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Living in the Weather of the World: Stories
In these thirteen indelible stories, Richard Bausch once again proves himself a modern master.
From the prize-winning novelist and universally acclaimed short story writer ("Richard Bausch is a master of the short story" --"The New York Times Book Review"), thirteen unforgettable tales that showcase his electrifying artistry.
Bausch plumbs the depths of familial and marital estrangement, the violence of suicide and despair, the gulfs between friends and lovers, the complexities of divorce and infidelity, the fragility and impermanence of love. Wherever he casts his gaze, he illuminates the darkest corners of human experience with the bright light of wisdom and compassion, finding grace and redemption amidst sorrow and regret. Bausch's stories are simply extraordinary."
From the prize-winning novelist and universally acclaimed short story writer ("Richard Bausch is a master of the short story" --"The New York Times Book Review"), thirteen unforgettable tales that showcase his electrifying artistry.
Bausch plumbs the depths of familial and marital estrangement, the violence of suicide and despair, the gulfs between friends and lovers, the complexities of divorce and infidelity, the fragility and impermanence of love. Wherever he casts his gaze, he illuminates the darkest corners of human experience with the bright light of wisdom and compassion, finding grace and redemption amidst sorrow and regret. Bausch's stories are simply extraordinary."
256 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2017
41 people are currently reading
693 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 - 30 of 49 reviews
August 3, 2017
I've been going back and forth between these stories by Richard Bausch and a new collection by William Trevor called A Bit on the Side. They are both wonderful, and Richard Bausch's fantastic title for his collection could equally serve for Trevor's title. Both books detail the lives of people who are hurting: heartbroken, physically broken, financially undone, or spiritually barren. Yet both have moments of lust, love, hopefulness, and generosity. I guess the point is that these, and the possibility of lust or love or hope or kindness make the hurt what it is. An absence. It's rare I've read two short story collections in tandem, and rarer still that I saw that they carried the same theme at their heart. William Trevor and Richard Bausch, I hope you each read each other's collections. Trevor write with thicker language. I'm not sure quite what I mean, but the Irish seem to write with more consonants. There's not quite so much air in the language. As though those rows of houses in the small towns, I think of Foxford or Sligo, has crowded the language as well as the houses. Bausch's stories often have more dramatic turns, but the careful attention to characters breathes the same kind of life into his stories. I utterly believe these people exist. "The Hotel Macabre" includes a bereft and utterly annoying sister whose own marriage is falling apart. She is so upset, and so self centered, that she just HAS to crash her brother and his new wife's honey moon, one that they really couldn't afford and that both have looked forward to with such longing. When the sister appears she is so awful, I wanted to grab the words and make them say, "We sent her home." But the story had other things in its mind. And the sister's humanity peeks out just enough that we realize what she is teaching this couple about kindness and family. Each story was wonderful, and each, at some point, grabbed me by the throat and made my body tense.
Here's where the title explicitly comes into play: "He visited the boys once, on his ninetieth birthday. He took a flight to Portland, where they met him. He wanted to show them that he could still get around on his own. And if he could do it, take the trouble to visit, so could they. But they stayed where they were. They did not get along with him well enough to visit. He had grown cantankerous. You tended to over time. You had aches and trouble sleeping and memories that hurt, even when they were good memories—maybe especially when the memories were good. It was not for sissies, this life. He had said it many times. You did not get old by being any kind of sissy. He had seen and been through very many awful things, and grief was the weather all the time, even as you were happy to see the sun rise in the morning."
from Living in the Weather of the World by Richard Bausch
epigraph: …what people visit on each other out of something like love. It’s enough for all the world’s woe…you don’t even need hate to have a perfectly miserable time.
Annie Field
(a character in a Bausch book?)
first story: “walking distance” fits that epigraph, the shock of the gun in that “burglar’s mouth.
Definitely read again.
Here's where the title explicitly comes into play: "He visited the boys once, on his ninetieth birthday. He took a flight to Portland, where they met him. He wanted to show them that he could still get around on his own. And if he could do it, take the trouble to visit, so could they. But they stayed where they were. They did not get along with him well enough to visit. He had grown cantankerous. You tended to over time. You had aches and trouble sleeping and memories that hurt, even when they were good memories—maybe especially when the memories were good. It was not for sissies, this life. He had said it many times. You did not get old by being any kind of sissy. He had seen and been through very many awful things, and grief was the weather all the time, even as you were happy to see the sun rise in the morning."
from Living in the Weather of the World by Richard Bausch
epigraph: …what people visit on each other out of something like love. It’s enough for all the world’s woe…you don’t even need hate to have a perfectly miserable time.
Annie Field
(a character in a Bausch book?)
first story: “walking distance” fits that epigraph, the shock of the gun in that “burglar’s mouth.
Definitely read again.
May 19, 2017
This book made me reconsider the word “story”—not the definition of story but our experience of story in its ages-old form before it had the word “short” in front of it; before it was bound in hardcover and made eligible for awards. Before all that there was someone talking and someone, often many someones, listening. And what they heard caused them to utter the equivalent of “Oh God.”
This still happens today. We tell stories in bars, in beauty shops, on tennis courts, on buses. A hand flies to the mouth or fingers lightly touch the base of the throat and the same utterance occurs: “Oh God.”
Richard Bausch is a master storyteller—a description/phrase that gets thrown around a lot but is pin-point accurate for him. He deftly strips a narrative down to the essence of story so in reading his work, finely represented in this new collection, you want to read it fast because you’re so engaged you can’t wait to learn what happens next. The characters are enduring the shifting, unpredictable weather of emotions and drama that befalls all of us. The hook for each piece could easily be the topic of eager discussion at a backyard barbecue, a girls night out, or while waiting in line for movie tickets.
Did you hear about that poor guy who went to mug someone and his victim turned out to be an off-duty cop?
Hey, they brought Freddie into the emergency room. His wife thought he was at the movies with his brother.
That guy at the museum? Isn’t he the one who ran over that kid?
My mom tried online dating and it ended in tears—but not hers!
See her? Her fiancé dumped her and she knocked him out cold.
Forget about Bausch’s accolades and long literary history. Read these stories because they’re great stories. Read them and pretend you’re with a friend, or out with the guys or gals trading tales. Only you’re really in the privacy of your own head, listening to Bausch. How long before you utter “Oh God”?
My guess? Not long.
Enjoy the book.
This still happens today. We tell stories in bars, in beauty shops, on tennis courts, on buses. A hand flies to the mouth or fingers lightly touch the base of the throat and the same utterance occurs: “Oh God.”
Richard Bausch is a master storyteller—a description/phrase that gets thrown around a lot but is pin-point accurate for him. He deftly strips a narrative down to the essence of story so in reading his work, finely represented in this new collection, you want to read it fast because you’re so engaged you can’t wait to learn what happens next. The characters are enduring the shifting, unpredictable weather of emotions and drama that befalls all of us. The hook for each piece could easily be the topic of eager discussion at a backyard barbecue, a girls night out, or while waiting in line for movie tickets.
Did you hear about that poor guy who went to mug someone and his victim turned out to be an off-duty cop?
Hey, they brought Freddie into the emergency room. His wife thought he was at the movies with his brother.
That guy at the museum? Isn’t he the one who ran over that kid?
My mom tried online dating and it ended in tears—but not hers!
See her? Her fiancé dumped her and she knocked him out cold.
Forget about Bausch’s accolades and long literary history. Read these stories because they’re great stories. Read them and pretend you’re with a friend, or out with the guys or gals trading tales. Only you’re really in the privacy of your own head, listening to Bausch. How long before you utter “Oh God”?
My guess? Not long.
Enjoy the book.
May 14, 2017
It felt really good to read these Richard Bausch stories. Honestly, in this time of political madness, I wonder what am I supposed to write about. And then I read these really traditional, wonderful, beautifully crafted stories by a master of the short story, writing about people and their lives and their bad marriages and good marriage and love affairs and bad dates and seductive artist models and walks in the neighborhood, and I sort of remembered. I can write about life, because it's what I want to read about. That hasn't changed.
May 23, 2017
Bausch is an expert at taking potentially sappy, prosaic real-life situations and ripping them open to expose the complicated guts of how this world works. He does it in story after story and I, for one, am grateful. He's particularly good with old people--not a sentimental sentence to be found. Millennials and Baby-Boomers take note: This collection is required reading for anyone under the age of 60. I don't think there's another short story writer working today that possesses his perceptive edge.
October 20, 2018
Beautifully developed characters, contrasting their inner turmoil with the mundane events that lead them into crisis. Because the stories are so short, I felt occasionally overwhelmed by the speed with which multiple characters were introduced; but it was always worth bearing with him because once inside the key characters' thoughts the logic flowed and the subtlety of the prose came together.
July 15, 2017
One of those books that took my breath away many times. His writing is utterly brilliant. Best book I've read in a very long time...and I've read some books that I thoroughly enjoyed....but these stories were exquisite!
July 29, 2017
I've just discovered Richard Bausch. These stories are so cleanly constructed, with spot-on dialogue, that he goes directly to the heart of human relationships. Nothing wasted.
July 16, 2017
Wonderful and moving stores about modern life. Quality writing. Recommend
August 21, 2017
Richard Bausch’s collection of stories, LIVING IN THE WEATHER OF THE WORLD is filled with intriguing characters placed in rather mundane situations that turn awkward. The book’s strange title refers to how people are forced to cope with vicissitudes where they have little control much like the weather. All of these characters are deeply flawed and thus quite believable. Most are male, but Bausch includes a few females too. The narratives are deceptively simple, but often surprising and remarkably insightful. Much like the minimalist artists who eschew overt symbolism and emotional content, Bausch’s stories leave things unsaid but much implied.
Despite some humor and a lot of irony, the stories focus on dark subjects (misery, violence, and despair). The characters cope with divorce, spousal death, and infidelity. The violence is sometimes overt, but more often psychological.
There is much to like about the 14 stories in the collection, but three seemed to stand out:
“Walking Distance” is about Joe Koren, a Memphis cop who feels he is blessed with an ideal marriage only to find out that his wife, Ella, does not agree. She admits that the relationship is not working for her after a mundane episode involving toilet paper. Joe copes by going for a walk, but remembers to bring his service revolver. Clearly Bausch is not impressed by Chekhov’s sage advice to playwrights: "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." This gun is not fired in the story but does play a central role because Joe is waylaid by an incompetent “bandit.” Joe responds much like Crocodile Dundee did with his big knife (“That’s not a knife. This is a knife.”). In the hands of a less skilled writer or a less experienced cop, this situation could easily have ended predictably. But Bausch plays it for the humor instead, giving the reader a less predictable, but more satisfying outcome.
“The Bridge to China” is another example of Bausch’s penchant for obscure titles. A divorced mother of two grown boys would defuse uncomfortable questions when her boys were young by vague references to “China.” She takes up her son’s suggestion to try online dating only to find herself in one of those “China” situations. Her dinner date is clearly a basket case because of the death of his wife. She is not ready for another stint of motherhood, especially with an adult male. Once again Bausch mines an uncomfortable situation for the humor rather than the underlying pain.
In “The Hotel Macabre” an older couple are enjoying a honeymoon to celebrate their marriage. Unfortunately, the husband’s sister is experiencing a crisis in her life, so he makes the mistake of inviting her to join them. After all, they are not just a couple of kids. However, one quickly learns that only a loving sibling would even consider such a thing. The sister turns out to be a self-involved drama queen. She is so dysfunctional that she almost runs away with the story, but Bausch pulls back from going down that trail. The husband is placed in the uncomfortable position of mediating between his sister and his bride and one knows that this will not end well. But in fact—remarkably— it does.
This collection is contains many examples of nuanced plots, excellent character development and much food for thought.
Despite some humor and a lot of irony, the stories focus on dark subjects (misery, violence, and despair). The characters cope with divorce, spousal death, and infidelity. The violence is sometimes overt, but more often psychological.
There is much to like about the 14 stories in the collection, but three seemed to stand out:
“Walking Distance” is about Joe Koren, a Memphis cop who feels he is blessed with an ideal marriage only to find out that his wife, Ella, does not agree. She admits that the relationship is not working for her after a mundane episode involving toilet paper. Joe copes by going for a walk, but remembers to bring his service revolver. Clearly Bausch is not impressed by Chekhov’s sage advice to playwrights: "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." This gun is not fired in the story but does play a central role because Joe is waylaid by an incompetent “bandit.” Joe responds much like Crocodile Dundee did with his big knife (“That’s not a knife. This is a knife.”). In the hands of a less skilled writer or a less experienced cop, this situation could easily have ended predictably. But Bausch plays it for the humor instead, giving the reader a less predictable, but more satisfying outcome.
“The Bridge to China” is another example of Bausch’s penchant for obscure titles. A divorced mother of two grown boys would defuse uncomfortable questions when her boys were young by vague references to “China.” She takes up her son’s suggestion to try online dating only to find herself in one of those “China” situations. Her dinner date is clearly a basket case because of the death of his wife. She is not ready for another stint of motherhood, especially with an adult male. Once again Bausch mines an uncomfortable situation for the humor rather than the underlying pain.
In “The Hotel Macabre” an older couple are enjoying a honeymoon to celebrate their marriage. Unfortunately, the husband’s sister is experiencing a crisis in her life, so he makes the mistake of inviting her to join them. After all, they are not just a couple of kids. However, one quickly learns that only a loving sibling would even consider such a thing. The sister turns out to be a self-involved drama queen. She is so dysfunctional that she almost runs away with the story, but Bausch pulls back from going down that trail. The husband is placed in the uncomfortable position of mediating between his sister and his bride and one knows that this will not end well. But in fact—remarkably— it does.
This collection is contains many examples of nuanced plots, excellent character development and much food for thought.
July 2, 2017
I read these stories this week. My reading for the last month has slowed down, fantasy baseball, graduations, Trump hate, it has been a dismal record in my part. This, hopefully, will begin the begin as it were of my reading again.
Until just this past month I had not heard of this author. This collection is quite strong, deeper than most in quality content, with one story in particular that stands out as evoking some of the strongest emotion on a page you would find.
Many of these stories are quite short, so short as to be a mere glimpse than a real evocative story.
The opening story " Walking Distance " shows us a bad morning for a young husband from Memphis. Totally enamored of his wife, knowing he " married up ", and enjoying his fellow police officers acknowledgment of that fact he is stunned when his wife announces she is leaving, it isn't working anymore. Out for a walk to clear his head he is accosted by a small time criminal and ends up with his gun in the man's mouth threatening the ultimate punishment. The story ends with the two men, one a long time failure with women, commiserating over their problems with the opposite sex.
In " The Bridge to China " a divorced woman, encouraged by her grown sons to date meets a widower through a dating site who, it becomes clear on their first date, is simply not ready to do so yet.
A brief story titled " In the Museum of the America's a middle aged man revels in fantasy thoughts while trying to evade the torturous memory of running over a small child that darted into traffic in front of him. Absolved of fault in the boys death he still cannot forgive himself.
In " We Belong Together " we are introduced to a man driving to a lunch date with his wife Tina. They are meeting their friend Cathy and we soon become knowledgeable that the man has had an affair and the wife has found out. She drops him off and leaves him and we now know the affair was with Kathy. Resolved that this is for the best he tells her brightly that they now can be together as they had wished. Kathy, however, hesitates and then tells him she has just accepted a job offer on the West Coast. He is to be alone.
Another tiny story called " Night " is a terrible four page screed of the fear of an abused wife, trying to protect her small son and take the abuse of a constantly abusive husband. At the same time as she cowers she tries to think of some way, anyway, to make the mornings light bring a chance to escape.
In " The Knoll, a longer story we see two unnamed members of what appears to be a large cabal who are in Dallas preparing for JFK's arrival. They are on the famous knoll and plan to execute him. As they set up we listen to their conversation as the two men, unknown to each other prior to this day, discuss and doubt each other, the plan, and their decision until they get the signal the motorcade is arriving. The conversation is relevant, more so perhaps today than in a long while, as they talk about various conspiracy theories they have heard or give faith to. The President plans to take us into full throated Communism, he plans to cancel elections, and other wild eyed fears. When one considers the conspiracy theories focused on our last President and this current one there is no doubt the danger we all live in. In the end just as out assassins are about to start their mission shots ring out from behind the President. Seeing the grave injury he has suffered They pack up and leave.
In " Sympathy " a wife enjoys a Saturday night at home watching a movie while her husband and his brother go to a movie she did not care to see. A call from a friend of hers, a nurse at the local hospital surprises her. Her husband has been brought into the emergency room suffering from cardiac arrest. His brother is not with him. The story progresses as one would expect except for the attitude the wife takes toward the young woman who did arrive at the hospital with him.
In Veterans Night tow young veterans from Iraq, suffering effects and injuries are enjoying a night at a local bar run by a Vietnam Veteran they respect and who, they know, respects them. A disturbance occurs which is broken up by the owners baseball bat. These two soldiers have little in the way of family and less in possessions but they share a bond together. On the way home they are accosted by the group form the bar, a shot rings out, a life is over, a life is changed. The shooter says " I wasn't even really that mad at him ".
In another tale of infidelity called " Unknown " a man's cell phone silently vibrates on the nightstand at three AM. It is his mistress, a woman he met a year ago showing her a house. As the relationship fades with his desire to not blow up his life she is threatening to kill herself. At what point does the selfishness of having an affair drift into the selfishness of turning away from the hurt you cause. Who is worth saving, when in the end your really only concerned with saving yourself.
Map Reading concerns the meeting of a middle aged man and his half sister for dinner in New York. His Father's daughter from his second marriage he had last seen her when she was three years old and he was just out of college. Now she is twenty three and he feels awkward. Lots of memories attach, his poor relationship with his Father, his sister's duality of love for him and critique and concern of his gay lifestyle. As they have dinner it is superficial but more comfortable than he thought. They both share stories of their Father who seems to have done little better the second time around at parenthood. When the girl singing in the too loud band approaches the table he is surprised to see his " sister " greet her warmly and hold her hand as she sits down. Later she tells him that had he been a part of her life growing up he could have helped her through the treacherous path she has had to traverse.
The Lineaments of Gratified Desire is the story you will remember. For those people who have had a destructive love. A love caught somewhere between passion and an Ebola like fever this story will bring it all back. We meet a young man with everything going right. He has a loving family. His art career is slowly gaining traction. He is engaged to be married to a young woman he adores and admires. One day a octogenarian man, a player in the Memphis community, rich beyond belief, spies one of his paintings in the restaurant he works part time at. Impressed he asks if he would do a portrait of the man's fiancée. We find out she is a twenty five year old beauty. Perhaps the most exquisite thing he has ever lain eyes on. The painting is to be a nude and the girl is no example of rectitude with clothes on or off. The picture the author draws of a man acting and witnessing his own destruction, as if from outside his body, with no apparent ability to change course is painful for anyone who has ever experienced it or witnesses someone they love go through it. It is an incredibly accurate portrayal of the emotions involved in such an act of self destruction.
In " The Same People " an elderly couple on vacation in Ireland has made a dual decision about the rest of their lives and in " The Macabre Hotel " a young couple on their long delayed " honeymoon" has their trip ruined by the arrival of the husbands dejected, angry, rude sister.
The book ends with a longish piece called " Still Here, Still There " in which we follow to ninety years on World War Two Veterans for who a reunion has been arranged. We learn that the men, one American, one German, met in Italy when the latter saved the life of the former and then promptly surrendered. It is a pretty gripping of the frailties of old age and the reality of memory that is often different from what is observed.
This is a strong collection.
Until just this past month I had not heard of this author. This collection is quite strong, deeper than most in quality content, with one story in particular that stands out as evoking some of the strongest emotion on a page you would find.
Many of these stories are quite short, so short as to be a mere glimpse than a real evocative story.
The opening story " Walking Distance " shows us a bad morning for a young husband from Memphis. Totally enamored of his wife, knowing he " married up ", and enjoying his fellow police officers acknowledgment of that fact he is stunned when his wife announces she is leaving, it isn't working anymore. Out for a walk to clear his head he is accosted by a small time criminal and ends up with his gun in the man's mouth threatening the ultimate punishment. The story ends with the two men, one a long time failure with women, commiserating over their problems with the opposite sex.
In " The Bridge to China " a divorced woman, encouraged by her grown sons to date meets a widower through a dating site who, it becomes clear on their first date, is simply not ready to do so yet.
A brief story titled " In the Museum of the America's a middle aged man revels in fantasy thoughts while trying to evade the torturous memory of running over a small child that darted into traffic in front of him. Absolved of fault in the boys death he still cannot forgive himself.
In " We Belong Together " we are introduced to a man driving to a lunch date with his wife Tina. They are meeting their friend Cathy and we soon become knowledgeable that the man has had an affair and the wife has found out. She drops him off and leaves him and we now know the affair was with Kathy. Resolved that this is for the best he tells her brightly that they now can be together as they had wished. Kathy, however, hesitates and then tells him she has just accepted a job offer on the West Coast. He is to be alone.
Another tiny story called " Night " is a terrible four page screed of the fear of an abused wife, trying to protect her small son and take the abuse of a constantly abusive husband. At the same time as she cowers she tries to think of some way, anyway, to make the mornings light bring a chance to escape.
In " The Knoll, a longer story we see two unnamed members of what appears to be a large cabal who are in Dallas preparing for JFK's arrival. They are on the famous knoll and plan to execute him. As they set up we listen to their conversation as the two men, unknown to each other prior to this day, discuss and doubt each other, the plan, and their decision until they get the signal the motorcade is arriving. The conversation is relevant, more so perhaps today than in a long while, as they talk about various conspiracy theories they have heard or give faith to. The President plans to take us into full throated Communism, he plans to cancel elections, and other wild eyed fears. When one considers the conspiracy theories focused on our last President and this current one there is no doubt the danger we all live in. In the end just as out assassins are about to start their mission shots ring out from behind the President. Seeing the grave injury he has suffered They pack up and leave.
In " Sympathy " a wife enjoys a Saturday night at home watching a movie while her husband and his brother go to a movie she did not care to see. A call from a friend of hers, a nurse at the local hospital surprises her. Her husband has been brought into the emergency room suffering from cardiac arrest. His brother is not with him. The story progresses as one would expect except for the attitude the wife takes toward the young woman who did arrive at the hospital with him.
In Veterans Night tow young veterans from Iraq, suffering effects and injuries are enjoying a night at a local bar run by a Vietnam Veteran they respect and who, they know, respects them. A disturbance occurs which is broken up by the owners baseball bat. These two soldiers have little in the way of family and less in possessions but they share a bond together. On the way home they are accosted by the group form the bar, a shot rings out, a life is over, a life is changed. The shooter says " I wasn't even really that mad at him ".
In another tale of infidelity called " Unknown " a man's cell phone silently vibrates on the nightstand at three AM. It is his mistress, a woman he met a year ago showing her a house. As the relationship fades with his desire to not blow up his life she is threatening to kill herself. At what point does the selfishness of having an affair drift into the selfishness of turning away from the hurt you cause. Who is worth saving, when in the end your really only concerned with saving yourself.
Map Reading concerns the meeting of a middle aged man and his half sister for dinner in New York. His Father's daughter from his second marriage he had last seen her when she was three years old and he was just out of college. Now she is twenty three and he feels awkward. Lots of memories attach, his poor relationship with his Father, his sister's duality of love for him and critique and concern of his gay lifestyle. As they have dinner it is superficial but more comfortable than he thought. They both share stories of their Father who seems to have done little better the second time around at parenthood. When the girl singing in the too loud band approaches the table he is surprised to see his " sister " greet her warmly and hold her hand as she sits down. Later she tells him that had he been a part of her life growing up he could have helped her through the treacherous path she has had to traverse.
The Lineaments of Gratified Desire is the story you will remember. For those people who have had a destructive love. A love caught somewhere between passion and an Ebola like fever this story will bring it all back. We meet a young man with everything going right. He has a loving family. His art career is slowly gaining traction. He is engaged to be married to a young woman he adores and admires. One day a octogenarian man, a player in the Memphis community, rich beyond belief, spies one of his paintings in the restaurant he works part time at. Impressed he asks if he would do a portrait of the man's fiancée. We find out she is a twenty five year old beauty. Perhaps the most exquisite thing he has ever lain eyes on. The painting is to be a nude and the girl is no example of rectitude with clothes on or off. The picture the author draws of a man acting and witnessing his own destruction, as if from outside his body, with no apparent ability to change course is painful for anyone who has ever experienced it or witnesses someone they love go through it. It is an incredibly accurate portrayal of the emotions involved in such an act of self destruction.
In " The Same People " an elderly couple on vacation in Ireland has made a dual decision about the rest of their lives and in " The Macabre Hotel " a young couple on their long delayed " honeymoon" has their trip ruined by the arrival of the husbands dejected, angry, rude sister.
The book ends with a longish piece called " Still Here, Still There " in which we follow to ninety years on World War Two Veterans for who a reunion has been arranged. We learn that the men, one American, one German, met in Italy when the latter saved the life of the former and then promptly surrendered. It is a pretty gripping of the frailties of old age and the reality of memory that is often different from what is observed.
This is a strong collection.
June 9, 2017
I hated this book and didn't finish. I read 7 of the 14 stories and felt angry about wasting my time. The stories are too short, even for a short story. It's like he stops in the middle. The author is purposely vague about the character's relationships with each other leaving you to concentrate on figuring that out till almost the end of the story. He is constantly referring to any one of the characters as "the other", which I find annoying and lazy. The characters are obtuse, mostly unlikable and unrealistic. I can't for the life of me figure out how this gets 4 out of 5 stars here on Goodreads but I'm going to find some good reviews and see about other people's perspectives.
June 11, 2018
Easy book to read as it was only comprised of short stories. There stories ranged from being 5 pages long to 25 pages long. There was a great variety and each story had life of its own but they shared some central themes.
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SPOILER ALERT
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Walking Distance and Veteran's Night talked briefly about guns and police brutality and how easily violence can be used and executed in this world.
Walking Distance, We Belong Together, Sympathy and Unknown highlighted the consequences of cheating and being cheated on/the aspects and many dimensions of leaving a relationship or being the one left behind in a relationship/outlined how relationships ended and the finality of it was written very well.
Night was a story about abusive relationships.
The Knoll was a story about assasinations
Map Reading was a story about childhood traumas and how a person could have been there for another person all this time but wasn't and the consequences of growing up with that
The above stories were more on the heavier and darker side whereas stories like A Bridge to China (story about a failed date), The Same People (couple's disagreements over whether to have children or not) and The Hotel Macabre (honeymoon problems) were mellower and more light-hearted.
My favourite 2 has got to be Sympathy and The Lineaments of Gratified Desire. If these stories stood alone, I would rank them 4.5/5 in a heartbeat. I liked how both stories showed me another side or another perspective of cheating. No, the book did not try to sugarcoat cheating and how terrible and utterly devastating the effects of cheating can have on the people involved (on BOTH parties - the one cheated on and more importantly, it also highlighted the effects on the people that cheat *The Lineaments of Gratified Desire*, one that is often left unexplored and not discussed in real life nor in books). *Sympathy* also highlighted how there can be kindness even in one's darkest hour - the kindness shown by the women who was cheated on to the lady her husband cheated on ... the husband obviously did not deserve it but the fact that she was able to pick not only herself up but forgive the 3rd party involved shows how strong women are and can be even when they are in the most tragic of relations with their husbands.
Overall, I gave this book a rating of 3 because it's style and manner of writing was very conservation-based. It jumped straight into the characters and there was a lot of written speech, often followed by huge chunks third person narrative before jumping back into conversational written dialogue between the characters. This style worked really well for some scenes/plots/stories but did not resonate well with others. All in all, some stories obviously stood out way more than others but not all of them did. Hence, the 3/5 rating.
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SPOILER ALERT
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Walking Distance and Veteran's Night talked briefly about guns and police brutality and how easily violence can be used and executed in this world.
Walking Distance, We Belong Together, Sympathy and Unknown highlighted the consequences of cheating and being cheated on/the aspects and many dimensions of leaving a relationship or being the one left behind in a relationship/outlined how relationships ended and the finality of it was written very well.
Night was a story about abusive relationships.
The Knoll was a story about assasinations
Map Reading was a story about childhood traumas and how a person could have been there for another person all this time but wasn't and the consequences of growing up with that
The above stories were more on the heavier and darker side whereas stories like A Bridge to China (story about a failed date), The Same People (couple's disagreements over whether to have children or not) and The Hotel Macabre (honeymoon problems) were mellower and more light-hearted.
My favourite 2 has got to be Sympathy and The Lineaments of Gratified Desire. If these stories stood alone, I would rank them 4.5/5 in a heartbeat. I liked how both stories showed me another side or another perspective of cheating. No, the book did not try to sugarcoat cheating and how terrible and utterly devastating the effects of cheating can have on the people involved (on BOTH parties - the one cheated on and more importantly, it also highlighted the effects on the people that cheat *The Lineaments of Gratified Desire*, one that is often left unexplored and not discussed in real life nor in books). *Sympathy* also highlighted how there can be kindness even in one's darkest hour - the kindness shown by the women who was cheated on to the lady her husband cheated on ... the husband obviously did not deserve it but the fact that she was able to pick not only herself up but forgive the 3rd party involved shows how strong women are and can be even when they are in the most tragic of relations with their husbands.
Overall, I gave this book a rating of 3 because it's style and manner of writing was very conservation-based. It jumped straight into the characters and there was a lot of written speech, often followed by huge chunks third person narrative before jumping back into conversational written dialogue between the characters. This style worked really well for some scenes/plots/stories but did not resonate well with others. All in all, some stories obviously stood out way more than others but not all of them did. Hence, the 3/5 rating.
September 27, 2017
Bausch’s flair in short fiction is very much still in evidence in this latest collection. Despite the false start of the first story “Walking Distance”, the rest of the stories sparkle with the wit and acerbic dialogue that his characters are best known for. That first story was an unpleasant surprise, given the abruptness of the action and the unrealistic turn of events and most surprisingly, the stilted dialogue. And breaking one of the cardinal rules of storytelling, “Chekhov’s Gun”, it literally featured a gun that failed to be fired.
Thankfully, Bausch recovers his form in the stories that follow, often featuring men and women attempting to establish some equilibrium in their lives but making unexpected connections with the least expected people. In “The Bridge to China”, a woman experiencing the empty nest syndrome, decides to try out an online dating service on her son’s casual advice, and finds out that instead of quelling her loneliness, she gains a kind of uneasy acceptance of her condition and even an ambivalent sympathy for her emotional date.
Elsewhere, in “We Belong Together”, “Unknown”,”Sympathy”, and “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire”, though they are hardly morality tales, adulterers and unfaithful lovers and their betrayed or spurned partners deal with the pangs of heartache and distress in variously comic, tragic and eventful situations.
An imaginative take on JFK’s assassination in “The Knoll” and the unlikely friendship between two soldiers on opposite sides in “Still Here, Still There” showcase Bausch’s nuanced perspectives on individuals whose personal dramas are no less than the macrocosmic events that they are caught up in.
Overall, like the title suggests, this highly enjoyable collection shows the different weather conditions one goes through in life, and that all you can do is to try to press on till the storm subsides, if it ever does.
Thankfully, Bausch recovers his form in the stories that follow, often featuring men and women attempting to establish some equilibrium in their lives but making unexpected connections with the least expected people. In “The Bridge to China”, a woman experiencing the empty nest syndrome, decides to try out an online dating service on her son’s casual advice, and finds out that instead of quelling her loneliness, she gains a kind of uneasy acceptance of her condition and even an ambivalent sympathy for her emotional date.
Elsewhere, in “We Belong Together”, “Unknown”,”Sympathy”, and “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire”, though they are hardly morality tales, adulterers and unfaithful lovers and their betrayed or spurned partners deal with the pangs of heartache and distress in variously comic, tragic and eventful situations.
An imaginative take on JFK’s assassination in “The Knoll” and the unlikely friendship between two soldiers on opposite sides in “Still Here, Still There” showcase Bausch’s nuanced perspectives on individuals whose personal dramas are no less than the macrocosmic events that they are caught up in.
Overall, like the title suggests, this highly enjoyable collection shows the different weather conditions one goes through in life, and that all you can do is to try to press on till the storm subsides, if it ever does.
September 17, 2017
In general I am not a real fan of short stories. They are often too long. And what is simply outrageous is that this volume is the third collection of shorts that I have read this summer! How is that for an absurdity. But there is a rational behind it as, you see, dear reader, I am trying to read Anna Karenina and have a difficult time with it, so I pick up a book of short stories as a diversion, a little break from the tedious plodding of Anna and Vronsky. This particular collection was given to me by an old college friend who does like short stories. He has given me many volumes of short stories over the years of people who also write longer fiction that I enjoy and what is so strange is that he does not like modern fiction. He is always reading Dickens, Melville, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky etc so it is amusing to me when I think about the dichotomy of our likes and dislikes regarding fiction. He inscribed the book with this:
"5.20.17 - To Steve, a great(underlined) reader, belatedly on his birthday. (March 30) Enjoy the wonderful and natural wit of these stories and the characters who inhabit them." He captured it well. They are wonderful stories, and full of a scathing wit about what one would describe as the absolute clusterfuck of how we live now. There is an epigraph with part of something bigger but says this ".......what people visit on each other out of something like love. it's enough for all the world's woe....you don't even need hate to have a perfectly miserable time." - Annie Field
That about captures these stories.
I don't know Annie Field, but none-the-less, words fail me. Truly amazing stories and the ending of everyone will leave you closing the book and looking at it for a bit. And then reading the ending again and closing the book and looking at. And a few of them leave you dumbstruck. How do writers think of these things?
"5.20.17 - To Steve, a great(underlined) reader, belatedly on his birthday. (March 30) Enjoy the wonderful and natural wit of these stories and the characters who inhabit them." He captured it well. They are wonderful stories, and full of a scathing wit about what one would describe as the absolute clusterfuck of how we live now. There is an epigraph with part of something bigger but says this ".......what people visit on each other out of something like love. it's enough for all the world's woe....you don't even need hate to have a perfectly miserable time." - Annie Field
That about captures these stories.
I don't know Annie Field, but none-the-less, words fail me. Truly amazing stories and the ending of everyone will leave you closing the book and looking at it for a bit. And then reading the ending again and closing the book and looking at. And a few of them leave you dumbstruck. How do writers think of these things?
August 21, 2020
Living in the Weather of the World, by Richard Bausch; Alfred A. Knopf: New York; $25.95 hardback
A short story which can capture an element of human drama, and leave the reader in reflection, deserves great praise. In his latest effort of 14 short stories, Richard Bausch, much awarded author of novels and short stories collections, college professor and greatly anticipated writer for major magazines such as the New Yorker and Atlantic, triumphs.
Each of these stories brings us a glimmer of a world which bears appreciation. Two soldiers of World War II meet decades later, as part of a television series on reconciliation. Yet, are they truly reconciled, can they ever be? Will the true story of that fateful day when one saved the otehr be revealed, or for that matter, should it? Or consider strange conversations overheard at dinner. Bausch writes with a flavor that makes you almost feel as if you are eavesdropping on real people. That can only happen because Bausch is a master of dialogue. He can set the piece minimally, yet your mind's eye fills in the atmosphere because the discussion is so engrossing.
One story introduces a man in an ancient America museum. His museum experience becomes yours, where he is the piece to be considered, not the blood drenched manifestations and carvings of an ancient past on display. The unnerving story of two men, who meet near a knoll, discuss their appreciation of the new president. Then something utterly unexpected happens. We are left wondering what, if any, role they had.
Once Bausch catches you, you will be a fan for a long time. You'll seek his other books, because his stories are the kind you want to tell others about.
February 10, 2022
Until last year, I'm not sure I had heard of Bausch, and now he's one of my favorites after reading his collection of short stories, "Fireman's Wife." I liked that the stories in "Fireman's Wife" and in "Living in the Weather of the World" depict characters and settings that are realistic but the characters are wholly realized, drawn with nuance and understanding.
The stories in this collection all have a connection to Memphis, where the author lives and teaches. They're not otherwise linked and they represent a different South than that of the New South that forms the settings for Frederick Barthleme's stories. There were a couple of stories that I said, "I'll just read one section before going to bed," and then kept reading.
As with the "Fireman's Wife," Bausch's stories here often end with unexpected grace and sympathy, and even if the stories themselves were bleak -- like the story about a single mom going on a horrible date -- there's a hint of optimism based on an epiphany we hope the character has had.
Can't wait to read more by Bausch; I'm deciding between one of his novels and a large collection of short stories.
The stories in this collection all have a connection to Memphis, where the author lives and teaches. They're not otherwise linked and they represent a different South than that of the New South that forms the settings for Frederick Barthleme's stories. There were a couple of stories that I said, "I'll just read one section before going to bed," and then kept reading.
As with the "Fireman's Wife," Bausch's stories here often end with unexpected grace and sympathy, and even if the stories themselves were bleak -- like the story about a single mom going on a horrible date -- there's a hint of optimism based on an epiphany we hope the character has had.
Can't wait to read more by Bausch; I'm deciding between one of his novels and a large collection of short stories.
August 21, 2017
Just when you think Richard Bausch couldn't possibly write another gripping, visceral, masterful work of fiction, he comes out with an astonishing collection of stories that prove once again that he's one of the finest writers living today. I've read nearly every one of his books and own signed first editions of many of them. I've heard him read and speak several times at the biennial Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga, TN. That said, I am obviously a huuuge fan! These stories of love, violence, betrayal, and conflict accurately explain the title. We are all living in the weather of the world and all we can do is try to cope and adapt to whatever comes our way and hope we survive the storms. Pay attention to the details or you'll miss the subtle crafting that is his signature. I recommend that you listen to his interview on the Bookworm podcast. He's a gentle soul with a powerful pen.
October 23, 2017
I found my attention often wandering while reading Bausch's recent collection of stories.
Throughout the anthology, he takes on the vicissitudes of daily life - love, betrayal, war, finding some peace, forgiveness, small arguments that boil into catastrophe, the mud and sticks of making a life - of finding a life.
The final story, "Still Here, Still There" snagged deepest. Two ancients meet to talk about their encounter during WW2 and the interweaving of their memories of that meeting and their lives over the next seventy years. A moving tale.
"The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" also made a mark on me.
And the collection title best captures the range and mood and depth of Bausch's insight.
Throughout the anthology, he takes on the vicissitudes of daily life - love, betrayal, war, finding some peace, forgiveness, small arguments that boil into catastrophe, the mud and sticks of making a life - of finding a life.
The final story, "Still Here, Still There" snagged deepest. Two ancients meet to talk about their encounter during WW2 and the interweaving of their memories of that meeting and their lives over the next seventy years. A moving tale.
"The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" also made a mark on me.
And the collection title best captures the range and mood and depth of Bausch's insight.
August 23, 2023
I like this book because it's very simple and explains most people's lives. everything about this book seems very real, from the writing style to the way the characters interact with each other, it shows a good range of human emotions. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I was older and although everything was well written, only 2 stories connected to me because I'm still a teenager and haven't gone through what most of the people in this book went through. but when those two stories connected to me, they hit SUPER deep and i had to just stare at the page for a moment because i didn't expect to connect to it. overall, it was a good read but I wouldn’t say I enjoyed reading it just because it doesn't connect to me personally.
May 19, 2017
I've been reading Richard Bausch's fiction for many years, and I always look forward to more. Living in the Weather of the World is amazing. If anyone doubted that he's a master of the American short story, this book clinches that accolade. The characters grabbed my heart, and the realness and immediacy of the situations and the characters' responses linger in my thoughts--I keep thinking about this book, how life unfolds, and what we can and cannot control. I highly recommend this story collection. And if you want a good Richard Bausch novel, I'd recommend the short historical novel Peace.
June 4, 2017
My first short story read. I was amazed at how quickly the author could get familiarize you with his characters (which I guess is vital with short story writing). A few of the stories were not as successful and many of them had endings that weren't really that, they more or less just floated off - I don't know how else to describe it. A story would be very engaging and then just leave you hanging there like an incomplete thought. Curious.
May 16, 2017
Richard Bausch casts a long shadow across the American short story form along with Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus and Bruce Jay Friedman. The stories--whether a fast hit or a slow burn--all leave a mark. Highly recommended for those who look for poetry in the everyday and meaning in the quickest glance.
May 29, 2017
A stunning collection of short stories written with simplicity and directness. Bausch takes common prosaic situations and looks underneath to reveal the brittle fragile condition of his characters. Complex characters, sad/ominous tales told with compassion. No one writes quite like Richard Bausch.
April 15, 2018
Bausch was my creative writing professor in college so I love reading his work and thinking of him reading/writing it. I especially liked that this collection was basically set in my neighborhood, so I could picture the places he wrote about. His writing is so descriptive, you can imagine it without seeing the streets, but it’s a nice touch. He writes relationships so well.
June 30, 2017
I have read many collections of short stories. It is a form that I usually enjoy. I wonder why the author was unable to include a few that were uplifting or lighter. My overall impression was well written but depressing.
July 19, 2021
I have never read Richard Bausch before and I enjoyed these stories. They were perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon. A lot of the stories involve struggling romantic relationships. I found the stories engaging and the characters real.
September 29, 2021
The reader gets such depth of insight into each character's thoughts and feelings, some of which are depressing - just like real life. At times, I got bored with the internal or external dialogue, because it was so true to life and could get repetitive or mundane.
May 29, 2017
Wonderfully rich stories that reek of daily life.
June 2, 2017
Good writer. Didn't like a few stories but on the whole they were well written and interesting.
July 17, 2017
Obviously a talented writer, but I didn't like every story.
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