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Keepsakes and Other Stories
From Publishers Weekly
These seven gentle tales set in Minnesota and North Dakota and all written during the 1970s treat fans of novelist Hassler (A Green Journey; Jemmy) to the earliest fruits of his talent. Some are folksy portraits of small-town characters, while others are drier and more plot driven. Both the title story and "Resident Priest" feature crusty, 74-year-old Father Fogarty, a pastor who's leaving his parish after 23 years. In "Chief Larson," a seven-year-old Indian boy, known (rather improbably) only as "chief" on the reservation, rebels in a small but telling way against his white adoptive family. "Good News in Culver Bend" tracks two city reporters who travel to a small town and discover "the heart of Christmas." "Chase" and "Christopher, Moony, and the Birds" show how frustrated residents of small towns seek solace. The former, so brief it's nearly a prose poem, hints at Hassler's own adolescent discovery of his talent for fiction; the latter follows a lonely 50-year-old college professor as he goes on a consolatory walk with a student's awkward wife and child, watching "birds on family outings, hopping and halting on the grass." The cleverest story, "Yesterday's Garbage," follows a "garbologist" who finds the truth about a murder in a trash bin, and is then led to commit one himself. The publisher plans to issue Hassler's later short fiction in three more volumes, starting in the year 2000. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
These seven gentle tales set in Minnesota and North Dakota and all written during the 1970s treat fans of novelist Hassler (A Green Journey; Jemmy) to the earliest fruits of his talent. Some are folksy portraits of small-town characters, while others are drier and more plot driven. Both the title story and "Resident Priest" feature crusty, 74-year-old Father Fogarty, a pastor who's leaving his parish after 23 years. In "Chief Larson," a seven-year-old Indian boy, known (rather improbably) only as "chief" on the reservation, rebels in a small but telling way against his white adoptive family. "Good News in Culver Bend" tracks two city reporters who travel to a small town and discover "the heart of Christmas." "Chase" and "Christopher, Moony, and the Birds" show how frustrated residents of small towns seek solace. The former, so brief it's nearly a prose poem, hints at Hassler's own adolescent discovery of his talent for fiction; the latter follows a lonely 50-year-old college professor as he goes on a consolatory walk with a student's awkward wife and child, watching "birds on family outings, hopping and halting on the grass." The cleverest story, "Yesterday's Garbage," follows a "garbologist" who finds the truth about a murder in a trash bin, and is then led to commit one himself. The publisher plans to issue Hassler's later short fiction in three more volumes, starting in the year 2000. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
6 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Jon Hassler
33 books115 followersJon Hassler was born in Minneapolis, but spent his formative years in the small Minnesota towns of Staples and Plainview, where he graduated from high school. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. John's University in 1955. While teaching English at three different Minnesota high schools, he received his Master of Arts degree in English from the University of North Dakota in 1960. He continued to teach at the high school level until 1965, when he began his collegiate teaching career: first at Bemidji State University, then Brainerd Community College (now called Central Lakes College), and finally at Saint John's, where he became the Writer-in-Residence in 1980.
During his high-school teaching years, Hassler married and fathered three children. His first marriage lasted 25 years. He had two more marriages; the last was to Gretchen Kresl Hassler.
In 1994, Hassler was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease similar to Parkinson's. It caused vision and speech problems, as well as difficulty walking, but he was able to continue writing. He was reported to have finished a novel just days before his death. Hassler died in 2008, at the age of 74, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[1]
The Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, Minnesota, is named for him.
During his high-school teaching years, Hassler married and fathered three children. His first marriage lasted 25 years. He had two more marriages; the last was to Gretchen Kresl Hassler.
In 1994, Hassler was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease similar to Parkinson's. It caused vision and speech problems, as well as difficulty walking, but he was able to continue writing. He was reported to have finished a novel just days before his death. Hassler died in 2008, at the age of 74, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[1]
The Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, Minnesota, is named for him.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 26, 2012
Now THIS is the Jon Hassler I know and love! This collection is of some of Hassler’s earlier short stories. I enjoyed his earlier novels ("Staggerford," "A Green Journey," "Grand Opening") but he seemed to get a bit crabby in his later works. I’ve always thought of Jon as the anti-Keillor, capturing the quaintness of small town Minnesota life, but also the shadier, earthier side of things. And the guy could be funny. A great read for the Hassler lover and those that want to check him out.
May 25, 2020
Something there is about Jon Hassler's writing that is just so calming and comforting for me. It's seemingly simple and straightforward, but so full of insight and truth about the everyday. I can never read him without wanting to pull up roots and move to Minnesota.
This wonderful collection of short stories is preceded by a "Publisher's Note" that's certainly worth reading. But since this forward consists of a conversation with Hassler about the origins and inspirations for the stories, I'd recommend saving it until after you're read the stories themselves.
This wonderful collection of short stories is preceded by a "Publisher's Note" that's certainly worth reading. But since this forward consists of a conversation with Hassler about the origins and inspirations for the stories, I'd recommend saving it until after you're read the stories themselves.
September 5, 2023
According to the Publisher’s Note preceding the seven short stories in this book, “Most of these stories were written during the five or six years preceding Staggerford (Hassler’s first published novel)." The author said that during that period he collected 85 rejection slips. It was only after he had published nine successful novels, that these short stories were accepted. If I had read this one first, I would have rejected it and would not have read all his novels that I enjoyed so much.
October 13, 2018
To myself, Jon Hassler’s appeal stems from his upbringing in rural Minnesota near where I grew up. This short story collection, like his novels, share this setting. I recognize the people, and their motivations. Taken individually these stories are fairly weak, compared to his novels, but they are stronger in aggregate, which in the end validates this collection.
April 13, 2018
Jon Hassler's prose is a treat to read.
September 24, 2014
Jon Hassler (1933-2008) is among several writers from the Midwest who are not big names nationally and usually fall below the radar in discussions about 20th century American literature. Bill Holm, Carol Bly, and J.F. Powers are other names that come to mind. Hassler and Powers have similarities in their backgrounds and in their subject matter. Both taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota. They both explored life in Upper Midwest cities in their novels and short stories, and their characters often were priests, nuns, Catholics, and ex-Catholics.
Hassler is mostly known as a novelist, his best known being 1977’s “Staggerford,” about the life of a high school English teacher in the fictional small Minnesota town of the same name. I’ve read this and three of his other novels.
I had not read any of Hassler’s short stories until last month when I ordered online “Keepsakes & Other Stories” through the Minnesota Historical Society. These seven early short stories, written in the early 1970s before Hassler had achieve some fame with “Staggerford,” were published by the Afton Historical Society Press.
My favorite story is “Keepsakes,” about an altar boy and son of a farmer named Roger Rudy helping the local priest, Father Francis Fogarty, to remove his material possessions from the rectory. The priest is retiring after serving 23 years as pastor at St. Henry’s Church. This priest, ascetic and unsociable, is not popular with many of his parishioners.
On a hot August afternoon, Roger moves box-loads of old sermons, prayer books, newspapers, and magazines, diaries, letters, and a pile of birdcages to the backyard incinerator. Roger looks through some of the discarded items before they’re burned, and he and readers slowly learn about the life of the 74-year-old priest.
“‘All my life I’ve been keeping things,’ said the priest. ‘Notes and papers and gifts and letters.’ He continued to watch the burning newspaper curl into itself and sink to ashes. ‘I’ve been stashing my past away in trunks and closets, down in the cellar and up in the attic. I’ve kept diaries and snapshots and roadmaps – and I have a filing cabinet in my office packed with personal papers.’ He turned to look at Roger. ‘All that stuff is what I’m letting go of today. With your help.’”
The man is in a literal sense burning his past – and metaphorically “burning his bridges” with the two decades he was a parish priest. It’s a bittersweet story, subtle, and written in a deceptively simple style.
The other stories are enjoyable as well. I like Hassler’s attention to detail, his believable characters, his gentle and generous vision. This slender volume of stories displays his talent just as he was starting his writing career.
Hassler is mostly known as a novelist, his best known being 1977’s “Staggerford,” about the life of a high school English teacher in the fictional small Minnesota town of the same name. I’ve read this and three of his other novels.
I had not read any of Hassler’s short stories until last month when I ordered online “Keepsakes & Other Stories” through the Minnesota Historical Society. These seven early short stories, written in the early 1970s before Hassler had achieve some fame with “Staggerford,” were published by the Afton Historical Society Press.
My favorite story is “Keepsakes,” about an altar boy and son of a farmer named Roger Rudy helping the local priest, Father Francis Fogarty, to remove his material possessions from the rectory. The priest is retiring after serving 23 years as pastor at St. Henry’s Church. This priest, ascetic and unsociable, is not popular with many of his parishioners.
On a hot August afternoon, Roger moves box-loads of old sermons, prayer books, newspapers, and magazines, diaries, letters, and a pile of birdcages to the backyard incinerator. Roger looks through some of the discarded items before they’re burned, and he and readers slowly learn about the life of the 74-year-old priest.
“‘All my life I’ve been keeping things,’ said the priest. ‘Notes and papers and gifts and letters.’ He continued to watch the burning newspaper curl into itself and sink to ashes. ‘I’ve been stashing my past away in trunks and closets, down in the cellar and up in the attic. I’ve kept diaries and snapshots and roadmaps – and I have a filing cabinet in my office packed with personal papers.’ He turned to look at Roger. ‘All that stuff is what I’m letting go of today. With your help.’”
The man is in a literal sense burning his past – and metaphorically “burning his bridges” with the two decades he was a parish priest. It’s a bittersweet story, subtle, and written in a deceptively simple style.
The other stories are enjoyable as well. I like Hassler’s attention to detail, his believable characters, his gentle and generous vision. This slender volume of stories displays his talent just as he was starting his writing career.
November 16, 2012
Jon Hassler is a deceptively simple writer. One can read his stories as quaint tales of a forgotten time, but just as you settle in he quietly drops in a plot twist or unexpected story. His novel, Staggerford, is an excellent introduction to his uncanny ability to create character driven stories with plot driven diversions.
The book, Keepsakes and Other Stories, shows his range of interests and writing talents. The book itself is interested, being published in 1999 by the Afton Historical Society Press, a non-profit publisher focusing on work centered in Minnesota, where all these stories take place. It was Hassler's first collection of short stories, and contains works he wrote prior to his breakthrough as a novelist in 1977 (with Staggerford). The book is beautifully laid out with small illustrations in the opening paragraphs, and generous space for the text -- not a cheap, trade book with words tucked into the fold.
The seven tales, although early in his career, point to themes developed in his novels. There are the rural Minnesota settings, the realistic, yet positive role of the Catholic Church (Hassler was a devout Catholic), and when you least expect it, some cold-blooded murder. The murder comes from "Yesterday's Garbage," the strongest story in the collection. Here we meet a garbage collector, and his wife who likes to read letters left in the garbage, as they find themselves in possession of some unusual knowledge. If you've been lulled into complacency by Hassler's other stories in the collection, his truly horrendous description of a murder in this story will have you rethinking the author's take on life. He later turned this story into part of his play, The Staggerford Murders.
But Hassler is equally captivating his description of a forgotten rural time. His stories are no "Thomas Kinkade" paintings with words. Instead, Hassler shows the simple rural life of 50 years ago contains people who are like many of us, but also includes those whose simple life offer a generous view of humanity. The title story, "Keepsakes," along with its companion "Resident Priest," paint that glow of rural warmth, but goes deeper as the simple veneer of people break away to reveal complex individuals.
Spending time with Hassler in all these stories, you realize he too is far more complex than any single story will show. I would still point a first time reader to Staggerford for an introduction, but fans should definitely find their way to this collection.
The book, Keepsakes and Other Stories, shows his range of interests and writing talents. The book itself is interested, being published in 1999 by the Afton Historical Society Press, a non-profit publisher focusing on work centered in Minnesota, where all these stories take place. It was Hassler's first collection of short stories, and contains works he wrote prior to his breakthrough as a novelist in 1977 (with Staggerford). The book is beautifully laid out with small illustrations in the opening paragraphs, and generous space for the text -- not a cheap, trade book with words tucked into the fold.
The seven tales, although early in his career, point to themes developed in his novels. There are the rural Minnesota settings, the realistic, yet positive role of the Catholic Church (Hassler was a devout Catholic), and when you least expect it, some cold-blooded murder. The murder comes from "Yesterday's Garbage," the strongest story in the collection. Here we meet a garbage collector, and his wife who likes to read letters left in the garbage, as they find themselves in possession of some unusual knowledge. If you've been lulled into complacency by Hassler's other stories in the collection, his truly horrendous description of a murder in this story will have you rethinking the author's take on life. He later turned this story into part of his play, The Staggerford Murders.
But Hassler is equally captivating his description of a forgotten rural time. His stories are no "Thomas Kinkade" paintings with words. Instead, Hassler shows the simple rural life of 50 years ago contains people who are like many of us, but also includes those whose simple life offer a generous view of humanity. The title story, "Keepsakes," along with its companion "Resident Priest," paint that glow of rural warmth, but goes deeper as the simple veneer of people break away to reveal complex individuals.
Spending time with Hassler in all these stories, you realize he too is far more complex than any single story will show. I would still point a first time reader to Staggerford for an introduction, but fans should definitely find their way to this collection.
March 30, 2013
This collection contains early stories from one of my favorite Minnesota authors. There’s not much to these stories, and there are only seven of them. Two stories really stood out for me:
• Good News in Culver Bend, in which two journalists, one young and one old, search for a Christmas story in a small town, and
• Yesterday’s Garbage, in which a garbologist becomes a little too involved with a neighbor (and her garbage).
As for the other stories, they are pretty short and not very memorable. I prefer Hassler’s other collection of short stories, Rufus at the Door & Other Stories.
• Good News in Culver Bend, in which two journalists, one young and one old, search for a Christmas story in a small town, and
• Yesterday’s Garbage, in which a garbologist becomes a little too involved with a neighbor (and her garbage).
As for the other stories, they are pretty short and not very memorable. I prefer Hassler’s other collection of short stories, Rufus at the Door & Other Stories.
August 21, 2012
Wonderful little book of short stories. Liked it so much I bought on my Nook.
Sweet, unpretentious, lyrical. Read it in one evening. It's short; only seven stories in the volume but I understand the characters are all used in his later novels.
Sweet, unpretentious, lyrical. Read it in one evening. It's short; only seven stories in the volume but I understand the characters are all used in his later novels.
April 1, 2015
Overall a very nice read. "Keepsakes," "Chase," and "Christopher, Moony, and the Birds" were the strongest in the collection. I'm not sure how much these stories would resonate with people outside the Midwestern United States, however.
August 20, 2013
Love Hassler.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews