Three Thousand Dollars: Stories

by David Lipsky

Eleven sparkling stories of family, love, and art from "New York Times"-bestselling author David Lipsky "My mother doesn't know that I owe my father three thousand dollars." From the opening line of the acclaimed title story--a "Best American Short Stories "selection that first appeared in the "New Yorker"--to the tender last scene of "Springs, 1977," this pitch-perfect collection explores the unsteady terrain of early adulthood and the complex legacy of family. Self-aware, creatively ambitious, and just privileged enough to be acutely aware of all that they lack, Lipsky's characters are as real and unforgettable as the dilemmas they face--some of their own making, some that the world has thrust on them. In "Relativity," a college junior transfers to the Ivy League in order to please his mother and make new friends; he quickly realizes the fault in his logic. In "Colonists," a nervous young author searches for her muse at a New Hampshire writers' retreat attended by a priest who pens erotic poetry and a composer working on a comic opera about the Alger Hiss trial. " 'Shh, ' " the genesis of Lipsky's highly praised novel "The Art Fair," is the story of a dutiful son trying to shield his artist mother from the agony of her latest rejection. Witty, heartbreaking, and wise, the stories in "Three Thousand Dollars "are a testament to David Lipsky's exceptional talent and to the power of short fiction to transform the smallest of moments into the greatest of truths.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

David Lipsky is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Magazine Writing, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, and many other publications. He contributes as an essayist to NPR's All Things Considered, and is the recipient of a Lambert Fellowship, a Media Award from GLAAD, and a National Magazine Award. He's the author of the novel The Art Fair, a collection of stories, Three Thousand Dollars, and the bestselling nonfiction book Absolutely American, which was a Time magazine Best Book of the Year.

Reviews

[P. K. O'Neill · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title story and the one about the guy who thinks he has AIDS are the only good ones. I don't know...not to be an ass, because Lipsky is clearly talented, but these stories typically fell into three categories for me:

1. Good: the aforementioned two, where I was invested;

2. Repetitive: where the third or fourth story about Lipsky's hot (?) artist mom (who blurs the line between parenthood and friendship) just gets old; or

3. Plain Old Uninteresting: like the one where the guy goes on a run and says hi to his girlfriend (what? why do I care?), or the long story about how some Southerner at Brown thinks the Lipsky stand-in character is a prick (why would a reader care about college freshman drama?).

Guess Carver must have seen something in this voice that I didn't.

[Kirsti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got to this part—"like most intelligent women, Judy had at one time in her life had an eating disorder"—and said NOPE, NO, NO THANK YOU SIR. So feel free to ignore my review because I only read the first 15 percent of the book.

[Kathleen Devaney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn’t finish it, with a few exceptions, nothing interested me.

[Graham Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to see where Lipsky's writings originated. The plotlines are a little repetitive--college students and separated parents--especially if you've already read The Art Fair. But the writing is very solid. Carver with a very healthy dose of playfulness.