And other stories

by John O'Hara

Hardcover with jacket in good condition. First edition, first printing. Jacket is lightly marked and tanned. Laminate on jacket lifts in places. Jacket leading corners, edges and spine ends are worn and nicked. One centimetre tears on rear edges. Hardcover leading corners, edges and spine ends are bumped. Page block and a few pages are lightly marked and sunned. Some pages are creased. Text is clear throughout. HCW

Genres: Short Stories

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

American writer John Henry O'Hara contributed short stories to the New Yorker and wrote novels, such as BUtterfield 8 (1935) and Ten North Frederick (1955).

Best-selling works of John Henry O'Hara include Appointment in Samarra . People particularly knew him for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue. O'Hara, a keen observer of social status and class differences, wrote frequently about the socially ambitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O&#...

Reviews

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of short stories by one of the masters of the genre, John O'Hara. O'Hara's And Other Stories includes three of my favorite stories, including "A Few Trips and Some Poetry" (novella length), "The Strong Man," and "Gunboat Jenkins and Marge." Each of these stories features the men and women of eastern Pennsylvania in the early to mid-20th century and are a fascinating peek into the small-town America of my parents and grandparents generations.

Perhaps what intrigues me the most though is that the characters and relationships that O'Hara has described in each of these dialog-driven tales feel real, and feel like people I've known or heard about. These tales are full of boozy, cigarette-smoking, somewhat risque people; and while social mores and the sexual interactions between men and women are certainly different today than the eras that John O'Hara tended to write about, the intricate dance between the sexes hasn't really changed all that much. So, if you're looking for some really fine short stories about flawed, but interesting, people in the early 20th century, you simply can't go wrong with John O'Hara's And Other Stories. This collection gets 4 of 5 stars from me.

[Caroline Bartels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m such a John O’Hara fan — the stories are a bit unequal in quality, but there is just something about the way he writes that I love. Everything feels so honest and straightforward. Because he spent a large part of his later career in Hollywood, the Hollywood/movie stories are really wonderful. And the smattering of his fictional Gibbsville, PA characters that appear peppered in these stories just makes me want to go back and re-read a bunch of the novels again.

[Daniel Severin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of short stories. These later O'Hara tales advance the themes developed elsewhere in his work and captures mid-20th century American middle class life like no other author has done. Life on a Pennsylvania farm is well depicted, as is the pressure of having to live up to one's parents' high expectations ("The Gangster"). The author's alter-ego, Jim Malloy's love, or rather, sex life gets fleshed out in the novella "A Few Trips and Some Poetry," which is a worthy successor to "Sermons and Soda-Water." A few very different unconventional long-term relationships are depicted in this book (in A Few trips & The Gunboat and Madge) in a skillful way. Another innovative technique O'Hara employs in "A Man on a Porch," where the meaning of a man's life is re-evaluated by two men in an engaging dialogue. This book is tragically less famous than his other short story collections, but there is plenty for longtime fans and newcomers alike to appreciate in And Other Stories.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodness me O'Hara is dated now. He has his moments occasionally for sure. He obviously had some attraction to the lesbian scene and thought he could write from that perspective. Which is a little odd frankly!

[Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that were all a little ehhh - sometimes the messages revealed at the ends of the stories seemed minor or obvious, and sometimes the characters' actions seemed unrealistic and unjustifiable. Certainly, many of the rich socialites depicted were maddeningly annoying - sometimes it's so obvious that an author is part of the upperclass. The only story that stood out for me was "The Broken Giraffe", probably because it is a take down of that wealthy, snobby crowd. I saved the included novella "A Few Tips and Some Poetry" until last because it was so long then lost interest in the book and never read it, so I can't comment on that story.