After the Plague: Stories

by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Hailed as one of the best short story writers of his generation, T.C. Boyle presents sixteen stories--nine of which appeared in The New Yorker--that highlight the evolving excellence of his inventive, modern, and wickedly witty style. In After the Plague, Boyle exhibits his maturing themes through an amazing array of subjects in a range of emotional keys. He taps today's headlines, from air rage ("Friendly Skies") to abortion doctors ("Killing Babies"), and delves into more naturalistic themes of quiet power and passion, from a tale of first love ("The Love of My Life") to a story about confronting old age ("Rust"). Combining joy and humor with the dark, intense scenarios that Boyle's audience has come to love, After the Plague reveals a writer at the top of his form.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, American, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Collections, Audiobook

303 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2001

About the author

T. Coraghessan Boyle (also known as T.C. Boyle, is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the late 1970s, he has published eighteen novels and twleve collections of short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. He is married with three children. Boyle has been a
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.

He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.

Reviews

[RandomAnthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This past Saturday night I was reading “My Widow”, a story in TC Boyle’s After the Plague, just before bed. My wife was reading across the room and two of my three sons were asleep in the next room (the oldest was blowing shit up on the beach with one of his friends). Wind blew in through the skylights and I considered turning on the air conditioner. Earlier Ross and I sat in the dark living room watching the Brewers game and drinking Red Stripes. I had to ask myself, “why am I reading one of the most relentlessly depressing collections of stories I have ever experienced?” Here’s my answer, along with the full-disclosure explanation of why I decided to skip the last two stories in the collection.

First off, Boyle can flat-out write. He’s particularly strong in following the shifting internal dialogues of left of center losers and the reactive, unsettled people who are only a step or two away from or past screwing up their lives. Whether it’s a bachelor “saving” a potential girlfriend from a cad (“Terminator Dust”), a directionless boyfriend’s impulsive sabotage of a triathelete girlfriend (“She Wasn’t Soft”), or a young couple panicking around a pregnancy in the worst way possible (“The Love of My Life”), Boyle documents the scenarios in which characters make dead wrong decisions from which they think they can escape but most certainly cannot. These stories will stick with me and Boyle’s descriptions of academia and beach denizens (both appear in multiple stories) were particularly strong.

But, you know, these stories seem small, claustrophobic, and perhaps that was Boyle’s intent, but the airless room quality of the work (and I suppose many tragedies seem airless and claustrophobic to those involved) story after story after story had me ready to throw the book through the window. Now…that’s a powerful book, right? How many books do you want to throw out the window? Maybe Boyle took the “fuck it, I’m going to twist the knife deeper and deeper because that’s the truth.” And maybe he’s right sometimes. But I’ve lived enough of that not to want to spend a week reading about shitty lives while I sit on the side of little league baseball games or on the front porch well after dusk. And I’ve also lived through enough of my own depression and bad decisions to say that, for me, that even the worst days include weird moments when, for example, I’ve said, “this tea is pretty good” or “I like the wind today.” So maybe the unrelenting horror of some of these stories is the easy way out in the same way that books with a “mary sunshine farting rainbows” (thanks, Buns!) approach seem like the easy way out. Or maybe Boyle didn’t break the dark stream in the same way you never see action heroes eating dinner or going to the bathroom in the movies. I don’t know.

Listen. These are good stories. Like I said, maybe this wasn’t the time for me to read After the Plague. Make up your own mind, of course. I’m going to go read something else, though, maybe a little more complex, a little deeper, a little more multi-faceted now. Anyone want a Red Stripe? The Brewers’ game is on. We can talk about Joy Division records and Bergman films and Dostoevsky later, heck, even between innings, if you’d like. But I want a little of both, at least tonight, at least on warm summer evenings when the wind blows cool and the kids are asleep.

[Sarah Dorothea · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5 stars! ⭐️ It was my first T.C. Boyle read and I LOVED IT! These short stories are so great and so timeless at the same time. I loved how he dealt with different political, social and ethical topics. His writing style is very unique, but that‘s what makes reading the short stories so special. Definitely not gonna be my last book by T.C. Boyle. 💗📚



What the short stories are about: T.C. Boyle presents sixteen stories--nine of which appeared in The New Yorker--that highlight the evolving excellence of his inventive, modern, and wickedly witty style. He taps today's headlines, from air rage ("Friendly Skies") to abortion doctors ("Killing Babies"), and delves into more naturalistic themes of quiet power and passion, from a tale of first love ("The Love of My Life") to a story about confronting old age ("Rust"). Combining joy and humor with the dark, intense scenarios that Boyle's audience has come to love, After the Plague reveals a writer at the top of his form.

“It's hard to say how certain stories just punch us in the heart and the brain at the same time at the end. I suppose that's what we're all looking for. But each story has its own valence, its own way of saying goodbye to you.“ - T. C. Boyle

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade A short stories. Very dark.

[Broshar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in the writing school of a slow poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Each story starts with some sort of emotional car wreck about to happen, and the story slows down to rubberneck the uncomfortable denouement. Boyle's characters seem to start out as likeable sorts, all with a tiny flaw or two that gets exposed through the run of events. Will they prevail over the challenge, or will their foibles get the better of them? And do I have to watch?

Argh. I do.

Kudos to him for putting "After the Plague" at the end; it's a delightful palate cleanser that leaves the reader ready to go through the gauntlet again with another book of his stories.

[Lauren Hackford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well-written stories of men being stereotypical men.

[John Vanderslice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really admire T.C. Boyle as a writer. I have read stories by him that have really moved or stunned me. He is quite a good craftsman. But I found it really hard to keep going with this collection. I actually had to stop, which I hate to say because I feel almost every book deserves to be read until the end. But this one felt like just a relentless string of entitled, jerky, white, and not-so-quietly misogynistic male narrators who love making snarky or lascivious comments about women's bodies. It's true that a lot of the men SEEM to be held up for ridicule or contempt, but at times--and maybe a lot of time--I felt that Boyle was also reveling in them. I understand maybe writing one story like that, but a whole string of them, one after another? As I said, it got relentless and horribly monotone. Not a nice tone either. (I was listening on Audible and not reading so maybe the tone was more pronounced for me.) As esteemed as Boyle is, I wonder if this book would even be published today. It is so male, so anti-woman, so straight, and so entitled. I just could not get around that. Hey, TC, how about giving us a different narrator for once? Like maybe someone who isn't a complete jerk??? Ever heard about altering one's tone so it doesn't wear out?

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good writer who desperately wants you to know just how good he is, and how many big words he knows. This type of thing tends to distract one from his considerable storytelling skills. I did learn from this book that the word "sere" means "dry", allowing me to proclaim, as a hilarious, highbrow, and technically inaccurate joke, that I need to put the clothes in the serer for a few more minutes. "Sere" has also helped me with Boggle. Otherwise, this is a hit or miss collection with a few stories that make the whole experience worth it. I wouldn't be opposed to giving Boyle another shot in the future.

[Kipahni · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narrator of this book made every story sound angery and annoyed so this may have been the reason my view of the stories are so negetive.

It wasn't that they were anticlimactic it's just that he ends it right at the climactic moment it gives the disappointment like the moment before a sneeze and yet the sneeze never comes.

After every story I feel like saying "and then..."

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, reading this and Joyce Carol Oates' Heat in the same year makes me wish for an asteroid to hit the Earth to save us nasty humans from ourselves! These are dark stories about human folly (maybe all but the stories "Peep Hall" and "My Widow"). Each story opens w/ a flawed human with a dream or a plan, and then a series of events, sometimes just single decisions, cause absolute meyhem, something that T C Boyle does so well. One cannot tear his or her eyes from the conflagration. I read these stories with sheer enjoyment, and I actually look forward to reading more of Boyle's short stories collections, of which there are several.

My favorites:
--"Termination Dust" - hints at Drop City
--"She Wasn't Soft" - are we meant to think that there are consequences to staying w/ the wrong person? A story about the closeness of love and hate
--"Killing Babies" - abortion clinic
--"The Love of My Life" - teenage pregnancy
--"Going Down" - escaping into a book and losing connection to the rest of the world
--"The Underground Gardens" - creating something amazing that no one else understands
--"After the Plague"

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a collection of cynical short stories about mediocre, (middle-)aged, alcoholic white men who say racist things (mainly about Mexicans) and who are desperate for sex, and whose sons/mothers/lovers have died, which gives a tragic flair to their embarrassing behaviour. Almost every story is centered around how a woman is either extremely attractive, conventionally unattractive but desirable, or repulsing. Approximately 5% of the text discusses their weight / body type.
Boyle‘s writing style is gorgeous, which made reading the book a moderately entertaining experience, but I can‘t say that I enjoyed it.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well-written stories about a series of outcasts, weirdos, and losers of some variety. The book relies a generally bleak and negative view of the world. Several stories have themes of obsession, mortality, and life past one's prime. The amount of alcohol and smoking in the stories leaves me with a bad after-taste while reading.

Interesting organization and story ordering as I think the last few stories are the best in the collection. My favourites were: The Black and White Sisters, My Widow, The Underground Gardens, and After the Plague.

[Amy in the Desert · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional set of short stories. I loved nearly all of them.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong story-collection by Mr. Boyle.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Granted, T.C. Boyle is a damn fine author. What I discovered in this collection though is a writer who is fluid and on message delivering some incredibly nasty tasting stories.
What is it about Boyle, short fiction, and abusive relationships? His longer form fiction often has dysfunctional relationships, broken relationships, and a few happy couples, but this collection is packed with rapes and drunks and drugs and sudden violence that stands in for narrative, motive, and character.
I really really wanted to like this collection, but these stories felt lazy and offhand. The kind of exercises I would expect from a college composition course rather than an author of his stature.

One additional star for readability, but I really disliked this book.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given our current crisis, I turned right to the cover story. The story followed a survivor of a global pandemic which wiped out all but a very few. He finally meets in a woman who also escaped. What happens when the only person you meet is someone you can't stand to be around?

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a big fan of short stories; however, I enjoyed reading almost all of these.

[Tim O'Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since his collection "Descent of Man" first appeared in 1979, few in contemporary fiction can rival T.C. Boyle and his grasp for story telling in its most-inventive shortened form. The guy is unstoppable. And if you're lucky enough to discover any of his stories singularly, or together in a collection, you'll want to gather more of them in their entirety like myself. The 16, here (9 of which appeared in The New Yorker); following 14 from my first reading in "Tooth and Claw" from The New Yorker, GQ, Harper's, Playboy, Best American Stories, etc.; all of which precedes the next 14 after this review in "The Human Fly and other stories." Thus completing a stack including several of his novels purchased only just two months ago; clearing the discount bookstore's shelves. And, curiously, a receipt which fell out from the pages showing charges for a book I've never heard of. (?) Binge-reading is not ordinarily my habit. But anyone who's followed his works and who can verify the escapist draw of his wildly imagined scenarios will, doubtless, not hold it against me. Reviewing short stories, however, is not so easily accomplished as I have mentioned with others who are masters like Annie Proulx, John Updike, Flannery O'Connor, to name but a few. Moreover, am not predisposed to summarizing mutiple plots knowing individual readers will defer to their own favorites accordingly. Or the reverse. As with some who have dismissed Boyle's stories as being wholly loser-oriented; written well-enough, but dwelling (fixating) on the depressing outcomes of flawed characters whose preternatural failings seem not only insurmountable, but inevitable. Life is not perfect. Consequences stemming from such an awareness--in the hands of a gifted writer--can lead to some interesting twists of fate (often being both ironic and darkly humorous--think Ethan and Joel Coen and their Texas Gothic crime-of-passion film debut "Blood Simple") while his signature endings are all-the-more-unexpected and memorable. Have read the "Great Cheever" (so-called) and by comparison his stories can seem to lie there like wet days-old-fish wrapped in soggy newsprint. You get to the last and all that comes to mind is "meh." But Boyle...Boyle writes circles around any dozen you'd pick up from the New York Times Best Sellers List. At his best in short stories in so much as I have read just one novel "A Friend of the Earth." More to follow. No question--he's a staple in my literary diet. Yet another reason--and none better--to keep the television turned off.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another stunning story collection by Boyle. He hasn't failed me yet... with even a single unenjoyable story in the first five collections. I must admit that this one is so far my least favorite of the five collections, as he focuses on modern humans with this collection rather than the environment. What makes this collection less enjoyable, is that in almost every story, the focus is on really really dark spirited humans. Or simply some of the darkest moments in mostly decent people. Not sunny reading. 'Termination Dust' is a perfect example, what you think is happening gets flipped on its head. (I also somehow remembered a name from this story that was also in 'Drop City' that I read years ago... not sure if its the same character but the scenario also seemed to be one from the book. Possibly the story inspired the novel. But the story is perfect as is. Drop City is fantastic too.) The most positive story might be 'The Underground Gardens' which I'm just now learning was based on a real person who dug tunnels and a house underground. What was going on with Mr. Boyle while writing these? As usual, the writing on a sentence level, couldn't be better. I like all of these stories equally, but if I had to pick two favorites: 'Going Down' and 'Termination Dust'. 'Going Down' has fantastic bits of a sci-fi book the character is reading, which makes me wonder why Boyle doesn't like genre? There definitely isn't a bad story in the bunch. Just many many bad events. This is my least favorite of his five short story collections so far, but it's still a solid book.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a big book titled TC Boyle Stories II. That is the book I have had on my bookshelf for a while. But I have just recently discovered that it is really made up of four other books. I discovered that accidentally when I found one of the books in an audible format. And then I discovered the other books also in an audible format. And no I am finally listening to them. This book has a bit of a theme that is revealed by the title of the book. It is kind of a gloomy theme about peoples struggles with life. I don’t quite remember all of the stories well enough to know how to describe the outcomes of these various struggles. But I would chance to say that quite a few of the struggle conclusions are surprising. TC Boyle often ends his stories with you wondering what comes next. So although I would say that most of the stories in this particular book have a bit of a gloomy aspect, I actually enjoyed most of the stories and the unique characters. At this point I am going to fairly quickly go onto the next audible book. Several of the books were read by the author himself. This particular book was read by another person but I have to say that the reading was done extremely well. If you have ever wondered about audible books, I would say this is a very good one to start with.

[Akshit Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

T.C Boyle writes with fantastic balance between literary skill and pure storytelling. These entries, when read closely, do seem to reveal faint tracings of what I wouldn't necessarily call 'formula', but more fairly, recurring tendencies: urban settings in upper-end Californian societies; morbidly self-possessed humans trapped in the morass of a shallow, apathetic existence and fighting to escape the stultifying realities of aging, disillusionment, loss, grief, self-image, rejection and loneliness; exposition rendered with all the verve and electricity of sensuous prose, and an overall modernistic sensibility. This is not to limit the dimensionality of his writing in any way. Boyle has incredible range and can spin a compelling yarn out of, I believe, almost any subject matter.

Favorites: Honestly, I really liked pretty much everything in here (maybe except the last and titular story, which somewhat lacks the trademark perverseness he habitually employs before the curtain call. I don't know, perhaps it was a conscious decision to end the collection on an upbeat stroke.)
But I'd like to mention one in particular titled 'The Love of My Life'. It's sheer emotional devastation verbalized.

[Raluca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a first bag of vinegar chips. You have a handful / read one or two stories and think, "who could possibly enjoy this, when it's so sour / bleak and hopeless?". Then you have / read a bit more, and the next thing you know, the bag / book is finished. (Let me be clear, though: I do not recommend having chips, or food in general, WHILE reading this book. There are a few scenes that really don't work with popcorn.) Boyle's characters aren't nice, and nice things don't happen to them - except briefly, and a few stories in you're already waiting for the other shoe to drop. His situations are imaginative and well-built, regardless whether they are set in a perfectly recognisable and realistic environment or, as in the title story, in a post-apocalyptic near future. After the Plague is the exact opposite of a feel-good beach-read, but dear oh dear is it gripping and accomplished.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

T.C. Boyle is an excellent writer. He draws the reader into the story generally in the quirky uniqueness of the store line. However, the endings are usually anti-climatic and resolve little (maybe, that is a failing of the short story genre) Suggesting the complexity of people or life situations and relationship may be the point of view of the author, but this existential trope does not carry the same weight as it did before in serious writing. Boyle's other short stories collections are similar to this one with possibly more resolution or understanding for the characters. There is an echo of J.D. Salinger's famous "Nine Stories" in the variety of characters Boyle creates, but the stories often lack the pathos, humor, satire of Salinger's writings. That said, T.C. Boyle is a remarkable writer with a fertile and variegated imagination. They are worth a read, but not an encore.

[Hanka Jirovská · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a wild range of dark stories. The format of short stories fit me really well, especially with all the other non-fiction or lengthy books I'm reading now.

I have to admit that after the first two stories which were deeply disturbing and with this very toxic behavior towards women, I was doubting whether to keep reading. I think my experience got colored by the fact I'm reading Virginia Woolf at the same time, so in contrast this book had a very one-dimensional portrayal of women. The main theme of the stories started varying a bit more afterwards, and there were some settings and twists that are still stuck in my head. The way each story ended in an unexpected way reminded me of Forsyth's No Comebacks, which I see a little bit as crime/thriller-y version of this collection.

Not sure I would 100% recommend this, but if you do read this, let's talk about what creeped us out the most :D

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

T.C. Boyle’s short stories are like pristine nuggets of an untethered imagination distilled into a writing composed of stunning, evocative imagery and infinitely compelling characters. Each tale abounds with a curious combination of humor, absurdity, and perspicacity. While certain stories struck me as a big long-winded or even lackluster (The Black & White Sisters was arguably the most dull and insipid installment), Boyle’s stories are overwhelmingly a crash course in gripping literary technique. His talents as a writer derive from his eagerness to embrace humanity in all its dimensions, never shying away from even the most unseemly and seedy aspects of existence.

[Mara Facon · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m always impressed with how he manages to construct such lively characters and worlds in such few pages. each short story really draws you in and often leaves you quite horrified. the only complaint i had was that sometimes the women in these short stories are often quite objectified, rarely really allowed the room to breathe. “my widow” might be a bit of an exception to this. i am actually not even sure if objectification is what i’m annoyed by, if not actually more the assumption that women always need to be beautiful and if they’re not that it’s somehow of note. the men in this book get to be a lot more abject and i wish that the same was granted to the women!

[Timothy Swarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short stories by a master of the craft. Definitely on the darker side, and replete with many anxiety-inducing situations, but always centered on believable human emotion. Often, the point of the stories does not involve big, dramatic acts of retaliation or self-defense—although some stories (“Death of the Cool” and “Friendly Skies,” for example) climax on these types of scenes—but rather the little human moments, sprinkled into catastrophic and desperate situations, that bring meaningful, life-affirming joy.

[Liam Connolly]

I read the title short-story in undergrad and thought it'd be a fitting collection to start during lockdown. I took my time with it, and found I enjoyed the stories some but others were just ok. All in all a fun and interesting collection. I got the impression at times that much of the style etc. was geared towards those holding an MFA in Creative Writing... but I take such observation as a sign of clarity on my own writing style and said aspirations.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I liked this book. T.C. Boyle is an excellent writer, and there is great pleasure simply reading his words.

However, on one hand I tired of reading stories in which the main character (a white man) was so incredibly stupid. so self absorbed. And, as I went through this and reflected on how does one end a short story, I felt that often Boyle ended stories before he ad actually said anything.

[Colin Grieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection of stories. And to add my own disturbing true story to the fictional ones: the book I read immediately before this, Wuthering Heights, is mentioned on the second page of the first story, and the book I was planning to read next, For Whom the Bell Tolls, is mentioned on the second last page of the last story. T.C. Boyle if you read this, the idea is all yours.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't dislike this book enough to stop reading, so I stayed the course. There are a few good stories, but the rest are middling to bad. Almost all of them read like someone who knows more about the technique of storytelling better than the art/soul of it (which would make sense, doesn't t.c. Boyle teach writing at UCLA or something?). Anyway, meh.