Gasoline Wars

by Jean Thompson

The author probes human relationships, illuminating the tensions and affinities that link an adolescent girl and her grandmother, a pair of lovers, two friends growing apart from another, and others

Genres: Short Stories

143 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Jean Thompson is a New York Times bestselling author and her new novel, The Humanity Project will be published by Blue Rider Press on April 23, 2013.

Thompson is also the author of the novel The Year We Left Home, the acclaimed short fiction collections Do Not Deny Me, and Throw Like a Girl as well as the novel City Boy; the short story collection Who Do You Love, and she is a 1999 National Book Award finalist for fiction as well as and the novel Wide Blue Yonder, a New York Times Notable Book and Chicago Tribune Best Fiction selection for 2002.

Her short fiction has been published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, and been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize. Jean's work has been praised by Elle Magazine as "bracing and wildly intelligent writing that explores the nature of love in all its hidden and manifest dimensions."

Jean's other books include the short story collections The Gasoline Wars and Little Face, and the novels My Wisdom and The Woman Driver.

Jean has been the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, among other accolades, and taught creative writing at the University of Illinois--Champaign/ Urbana, Reed College, Northwestern University, and many other colleges and universities.

Reviews

[Socraticist · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the first three stories are disappointing, they are more than offset by three of the last stories, the best of the collection:

Bess the Landlord’s Daughter
Paper Covers Rock
Applause, Applause

“Applause, Applause” is particularly insightful if you’ve ever had a brilliant friend who never lived up to his potential. Or if you’ve ever had a close relationship that is a mix of admiration, envy, and mutual commiseration.

[Douglas Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Martha Bergland, for recommending Jean Thompson! How can this writer have flown so long under the radar? Dang!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great first collection from a master of the short story. She's been steadily publishing short story collections and some novels for decades, and by all rights she should be much more widely read. She doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry as of this writing! This is the second collection of her short stories I've read this year (the other was The Witch and Other Tales Retold, which I highly recommend for fans of modern takes on fairy tales), and I plan to read all of them eventually. But hopefully there will be a Collected Stories sooner than later.