Among the Missing

by Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon opens his new collection of stories with an epigraph from Raymond Carver: "Whatever this was all about, it was not a vain attempt--journey." This is pretty opaque stuff from Carver, a writer not much given to mystification. But it strikes just the right note for Chaon's assembly of characters, a group vaguely unsettled by life, trying to make the best of it. First and foremost, this is a book beset by moms. You get the feeling that the characters in Among the Missing never really had a chance to figure out the world, with these cryptic, uncommunicative women to care for them. In the title story, for example, a car is discovered at the bottom of a local lake, with an entire family drowned inside. The college-age narrator, however, is preoccupied by the more mundane puzzle of his parents' relationship. "Somehow," he recounts, "they'd stayed married for twenty years, and then, abruptly, somehow they'd decided to give up. It didn't quite make sense, and I looked at them, for a minute aware of the other mystery in my life. 'Do you want some soup?' my mother asked, as if I were a customer."

That's about as much as you'll ever get out of one of Chaon's mothers: soup. When not fielding their aging parents' passivity, these characters seem to spend a lot of time grappling with ghosts. The "missing" of the title story are, literally, gone. In "Safety Man," a widow comes to rely on one of those inflatable dolls meant to intimidate intruders. In "Prosthesis," a young wife and mother falls for a stranger with a missing arm; meanwhile, she watches her son grow up and away from her, "disappearing into his own thoughts and feelings." In the end, Chaon is the rare writer who deserves comparison to Carver: both write an affectless prose that takes on a surprisingly emotional life of its own. --Claire Dederer

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Short Story Collection, Literature, Ebooks

149 pages

First published July 3, 2001

About the author

Dan Chaon is the author of Among the Missing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and You Remind Me of Me, which was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction, and he was the recipient of the 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and teaches at Oberlin College, where he is the Pauline M. Delaney Professor of Creative Writing. His new novel, Await Your Reply, will be published in late August 2009.

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2006, there was a film in Malayalam which became a cult film of sorts. It was called Thanmathra ("Molecule"), and depicted a man's frightening descent into Alzheimer's. But what gave the story its poignancy was the bond between the protagonist and his son: the single-minded effort on the part of the former to make the latter an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. Incidentally, the movie also focussed on the relationship between the protagonist and his father.

Speaking on the movie, the director said that he chose the name of the film to represent Indian society. Even if each family was nuclear (an atom, in fact), it was joined to a multitude of other families - each son was a father, each mother a daughter, each son a father in his turn... and so on and so forth. In India, the joint family never died, but formed a loosely structured molecule.

This metaphor stuck in my mind, and I was immediately reminded of it the moment I read the stories in this collection. Because Dan Chaon is writing about a molecule that is fast coming unstuck.

-------------------------------------------

If I were asked to pick a theme running through all the stories in this collection, I would say 'family'. Here are fathers, sons, mothers, daughters and siblings, all loving and hating, bonding and drifting apart. I am not familiar with American society, but from the laments I have heard from friends and relatives settled abroad about 'deteriorating' relationships, I conclude that the strong familial fidelity that is the norm in India is conspicuous by its absence. This in itself is not a bad thing: it gives a lot of freedom to individuals, and does prevent parental notions of control which can become claustrophobic. But it does remove the safety net below the tenuous thing we call 'security'.

This is illustrated in the story Falling Backwards. This tale, told from back to front, traces the life of an alienated woman at her current lonely stage in life to her childhood moments of companionship with her father. It ends with the telling metaphor of her father and herself falling backwards willingly from a construction scaffolding, knowing that the net will catch them.

Chaon flirts with horror (he confesses himself a horror fan), but there is nothing supernatural in these stories. What we see are glimpses of the darkness just below the surface. In a way, it is more frightening than ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night: because it is the darkness of the mind that is made visible. In I Demand to Know Where You Are Taking Me, one of the darkest stories in the collection, a macaw becomes the mouthpiece of a convicted rapist for his sister-in-law, who has a love-hate relationship with him. In Here's a Little Something to Remember Me By, a shameful childhood secret keeps on haunting a man, who is not allowed to grow up because his silence might have cost his friend his life. In both these stories, the conclusion is left tantalisingly uncertain.

The fluidity of time (as explored in Falling Backwards) as well as the fiendish face behind the smiling visage are hinted at in Big Me, which could be a frightening tale of a psychotic murderer or an innocent child's fantasy, depending on how we look at it.

In the title story Among the Missing, there is a telling image of a family which apparently committed suicide en masse by driving into a lake. This story serves as a template, I feel, for all things Dan Chaon is trying to articulate.

Looking at their photograph, you couldn’t help imagining them all in that car, under the water. I saw it as a scene in a Bergman film—a kind of dreamy blur around the edges, the water a certain undersea color, like a reflection through green glass. Their bodies would be lifted a bit, floating a few centimeters above the upholstery, bobbing a little with the currents but held fast by the seat belts. Silver minnows would flit past the pale hands that still gripped the steering wheel, and hide in the seaweed of the little girl’s long, drifting hair; a plastic ball might be floating near the ceiling. Their eyes would be wide, and their mouths slightly open; their skin would be pale and shimmery as the inside of a clamshell; but there would be no real expression on their faces. They would just stare, perhaps with faint surprise.

This image stayed with me, long after I closed the book.

-------------------------------------------

The short story is an entirely different proposition from the novel, even though both are forms of narrative. The novel is usually a relatively long and leisurely read, and the reader has a long affair with it: there is time for character development, philosophical discourses, interior monologue... whereas the short story wins purely on how effective it is in conveying its theme with the most economy of words. If the novel is a marriage, the short story is a whirlwind affair conducted over a weekend.

The best short stories are those that hit you with the force of a sledge hammer - which the stories in this collection do.

Well worth reading, if darkness does not bother you. If more sunny literature is your cup of tea, better leave it alone.

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 3 out of 5]

در میان گمشدگان روایت کسانی ایست که در حال رفتن هستند ، آدمهایی مایوس ، خسته و غمگین ، آدمهایی که از هر جهت ، زندگی کاری ، یا زندگی مشترک آنها عملا تمام شده و مرده اند ، آن هایی که مدام به این فکر می کنند که کدام تصمیم یا کدام حادثه آنها را به جایی که هستند کشانده است .
داستان های کتاب در زمان گذشته می گذرد ، همانند کتاب آتش بازی ، فاجعه ای برای این افراد رخ داده و زندگی آنها را دگرگون کرده است . انچه آنان می خواهند بدانند اینست که چگونه به این نقطه رسیده اند و برای درک آن مجبور هستند به گذشته و آنچه بر سرشان گذشته است بر گردند .
ناشر در معرفی این کتاب به بهترین و کاملترین شکل ممکن حال افراد کتاب را نشان داده است :
آنچه این آدم‌ها پشت سرگذاشته‌اند معمولاً سیاه است، زمان حال به خاکستری می‌زند و آینده، مثل توفانی در راه، نحس و دهشت‌زاست.

[Javad Azadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

شاید نمره‌اش واقعا 4 باشه اما یه ستاره دیگه‌ام بابت حسی که ایجاد کرد و اینکه یه حال و هوای خاص داره، بهش میدم.

نویسنده، به گفته‌ی خودش، بجای نوشتن داستان‌هایی مثل کپسولی از نصیحت و پند‌های اخلاقی، دست خواننده رو میگیره و به دنیای متناقض غم‌ها و شادی‌ها میبره؛ دنیایی که توی زیباترین خاطراتش کلی غم عمیق و توی تراژیک‌ترین لحظاتش، مفاهیمی مضحک، خنده‌دار و سطحی دیده میشه.

[Yasamin Kashfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

خیلی خوب. مدت‌ها بود داستانی رو (حتی با همین حجم کم) یک نفس نخونده بودم. با وجود اینکه هر داستان و شخصیتش بعد از تموم شدن سنگینی می‌کرد و نیاز داشتی ته‌نشین بشه، شوق به خوندن داستان بعدی هم بود.
داستان‌هایی که می‌تونند تو قالب کلیشه‌ای رنج از روابط انسانی/خانوادگی شکست خورده و از دست رفته تعریف بشند، به عمیق‌ترین و غیرکلیشه‌ای ترین شکل پرداخته می‌شند.
دلم می‌خواست نویسنده رو از نزدیک می‌شناختم. ببینم خودش هم از همین راوی‌های نوجوان حساس و خیال‌
پرداز و «دوربین‌های کوچک» داستان‌هاش بوده. (طبق صفحه ویکی‌پدیاش گویا بوده) و الآن چطوریه.

یک نکته در مورد ترجمه اینکه در خود یادداشت مترجم هم اومده کتاب گزیده‌ای از دو کتاب نویسنده است. دست مترجم درد نکنه که این نویسنده رو معرفی کرده و برای اولین بار کتابی ازش به فارسی ترجمه شده. ولی کاش تمام داستان‌های مجموعه ترجمه می‌شد. برداشتم از ریویوهای انگلیسی این بود که چند تا داستان مهمش نیست. شاید هم ترجمه نکردنشون به ناچار و برای گریز از سانسور داستان‌ها بوده.
در هر حال توصیه کردنی.

[Arman V · Rating 4 out of 5]

عاشق داستانِ پشیمان شدم
اگر به داستان هایی در موضوعاتی همچون مرگ ، ترک کردن، خاطرات و ... علاقه دارید این کتاب کوتاه میتونه گزینه ای مناسب باشه

[Azar · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتابو خیلی دوس داشتم. مطمینا دوباره هم برمیگردم میخونمشون چون چند تا داستان کوتاهه و گه‌گداری میشه برگشت بهش بدون وقت زیاد گذاشتن. فضاها تا حدی شبیه همه. تو هر داستان یه فردی از خانواده با شخصیت و رفتاراش و افکارش حالت های رازآلود و تاریکی به قصه اضافه میکنه. یکی دوتا داستان خیلی سیاه بودند ولی در کل روایت ها و شخصیت پردازی اونقدر جذاب و پرکششه که دارک بودن و پایان سرراست نداشتن بعضیاشون برای من رومخ نبود :)

[Raheleh · Rating 3 out of 5]

این کتاب شامل ۶ داستان کوتاه است که منتخبی ست از دو تا از کتاب های مجموعه داستانی دن شاون، نویسنده ی آمریکایی. در ابتدای این کتاب مترجم یادداشت خیلی خوبی نوشته که کمک میکنه با فضای داستان ها و شیوه ی نویسندگی دن شاون آشنا بشیم. بطور کلی داستان ها از دل حوادثی در میاد که خیلی هم خاص و عجیب نیستند. راوی معمولا نوجوانانی هستند که به دنبال سرنخ تو گذشته هتند روایت ها الزاما خیلی دقیق نیست چون زمان زیادی ازشون گذشته و اینکه از دید و درک نوجوون متفاوت بوده و همین ها به حوادث معمولی حالتِ رازآلودگی میده. یکی از داستان هاش رو خیلی دوست داشتم. داستانِ "پشیمان" داستانی که به روابط بچه ها با پدر و مادراشون اشاره میکنه، به تفاوت ها و شیوه ی تربیتی که میتونه آسیب هاش تا پایان زندگی فرد همراهش بمونه، داستانیه که مطمئنا افراد زیادی باهاش همذات پنداری میکنند و کاملا ملموسه.

[Amir · Rating 3 out of 5]

دن چاون با تلفظ گویا دقیق‌تر شاون داستان کوتاهی داره توی این کتاب به اسم پشیمان. یکی از بهترین داستان کوتاه‌هایی که توی عمرم خوندم همینه. فکر کنم برای خیلی از مردهایی که از پدرشون خاطره دارن -حالا چه خوب و چه بد- می‌تونه پر از چیزهایی باشه که باز به یاد بیاره. باز به یاد بیاره همه‌ی اون خاطره‌هایی که آدم گاهی دوست داره فراموش‌شون کنه و اما می‌دونه که نمی‌تونه.

[Samira · Rating 5 out of 5]

چقدر چقدر چقدر فضای جادویی و خاصِ تک تک داستان‌ها رو دوست داشتم!
هر کدوم از داستا‌‌ن‌ها رو چندین بار خوندم و هر دفعه با خودم می‌گفتم تلخ ولی عالی، درست مثل طعمِ شکلات تلخ که کم‌کم مزه مزه‌ش می‌کنی و تلخی‌ش خوشاینده! :))

به خاطر فضای داستان‌ها، سبک ساده و خودمونی و همینطور ترجمه‌ی خیلی عالی‌ای که داره بهش ۵ستاره می‌دم و این کتاب رو میذارم در صدر لیست کتاب‌های قابل هدیه به دوستای کتابخون! و هم‌سن‌وسال خودم، اینطوری دست‌کم یه قدمی هم در راه شناخته‌تر شدن هرچه بیشتر این کتاب برمی‌دارم.

فک کنم دیگه تمام هیجانم رو ثبت کردم :)؛
این کتاب بیانگر رنجِ دورانِ کودکی، نوجوانی، بزرگسالی، والدین و خانواده‌ست، از دستش ندید.


«اصلا مهم نیست چطور رفتار می‌کنی؛ آنها سرانجام درباره‌ات قضاوت می‌کنند، حکمی کلی می‌دهند و از قضا درست همان لحظاتی در یادشان خواهد ماند، آن هم با وضوح تمام و با همه‌ی جزییات تاسف‌بارشان، که تو حال چندان خوشی نداری. بعدها همین جزییات هم بی‌شک بارها به دام تحریف، اغراق و تکرار می‌افتند و در نهایت همین تصاویر بدل می‌شوند به چکیده‌ی شخصیتت و ذاتت: کاریکاتورت.»

[payam Mohammadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

انصافا داستان‌هاش به جز داستان آخرش که منظور نویسنده رو متوجه نشدم خوب بودند. همه‌ی این داستان‌ها به تنهایی آدم‌ها در جهان مدرن اشاره داشت. آدم‌هایی که در خانواده‌های سست بنیان بزرگ می‌شوند و خودشان نیز پایه‌گذار بنیان‌های سست خانواده‌ی جدیدتری می‌شوند.
‌‌‌ولی در کل خودم اونقدر داستان‌های کوتاه رو دوست ندارم و هر کاری می‌کنم نمی‌تونم به این سبک از ادبیات روی خوش نشون بدم. چون داستان‌ها هر قدر هم جذاب باشند، خواننده تا میاد به فضای داستان عادت بکند تموم میشه. و به نظرم این باگ اساسی مجموعه داستان‌های کوتاه هستش.

[Shahab · Rating 2 out of 5]

داستان های این مجموعه درباره مردان و زنانی است که در جایگاه راوی داستان در تلاش اند بفهمند چه تصمیم، اتفاق یا حادثه ای آن ها و سرنوشتشان را به وضع فعلی رسانده است. گذشته آنها سیاه، حال خاکستری و آینده شان نحس و دهشت زاست.

[Eshraq]

انقد خوشم میاد داستان کوتاه رو انقد کامل مینویسند. بدون هیچ کم و زیادی. دیدید یه وقتایی انقدر جاموندید که حتا نمیشه کتاب هم خوند؟ فکر کنم این کتاب برای همون وقتاس.
خیلی لذت بردم.
من بودم و کلمات و فکر اینکه من و خانواده کجاییم؟

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Among the Missing" is Dan Chaon's second collection of short stories and the first book of his I have read. I once read a creepy little story of his called "The Bees" in a contemporary horror anthology. It stood out because of its incredibly disturbing subject matter (spousal abuse) and horrific imagery of a man who literally can't escape his past. The story haunted me for weeks, and thinking about it now, it still does.

The stories in this collection are much less horrific, but they still manage to disturb. You can't walk away from a Dan Chaon story without feeling slightly unhinged.

The stories in "Among the Missing" involve characters of all ages, from all walks of life, from different socio-economic backgrounds, but the one thing they all have in common is denial. They are all in denial about something: failing marriages, mental illness, bad parenting, being sexually molested as a child, hatred of one's family, life-threatening diseases. They are the subtle everyday denials that, I think, everyone at some point suffers from, the kind of small (but not insignificant) denials that we hide from our loved ones and co-workers that still enable us to function in our everyday lives, just not to our full potential.

Chaon writes beautifully, and, thankfully, he lightens the load of such powerhouse emotional stories with some humor. Granted, it is extremely subtle humor, so subtle that some people who have read Chaon's work can't seem to find it, they are too overwhelmed by the tragedy. The humor is there, though. It may be of the dark "gallows" variety, but it's there.

Among my favorites in this collection (although all 12 of the short stories are brilliant): "Safety Man", in which a widowed mother of two girls finds solace and protection from a blow-up doll that her husband bought her as a joke not long before his untimely death; "Here's a Little Something to Remember Me By", in which a man is forever haunted by the disappearance of his best friend from grade school and an incident that occurred in the park that he is unable to share with anyone, even his wife; "Late for the Wedding", in which a young college-age man starts up a relationship with a much older professor, who, as it turns out, has a son that is close enough in age with the young man to be more than awkward.

If you can appreciate the efficiency of prose in the art-form of the short story and/or just like great writing, you may want to check out Dan Chaon.

[Parastoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

داستان‌های تلخ و واقعی و بسیار روان و خواندنی. دنیای نوجوانان خیالباف که اغلب در خانواده‌هایی پر از مشکل زندگی می‌کنند. از دن شان دیگه کتابی ترجمه نشده به فارسی؟

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the Missing is a collection that reminds me why I dislike short stories as a genre. Characters are introduced, developed, and then the story ends. I enjoyed the collection because it holds together thematically very well. The plot sequence of a disappeared body frames a discussion of how we lose track of ourselves over our lifetime, how we lose connections with those we purport to love.

The story “Here’s a Little Something to Remember Me By,” particularly interested me in the way it weaves together questions of memory – how accurately can we remember the past? – with those of identity – how well can/do the people around us know who we are? Can we ever be known by someone else? – and with the terribly certainty that our lives will always be a ruined version of what we once imagined.

The nostalgia for a life led in possibility and hope permeates the collection. While I didn’t find myself identifying with the protagonists – didn’t find myself (yet) willing to admit the disappearance of my life as I imagine(d) it – I couldn’t help but be affected by the pessimism of the collection, the quiet tragedy of an argument for life as a disappointment; dreams, plans and schemes as inevitably lost. So not a cheery collection, by any stretch of the imagination, but one that consistently and carefully considers what we lose by living.

[Arsalan · Rating 4 out of 5]

فضای جالبی داشت. ولی ترجیحا برای لذت وافر بردن از داستانهایش باید با فاصله زمانی خواند.

[Zeinab · Rating 4 out of 5]

خب، اول از همه باید بگم که این کتاب خیلی فراتر از تصورم بود!
با این دید که یه کتاب کوچولو کنار کتابای سنگین می‌خونم شروعش کردم، ولی بدجوری منو جذب خودش کرد، به طوری که هر داستان رو دو بار خوندم!
همه‌ی داستان‌ها فضای خاص و متفاوتی دارن،
درسته که همه‌شون یه جورایی دارک هستن،
اما این تلخی و فضای منفی، خوشایند و پرکششه.

داستان «پشیمان» رو بیشتر از همه دوست داشتم،
دقیقا تمام حرف‌های خودم بود انگار!

[Ali Noroozian · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب داستانی تلخ و غم انگیز با محوریت خانواده و ارتباط سرد افراد با یکدیگر است و راوی انسانهایی میباشد که سالهای سال با هم زندگی کرده اند و فقط به شناختی سطحی از یکدیگر رسیده اند گویی که افراد با یکدیگر بیگانه هستند و هویت خود را از دست داده اند :
"اگر کسی تو را نشناسد تو دیگر کسی نیستی!"
در این غمنامه تصویری تراژیک از پدر و مادر به عنوان شخصیت های اصلی ترسیم شده است.والدینی که هویت خود را باخته اند و در قالب "پدر بودن" یا "مادر بودن" فرو رفته اند , پدر و مادرهای تک بعدی , انسان های بی هویت . حتی محله ای که در آن سکونت دارند متروک و بی هویت است :
"از همان لحظه ای که نوزاد سعی میکند روی صورت لرزنده ی تو تمرکز کند , از همان لحظه , آدم دیگر خودش نیست.شبح است.شبحی از خودش ."
"مادرم آنقدر خودش را سرکوب کرده که کم و بیش از تو خالی شده انگار که ضمیر خودآگاهش جایی شده باشد برای صدور و اجرای دستورات ساده : بخور , بخواب , برای بچه ها غذا بپز , باز بخواب."
غرق شدن در ورطه ی روزمره گی سبب میشود احساسات عزیزانی که در کنار آنها زندگی میکنیم نادیده گرفته شود آنها را نشناسیم و فقطی تصویری از آنها در آلبوم عکس باقی بماند! نویسنده اعتراف میکند چگونه با رفتارهایمان مرگ دیگران را غیر مستقیم رقم میزنیم :
"مادر توی دریاچه آب تنی میکرد.اگر سرم را از روی کتابی که میخواندم بلند میکردم چشمم به صورتش می افتاد آن وقت دقیق تر نگاهش میکردم که از من دور میشد و به نقطه ای عمیق و عمیق تر میرفت تا وقتیکه فقط سرش پیدا بود."
انسان ها خودخواه و ریا کار هستند.اگر پدری به فرزندش مهربانی میکند این لطف نه به خاطر او بلکه به خاطر خودش است چرا که میخواهد روزی فرزندش با او مهربان باشد و روزی به یاد خوبی های پدر گریه کند و از او به نیکی یاد شود. شاید این نقش بازی کردن این خودخواه بودن سبب میشود که فرزند حس خوبی به والدینش نداشته باشد:
"میدانم نفرت قطعی ترین احتمال در انتهای تونل دور و دراز پدر و مادر بودن است"
تقدیر یکی دیگر از دغدغه های دن چاون است.همواره این سوال مطرح است که آیا به راستی انسان سرنوشت خود را رقم میزند یا اینکه تقدیر آنرا از پیش تعیین کرده است؟! آیا در قبال چیزی که هستیم مسئول هستیم یا خیر؟!
"هر بار که به جای رفتن به یک راه راه دیگر را برمیگزیدیم چقدر آدم که تا ابد آدم های دیگری میشدند و چقدر آدم که اصلا بوجود نمی آمدند."
"ما آدمهای زیادی میتوانیم بشویم ردی از آدم هایی که میشد باشیم در نوجوانی و جوانی مان به جا گذاشته ایم که حالا مشکل میشود گفت کدامشان هستیم"
اما دن چاون در داستان "من بزرگ" پاسخی زیبا برای تعیین سرنوشت انسان بیان میکند :
"زنجیری به پا دارم که خود در زندگی ساخته ام."

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. Yes, I'm reading this 20 years after it came out, but these stories feel so fresh and every one of them had at least one passage that felt like a gut punch. So many images and lines will stick with me for a long time. So beautiful and funny and occasionally gross and gory. Also so much of it was about family relationships, specifically the parent/child relationship, and I found myself highlighting constantly. Just an all around stunner, so glad I read it.

[Gabriel Congdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book of short stories I've rread since Charles Baxter.

The library and I are really getting it on as of late. I took a while at this branch, but it's all flowering now.

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon this short story collection on the library shelves. I’ve always enjoyed reading Dan Chaon. My Book Club first introduced him to me through the disturbingly thrilling Await Your Reply. I then read the haunting Stay Awake.

This collection is less gruesome than either of those reads, but just as compelling. I love best Chaon’s ability to tap into our innermost insecurities for examination. From the insecure widow looking for comfort from an inflatable torso in “Safety Man” to a survivor wracked with unspeakable guilt in the title story.

“It's not like it ruined my life, I was going to say, but then I didn't. Because it occurred to me that maybe it had ruined my life, in a kind of quiet way--a little lie, probably not so vital, insidiously separating me from everyone I loved. ”

He doesn't cross the line into magical realism but his stories retain an other-worldliness that appeals to me. It’s the stuff of deepest fears and imaginings, our dreams and nightmares, and even our everyday weaknesses. All of these stories somehow hinge on a seemingly random twist of fate.

"There are so many people we could become, and we leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it's hard to tell which one is us. How many versions do we abandon over the years? How many end up nearly forgotten, mumbling and gasping for air in some tenement room of our consciousness like elderly relatives suffering some fatal lung disease?"

The characters inhabiting these stories are male and female, young and old, single, married, divorced and widowed. They are dark and disturbed, but also subtly funny and wry – which is always a pleasant surprise in Chaon’s work.

“She looked at me as if I might be one of them, a spy from the world of the ignorant.”

Despite each story’s unique brilliance, the book holds together nicely. A great collection. Highly recommend.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

2013 four star review: Some really stirring stuff here with just enough morbidity and bizarro to keep reading. At times Chaon reads too clean, nearly sentimental, but then a family drowns in a car or a boy gets kidnapped. Good drama and strong sentences.

2023 five star review: Well, damn, I've been on this website and reading Dan Chaon for over a decade, and here's some real-real proof. Twenty-six to thirty-six is a pretty big chunk of living, and I definitely read these with older, married-er, this-is-a-signed-copy-from-the-2017-Clarion-workshop-and-all-the-feelings-that-entails-er eyes.

I love Chaon's work for its creeping menace. There's ugliness and horror here, but it's so--to use my most MFA word--nuanced that it's a thing of fucked-up beauty. Spooky, not schlocky. The antagonist in "Big Me" is a boogeyman, "Among the Missing" is about a haunting, and "Here's a Little Something to Remember Me By" is the final boy's guilt.

Spoiler alert: I'm re-reading Sleepwalk right now and the Easter Egginess of "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom" is maybe the most exciting moment of reading I've had since I was a kid at midnight releases of Harry Potter books.

[Atena Sanaei · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب یک مجموعه داستان واقعاً جذابه. همه‌ی داستان‌ها روند تقریباً مشابهی دارن. یک فرد بزرگسال، خاطره‌ی خاصی از کودکی یا نوجوانیش رو شرح می‌ده: طوری که انگار زمان توی یه لحظه‌ی خاص از اون خاطره متوقف شده باشه. موضوع این خاطرات بیشتر مشکلات خانوادگیه مثل طلاق، مرگ برادر و...
جذابیت داستان‌ها به روایت و نگارش اون‌هاست. هر داستان مثل بازتاب و برشی از زندگیه. تجربه‌ای بسیار لذت‌بخش از داستان‌های کوتاه مدرن.
‌
https://taaghche.com/book/98207

[Ghazaal · Rating 4 out of 5]

بعنوان کسی که خیلی اهل داستان کوتاه خوندن نیست میگم این کتاب یکی از بهترین داستان کوتاه‌هایی که تا حالا خوندمه

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

So clearly the question is, if I don't like short stories why do I keep reading collections of short stories. Let me explain as quickly as I can. I heard of Dan Chaon's "great" book Among the Missing and so I reserved it from my library without realizing it was a book of short stories. At the same time, Await Your Reply (a novel) was available (furthering my expectation that Chaon was a novelist). I read Await Your Reply and it wasn't great, but it was okay (and it wasn't what had been recommended after all, so I wasn't so bitter) and then later (before Among the Missing had come in) I found Fitting Ends and checked it out (again without realizing it was a book of short stories until I started reading it). While I was reading Fitting Ends, Among the Missing finally came in on reserve. I was not a huge fan of Fitting Ends (for a few reasons, read that review if you want info), but again it was not the one that was recommended and now I had Among the Missing in hand and so...I read it.

In Among the Missing, Chaon again deals with the complexities of family relationships, addiction, loneliness, and (obviously) loss. The loneliness theme (especially paired with the white trash, intelligent reader) I found particularly compelling for my own personal reasons. In Big Me, the very astute 8 year thinks : "If no one knows you, then you are no one." and Colleen in Looking Backward "she wonders if she will ever not be lonely. Perhaps, she thinks, being lonely is a part of her, like the color of her eyes and skin, something in her genes." All of the characters in these stories have secrets or social awkwardness (usually because they are intelligent, but not good at relating to people) and so wallow in their own lonliness to some extent. Those that seem to be the most "normal" or "well adjusted" turn out to still be harboring something (such as Tom in Something to Remember Me By After I'm Gone).

I also enjoyed his take on parenthood. My mother-in-law once said that parenthood is 9 parts boredom coupled with 1 part complete terror. Chaon deals with parenting well in Prodigal: "It doesn't matter what you do. In the end, you are going to be judged, and all the times that you're not at your most dignified are the ones that will be recalled in all their vivid, heartbreaking detail." and "I could actually feel the goodness moving out of me, the way you can feel blood moving when you blush or grow pale. 'Come on, guys' I said, 'let's not fight. This is fun, isn't it? Let's have fun.' But my gentle voice was just an imitation," to describe the moment when instead of enjoying his children's company he is moved to parent-mediator. Lots of the other stories talk about the relationship between parent and adult child and the loss that arises when they don't really know each other (bringing up the slightly trite question of can we ever know anyone?), but Prodigal was the only one that dealt with parent and young child relationship.

For a collection of short stories it held together remarkably well. I won't repeat my complaint about short stories (see review of Fitting Ends if you want it), but besides that it was a good book. All of the stories featured some missing person...some were dead, some were actually missing, and some were just ideas of people who never were (but that of course made them missing). These characters were still similar (both to each other and occasionally to some of the characters from Fitting Ends and Await Your Reply...lots of lawyers, a few realtors, readers, drunks, and general white trash sprinkled throughout), but at least they weren't in the same small town (although we still get a lot of rural NE...write what you know Danny boy) and they were more complex and compelling that those found in Fitting Ends. Overall, I think each of the stories managed to say something unique, but similar to the others.

[Ann Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful collection of short stories that explores troubled relationships, unresolved grief, and other emotionally charged territory. The images in the story are often grisly and graphic: readers with tender sensibilities, be forewarned. In an author interview at the end of the book, Chaon explains his tendency to go for the image that sticks with you long after you wish it would fade away:

"To me, American life itself is often fairly haunted, uncanny, unsettling in both its large events and small details. This is a country where a town can literally dry up and disappear over the course of less than a century, where thousands of people go missing every year. It's also true that one of the commonplaces of end-of-century America is the sense that it's very easy to have a secret life."

All that said, I loved this book. The writing is incredible. (I'm about to add some of my favorite quotes from the book to the quotes database here at GoodReads.)

Note: The e-book version of this book requires a complete re-edit. There are extra spaces in the middle of words and apostrophes only appear where they are not needed. There are hundreds of errors of this type. My advice? Don't buy the e-book until some future GoodReads reviewer advises you that the text has been cleaned up completely.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd reading, 5 years later: Still good! I mostly feel the same way I felt in my previous review. I just got the urge to pick it up and give it a re-read one day, so I did. Some of the same repetitions caught my eye, but a few different ones. Lines like "Something is happening to her" repeat throughout the story, and the meaning I took from that, among the literally missing people in this story (fathers, mothers, children) the most significant loss is the self. None of the main characters in these stories seem to know who they are or how they got where they are. Their childhoods are confusing to them; often their kin recall much different versions of their youth. Nobody is so lost as a daydreamer who suddenly wakes up. I am feeling that so much these days, which is probably what drove me to re-read Dan Chaon's excellent collection this month.

***

Oh, boy. Can't believe I'm just getting to Chaon now. What a slick writer. His characters are comprehensively complete; his prose is tight and rife with humor and elevated diction without going over your head; his plots are compelling (and very well-plotted). Just a wonderful collection.

My favorite pieces were, "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me," "Big Me," "Among the Missing," "Passengers, Remain Calm," and "Safety Man," though I wouldn't say any of the pieces were weak.

If I had to make any critical comments, I would say there was repetition of certain details that bothered me. For example, invariably, there is a dead father, most of the characters are alienated (justifiably so) by needy, obnoxious family members (perhaps a universally relatable thing, but seemed like a crutch in some situations), and everyone has gray eyes (actually I like that but it distracted me at one point). Just some things like that. Not dealbreakers by any means, just a little distracting. But I'm being picky.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pitch-perfect collection from my (more than likely) favorite contemporary fiction writer. Cannot choose a favorite story out of them as each has its own unique hook and, therefore, its own unique allure. Unlike a number of collections I can recall, though, its title is a running theme (as opposed to just the title of an individual story). There is a considerable number 'among the missing' here - and 'missing', at times, seems to take on a larger meaning as well. I'm so taken with the way Chaon writes - his comfort with what's comic, often mixed with a keen sensitivity toward life's sorrow. For me, Chaon is not unlike the act of relaxing into a comfy chair.

[Sandie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my second read of this collection. The first go round, I rated it a 4. I think the stories are just as good but that I am not in the right frame of mind to appreciate them. It does so matter about where you are in life when you read a book. If I were a good reader, would I be able to appreciate good literature no matter what?

I found the stories very depressing this time around. As I face a new type of relationship with my now grown up sons, these stories reflect always complicated and uncertain bonds between parent/child and I am less hopeful that I will establish they type of relationship I want.

[amirmehdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

the author of this selected stories is with a subtle eye, and poignant language. a masterpiece of it's kind. Has won the Ohenry award for the story "Big me".