score Breakdown (Out of 5)
-Literary Merit: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) - A masterclass in storytelling, with prose that is both precise and poetic.
-Character Development: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) - The characters in these stories are richly drawn and complex, embodying the subtleties of human nature.
-Thematic Depth: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) - The collection explores a range of themes, from the human condition to the complexities of relationships.
-Emotional Resonance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) - The stories are emotionally resonant, though some readers may find certain narratives to be challenging or intense.
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) - A nuanced and powerful exploration of the human experience, crafted with precision and care.
Overall Score Description: A delicate dance of words that captures the complexity and beauty of human existence.
Ideal Audience
-Readers who appreciate literary fiction and nuanced storytelling.
-Those interested in exploring the complexities of human relationships and the human condition.
-Anyone looking for a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant reading experience.
Gratitude
Thank you to NetGalley and Richard Bausch for providing an advance review copy of “The Fate of Others: Stories”.
Richard Bausch’s “The Fate of Others: Stories” is a thought-provoking and masterfully crafted collection of short stories that delve into the complexities of human relationships and the intricacies of the human condition. Through a diverse range of characters and narratives, Bausch explores the subtleties of human emotion, revealing the intricate web of motivations, desires, and flaws that shape our lives.
Key Strengths
-Lyrical Prose: Bausch’s writing is characterized by its lyricism and precision, crafting a narrative voice that is both nuanced and evocative.
-Complex Characters: The characters in these stories are multidimensional and richly drawn, embodying the complexities and contradictions of human nature.
-Thematic Depth: The collection explores a range of themes, from the fragility of human relationships to the search for meaning and connection in a chaotic world.
Potential Considerations
-Emotional Intensity: Some readers may find the emotional intensity of certain stories to be overwhelming or challenging to navigate.
-Ambiguity: Bausch’s stories often resist easy interpretation, leaving readers to ponder the complexities and nuances of the narrative.
Score Breakdown (Out of 5)
-Literary Merit: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) - A masterclass in storytelling, with prose that is both precise and poetic.
-Character Development: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) - The characters in these stories are richly drawn and complex, embodying the subtleties of human nature.
-Thematic Depth: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) - The collection explores a range of themes, from the human condition to the complexities of relationships.
-Emotional Resonance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) - The stories are emotionally resonant, though some readers may find certain narratives to be challenging or intense.
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) - A nuanced and powerful exploration of the human experience, crafted with precision and care.
Overall Score Description: A delicate dance of words that captures the complexity and beauty of human existence.
Ideal Audience
-Readers who appreciate literary fiction and nuanced storytelling.
-Those interested in exploring the complexities of human relationships and the human condition.
-Anyone looking for a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant reading experience.
Gratitude
Thank you to NetGalley and Richard Bausch for providing an advance review copy of “The Fate of Others: Stories”.
May 11, 2025
Like Hemingway, Richard Bausch is one of the masters of the Short Story form. Most of these stories are of people in ordinary situations with some unspoken and spoken drama entwined in the tale.
July 17, 2025
I absolutely loved these beautiful stories, so real, so sad and funny and quietly profound. “Broken House,” is by far the longest tale in this collection, and at almost one hundred pages feels more like a novella, and was probably my favorite. This story of the friendship of young boys who meet while serving as altar boys is the backdrop for an incredibly moving story, deftly moving from a 1950’s childhood to college and Viet Nam to marriage and aging. The loneliness and secrets of childhood haunt the characters as we follow them through their lives. My other favorites included Donnaiolo, a story of a young woman who has divorced her wealthy and troubled Italian husband and comes to live with her parents for a time. I also loved The Long Consequence, about a middle aged couple dealing with a troubled son.
All of these stories are so brilliant and moving, not just because they are beautifully written, but they are somehow about people we know or could have known, problems and stories that are new and yet familiar, the stuff of life, if you will! - I was so moved by these beautiful stories!
All of these stories are so brilliant and moving, not just because they are beautifully written, but they are somehow about people we know or could have known, problems and stories that are new and yet familiar, the stuff of life, if you will! - I was so moved by these beautiful stories!
May 31, 2025
Eruditw short stories that are somewhat dry.
June 29, 2025
Richard Bausch returns with another stellar collection of short stories that reminded me why I love short story writers like him, Ann Beattie, Lorrie Moore and the late inimitable Raymond Carver so much. I would also add Charles Baxter to the list though I have only read one or two collections from him. There is something distinctive in the unadorned and clean sentences about ordinary lives from these American writers of the short form in the second half of the twentieth century that somehow resonates with me and though I read a lot of other stuff, I always return to them with a sense of coming home.
As the title suggests, the stories in this volume explores how the fate of others are inextricably connected with ours and if nothing else, exemplifies the notion that good literature cultivates empathy in us. More than ever, since the pandemic, how we relate to one another has taken on a new and urgent tone, now that we have been made more profoundly aware of isolation and loss.
Several stories are set in the pandemic where quarantine and social distancing was the norm, such as in the aptly titled “Isolation”, where a wife sheltering in a high-rise apartment in New York has to hide from her husband her infidelity and anxiety for her infected lover. The lover coughing alone in his apartment has a moment of insight when he recalls the lines of a song: “The Bible don’t say nothin’ ‘bout the lonely; it don’t call them blessed.”
In the titular story, a creative writing major takes his visiting professor father-in-law for a night out with his friends because his wife is busy with her exams and it almost ends in tragedy over a silly spur-of-the-moment stunt. The night had brought out many contradictory feelings in the young man and his friends as they both admire the professor’s creative genius and abhor his other less endearing traits but the culminating event had left an indelible mark on him, as he hears his wife’s distressed voice from the phone that his father-in-law was holding:
“He understood without words that even if he managed to keep her, to find some livable existence beyond this artificial school-centred life with its apprehensions and the insanity coming through the phone lines, the wild bad father out in the nights, this night would stay.”
Even when something happens to strangers, it can affect us, as in “Blue”, where a watercolor portraitist Hart encounters an accident on his walk. He confesses to his wife: “I couldn’t look at the sky this morning… I started my walk and came back in. Marion, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the sky. I have this feeling: it’s like this is our - this - going along this way - living the minutes of the day, this is something not us, somehow, a chain of events unfolding in time and leading to some - fate. I can’t explain it.”
Perhaps two of the most moving pieces to me are the novella about the friendship between two altar boys at the end of the collection, “Broken Houses”, and especially, the memoir piece on Bausch’s time in the airforce with his late identical twin brother, fellow writer Robert, “A Memory, and Sorrow (An Interval)”.
In the latter, a particular poignant moment came upon hearing about a cadet’s suicide in another Squadron. As innocent 20-year-olds training to fight in a war, the pressure and reality of death was less than bearable. Bausch was already feeling the palpable sense of anticipatory loss:
“I remember that as he came out of the crowd of others, and spoke, I experienced an ache like grief, and at the same time an inexpressible relief at his presence, attended by fear about what the world might do to us, about what the future would do. I wanted time to stop forever.”
When Bausch reveals in the next new section that this was 57 years ago and that Robert had been gone “since October 9, 2018”, you realise how palpable the previous lines had been presented, with an acuity of the present.
There are many more gems in each of the twelve stories that I enjoyed immensely and I am prompted to pick up my old battered copy of “The Stories of Richard Bausch” to revisit his earlier stories up to the start of the millennium. A solid five stars.
As the title suggests, the stories in this volume explores how the fate of others are inextricably connected with ours and if nothing else, exemplifies the notion that good literature cultivates empathy in us. More than ever, since the pandemic, how we relate to one another has taken on a new and urgent tone, now that we have been made more profoundly aware of isolation and loss.
Several stories are set in the pandemic where quarantine and social distancing was the norm, such as in the aptly titled “Isolation”, where a wife sheltering in a high-rise apartment in New York has to hide from her husband her infidelity and anxiety for her infected lover. The lover coughing alone in his apartment has a moment of insight when he recalls the lines of a song: “The Bible don’t say nothin’ ‘bout the lonely; it don’t call them blessed.”
In the titular story, a creative writing major takes his visiting professor father-in-law for a night out with his friends because his wife is busy with her exams and it almost ends in tragedy over a silly spur-of-the-moment stunt. The night had brought out many contradictory feelings in the young man and his friends as they both admire the professor’s creative genius and abhor his other less endearing traits but the culminating event had left an indelible mark on him, as he hears his wife’s distressed voice from the phone that his father-in-law was holding:
“He understood without words that even if he managed to keep her, to find some livable existence beyond this artificial school-centred life with its apprehensions and the insanity coming through the phone lines, the wild bad father out in the nights, this night would stay.”
Even when something happens to strangers, it can affect us, as in “Blue”, where a watercolor portraitist Hart encounters an accident on his walk. He confesses to his wife: “I couldn’t look at the sky this morning… I started my walk and came back in. Marion, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the sky. I have this feeling: it’s like this is our - this - going along this way - living the minutes of the day, this is something not us, somehow, a chain of events unfolding in time and leading to some - fate. I can’t explain it.”
Perhaps two of the most moving pieces to me are the novella about the friendship between two altar boys at the end of the collection, “Broken Houses”, and especially, the memoir piece on Bausch’s time in the airforce with his late identical twin brother, fellow writer Robert, “A Memory, and Sorrow (An Interval)”.
In the latter, a particular poignant moment came upon hearing about a cadet’s suicide in another Squadron. As innocent 20-year-olds training to fight in a war, the pressure and reality of death was less than bearable. Bausch was already feeling the palpable sense of anticipatory loss:
“I remember that as he came out of the crowd of others, and spoke, I experienced an ache like grief, and at the same time an inexpressible relief at his presence, attended by fear about what the world might do to us, about what the future would do. I wanted time to stop forever.”
When Bausch reveals in the next new section that this was 57 years ago and that Robert had been gone “since October 9, 2018”, you realise how palpable the previous lines had been presented, with an acuity of the present.
There are many more gems in each of the twelve stories that I enjoyed immensely and I am prompted to pick up my old battered copy of “The Stories of Richard Bausch” to revisit his earlier stories up to the start of the millennium. A solid five stars.
June 1, 2025
There is something magical about a Richard Bausch story. Of course, the perfection of his writing draws me in and keeps me turning the pages, but only after I’ve read the whole story do I recognize what he’s really done. There are layers and layers of complex humanity underneath Bausch’s brilliant presentation of seemingly ordinary people. His stories are alive. And they keep breathing after the final page.
The first story, “In That Time,” is so masterfully told! It left me with a memory of having spent time with Ernest Hemingway.
“A Memory, and Sorrow (An Interval)” is one of my favorites. Bausch left a chunk of his heart in that one. I could feel it. I laughed, I cried, I understood. “I had the fullest, most awful awareness of where we were in that moment, not so much away from home, though that was at the base of it, but standing alone together in the wide, terrible, dangerous world of manhood, full of killing and violence, and that would require a toughness I simply did not have.”
“Three Feet in the Evening” was an absolute pleasure to read, and yet at the end, I recognized the depth and wisdom expertly woven into its playfulness. “Blue” took my breath away and still haunts me.
But it is “Broken House,” the grand finale of the collection, that I can’t stop thinking about. “… I had reached the age when you want to go back, and to know. To recover something of the fascination, the aliveness.” The characters helped me go back to my own experiences, like theirs, and I felt understood. Bausch brilliantly portrayed how heavy Catholicism can be for a child. And yet the uniqueness of the tale, the actual broken house, had a way of showing me a truth I hadn’t recognized before.
I don’t know how Bausch does it, but through the magic of his storytelling, I left THE FATE OF OTHERS changed.
The first story, “In That Time,” is so masterfully told! It left me with a memory of having spent time with Ernest Hemingway.
“A Memory, and Sorrow (An Interval)” is one of my favorites. Bausch left a chunk of his heart in that one. I could feel it. I laughed, I cried, I understood. “I had the fullest, most awful awareness of where we were in that moment, not so much away from home, though that was at the base of it, but standing alone together in the wide, terrible, dangerous world of manhood, full of killing and violence, and that would require a toughness I simply did not have.”
“Three Feet in the Evening” was an absolute pleasure to read, and yet at the end, I recognized the depth and wisdom expertly woven into its playfulness. “Blue” took my breath away and still haunts me.
But it is “Broken House,” the grand finale of the collection, that I can’t stop thinking about. “… I had reached the age when you want to go back, and to know. To recover something of the fascination, the aliveness.” The characters helped me go back to my own experiences, like theirs, and I felt understood. Bausch brilliantly portrayed how heavy Catholicism can be for a child. And yet the uniqueness of the tale, the actual broken house, had a way of showing me a truth I hadn’t recognized before.
I don’t know how Bausch does it, but through the magic of his storytelling, I left THE FATE OF OTHERS changed.
October 28, 2025
These are the sorts of stories I could imagine being used in literature or writing classes as examples of how to tell stories. The characters are introduced with just the right amount of background, and situations are fleshed out without info-dumping, a refreshing reminder that well crafted writing can convey a lot of information in a short piece of writing without feeling rushed or overwhelming. Definitely worth reading for folks who enjoy short stories, and for anyone who wants to write short stories.
May 11, 2025
This is a transcendent collection. Each story is as rich and deep as a novel, with characters so finely drawn they will inhabit your life. Bausch goes deep into the gaps between people, even people who love each other. His characters talk the way real people talk. They feel, they breathe, they wonder. The author is a fearless, clear-eyed examiner of life, of the way we are now, in this fraught moment, and what formed us. Overall, this is a master class in how to write a story.
May 18, 2025
I'll second Corey's review. Bausch's prose is very striking in the gentle spring and confidence of its rhythms. Reading it was for me a pure aesthetic experience that limpidly transcended the underlying plot narratives. Some of the latter were bathetic, possibly by design, in a way that recalled Richard Yates or the Joyce of Dubliners; others were simply gripping. Bausch's ear for dialog seems perfect. For me it all added up to a wonderful reading experience.
June 2, 2025
Richard Bausch is one of America's greatest literary writers. His ability to capture the truth in life's moments, big and small, is unparalleled among today's writers.
If you like great writing and stories that entertain as well as get to the heart of our everyday struggles, then this book is for you.
This collection also reminds me how much I like to read short stories. You can dive into a world for a brief time and then move onto another. Perfect.
If you like great writing and stories that entertain as well as get to the heart of our everyday struggles, then this book is for you.
This collection also reminds me how much I like to read short stories. You can dive into a world for a brief time and then move onto another. Perfect.
August 3, 2025
I loved this. Bausch is an amazing writer. Even if you think you don't like short stories, he could convert you. He is able to take mundane situations and create tension that propels the story forward.
August 11, 2025
These stories thrilled me… drilled right into my heart, while also challenging and teaching me about the way I look at my life. It is a terrific collection, from a master story-teller. Carry it around with you for a few months as I did, and it will keep you rare and beautiful company!
June 29, 2025
Richard Bausch is amazing.
July 2, 2025
Excellent book! This man is an unbelievably talented writer. I don't know how I've never read any of his other works.
September 1, 2025
Wonderful book of short stories. Richard Bausch does it again!
September 6, 2025
A modern master.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews