Intimates: A Book of Stories

by David Huddle

In this daring, and often dazzling, collection of stories, David Huddle gently scrutinizes the marvelous complexities (and endless permutations) of male-female encounters. In doing so, he again confirms his place among those few writers who can unfailingly capture, with a wry eye and unvarnished prose, both the most monumental and the most minute meetings between the sexes, those vertiginous moments that can change the directions of our lives (and can also pass unnoticed until many years after the event). Here is thirteen-year-old Angela on a trip to Scotland, experiencing the first ache of adolescence while falling in love with a black male model. And here is a professor caught in his study with a female student stretched out on his desk - nude. Huddle is always measuring that fine tension between fidelity and infidelity, that line between probity and license. He doesn't sit as a judge, but records these moments with both art and grace in a sweet and subtle prose that is guileless and wholly believable. Whether his subject is an aerobics instructor bent on revenge, or a chance, and sexually intimate, encounter on an airplane, David Huddle is a writer who is always in complete control, always managing to expose new facets in the ageless and fascinating terrain of male-female topography.

Genres: Short Stories

232 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

David Huddle (Born 11 July 1942) is an American multi-genre writer. His poems, essays, and short stories have appeared in Esquire, Harper's Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Story, The Autumn House Anthology of Poetry, and The Best American Short Stories. His work has also been included in anthologies of writing about the Vietnam War.

Reviews

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Huddle was an amazing professor I studied Creative Writing with at the Bread Loaf School of English, and is a master of the form. I found this hidden gem at the Brooklyn Library and savored the stories contained within this collection. "Scotland" is the masterpiece of the collection, of 13 year old Angela's crush on a black model. Dry, written with understatement and polish, this is a fantastic collection that is reminiscent of Andre Dubus and Richard Yates.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great teacher, great writer.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I found only one good story here, which alone might be worth 2 stars, since it's a pretty darn good story, but my 2 stars comes from the fact that a lot of the stories in here seem to have promise, but somehow Huddle's writing seems just too academic, or too workshopped (or written too much from the prespective of one who has workshopped too much and is thus writing to please the form). For one, almost of the main characters here are academics (or...gulp...writers) and sometimes the concerns get pale and uninteresting. But the writing itself comes across most of the time as being paved over. I'd love to get at the emotions in here, but they seem to be contained behind some (well constructed, mind you) pexiglass.

[Shirley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stories seemed promising. But to me they ended up disappointing.

[David Christie · Rating 2 out of 5]

generally nice prose. plots all a little similar. lots of sex not always coupled with psychological depth.