Twelve Below Zero: New and Expanded Edition

by Anthony Bukoski

“Mr. Bukoski is a sure-handed, lyrical writer.”— The New York Times Book Review “I am delighted Anthony Bukoski’s first powerful stories have been reissued in a new, expanded edition. His sometimes fearsome, always eccentric characters are presented by a voice certain of what it has to say.”—W.P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe When these stories appeared in 1986, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Shirley Ann Grau, writing in the New Orleans Times-Picayune , called them “intriguing, just a bit off beat.” Publishers Weekly found them “appealing.” Twenty-two years later, Anthony Bukoski revisits the backwaters of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, where those who love deeply end up being hurt. In Two Heart or Superior, Wisconsin, or in Duluth, Minnesota, the lonely find comfort difficult to come by. Having slipped below an emotional freezing point, the heartbroken in these twelve stories do anything for love. Though it might mean taking a water-well driller as a second or third lover or kissing a foul recluse, some lucky hearts find the way to survive in Bukoski’s frozen North. Anthony Bukoski has published four other story collections, including Time Between Trains (Southern Methodist University Press), a 2003 Booklist Editor’s Choice selection, and North of the Port (Southern Methodist University Press, 2008). National Public Radio’s Selected Shorts program and Wisconsin Public Radio’s Chapter A Day program have both aired readings of Bukoski’s work. A Christopher Isherwood Foundation fellowship winner, the author resides with his wife Elaine in the country outside of Superior, Wisconsin.

Genres: Short Stories

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Kathrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. It took me a story or two to "get" the tone; at first it seemed chatty and folksy, but then that first story ended with an ethereal and unexpected metaphor. The next story offered even more metaphor, and by the time I got to that well-drilling story, you know, the one where the man drilling the hole has an "infection" in his groin, and keeps talking about drilling through hardpan and spreading infection, and the narrator's wife just wants to run and run and then fuck and fuck, and she's fucking the well-driller with his infection and drilling through her hardpan and ooh-la-la and damn, that's enough metaphor, I don't want anymore. Nope, not for me.

[John Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up the original 1986 version of this book at my university library. While I really enjoyed his book, TIME BETWEEN TRAINS, I found this and POLONAISE to be hard slogs to get through. The stories tended to be quite short, depressing and hard to make sense of in the end. TIME BETWEEN TRAINS had a unifying theme of place and characters, but I am afraid there is little to unify the stories in this collection. His books seemed to have improved through time.

[Marie Zhuikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony Bukoski's stories in this collection all deal with love in some way. Some love is requited, some not. All lead to unusual circumstances.

My favorite stories were "Shovel Work," which features the love language of well drillers, and "Great Sea Battles," where a young teen escapes the confines of land to join his banished uncle in a small boat in the Superior Harbor.

Bukoski captures the harsh, stark beauty of the Twin Ports landscape with unblinking accuracy and a unique viewpoint. He's like Karen Russell on steroids, although I think Tony came first. A must-read for anyone from these climes.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up for local color on my last North Shore trip, and just got around to finishing it. Several good stories lead off, though these are overwhelmed by the mediocre ones.

[C. Wilke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Time Between Trains. This one, however, as a bedtime read, was way too weird. Bad dreams and indigestion!