Let Me Think: Stories

by J. Robert Lennon

A new collection of short fiction by the author of the cult classic Pieces for the Left Hand

Let Me Think is a meticulous selection of short stories by one of the preeminent chroniclers of the American absurd. Through J. Robert Lennon’s mordant yet sympathetic eye, the quotidian realities of marriage, family, and work are rendered powerfully strange in this rich and innovative collection.

These stories, most no more than a few pages, are at once experimental and compulsively readable, the work of an expert craftsman who can sketch whole lives in a mere handful of lines, or reveal, over pages, the boundless complexity of a passing thought. Here you’ll find a heist gone wrong, a case of mistaken identity, a hostile encounter with a neighborhood eccentric, a glass eye, a talking owl, and a six-fingered hand. Whatever the subject, Lennon disarms the reader with humor before pivoting to pathos, pain, and disappointment―most notably in an extraordinary sequence of darting, painfully funny fictions about a disintegrating marriage that captures the myriad ways intimacy can fail us, and the ways that we can fail it.

Like Lennon’s earlier story collection Pieces for the Left Hand , Let Me Think holds a mirror up to our long-held grudges and secret desires, our petty resentments and moments of redeeming grace, and confirms him as a virtuoso of the form.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, American

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

J. Robert Lennon is the author of three story collections and ten novels, and is co-editor of CRITICAL HITS, an anthology of writing on video games. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

Reviews

[J.A.]

Interview at Ploughshares: https://blog.pshares.org/these-two-bo...

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly phenomenal set of short stories. I read Lennon's novel Subdivision last year and loved that journey so much that when I came across this book of 71 (!) short stories, I had to buy it. And I'm so glad I did. I've been thinking of them long after turning the page, even on short stories that are just a paragraph long. What a way with form, and the way the author telegraphs information is wizard-like. The world here looks just like ours, but with Lennon what appears to his characters can change suddenly or slowly in ways that don't reflect reality. I'm always on edge, even when I'm laughing (sometimes nervously), and that made for a great experience.

My favorites (though all are good!!):
Blue Light, Red Light - devastating!! Probably my favorite in the bunch because of how I couldn't let go after finishing it.
Marriage (Points) - "You're sending some b*tch exclamation points! F*ck you! Those are mine!" LOL
The Museum of Near Misses - chilling, once you realize. And this is a 'cover' of a Nabokov short story that I went and read right after.
Falling Down the Stairs - in awe of this idea
Marriage (Divorce (Pie)) - the woman character's insults in this are something else and I love them. Describing a deer (yes, she'll insult even animals): "Human sized rats with f*cking coat racks on their heads" - I read parts of this aloud to my husband because I was laughing so much while reading
Doors - "There are certain things she would like to do in her life that require access to certain areas of her mind, areas that, during childhood and early adulthood, were so easily accessed that they didn't even seem like separate spaces. Now they have turned out to be rooms with doors, and the doors are closed, locked, painted shut, and she cannot figure out how to open them again."
The Loop - one I know I'll be re-reading. What happened to the bed frame...
And the four interconnected stories lodged in different areas of the book - The Cottage on the Hill (I,II,III,IV) - though I think II is my favorite. Reminded me of Subdivision in its eeriness, with a character that seems to dissociate or remember things differently than those around him

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as Pieces for the Left Hand. If you haven’t read that, you should read that too

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every story in this collection is fantastic, but that's inevitable when there are 71 stories overall, and most of the time there's even something to take from the less-than-stellar pieces. I think Lennon has established himself as a master of the short-short story. There will be inevitable comparisons to Lydia Davis due to the length of the pieces but also the seeming focus on mundane objects and expressions, but I would argue that whereas some of Davis's stories seem fragmentary, unfinished, Lennon's retain an emphasis on characterization and narrative. I really had trouble putting "Let Me Think" down. While the stories can be viewed discreetly, they lock into groups, with the strongest stories sharing a theme of divorce or at least the dissolution of relationships. As funny as the book often is, it has an overall tone of mournfulness. There are also sets of stories on marriage and death. Lennon is expert at showing how small objects assume outsize significance in a conflict. He "splits" a story about a strange cottage on a hill into various parts, which I found to be innovative. The story echoes itself, landscape changing as the characters change. Lennon captures the absurdity of contemporary life (the videos we watch on our phones, etc.) as well as anyone does, and his stories abound with humor--check out the one about exclamation points in texts, for example. I found this book revitalizing, inspiring, often instructive of what short fiction can be, particularly the ways in which stories bounce off of and gain resonance from other stories.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Pieces for the Left Hand, so when I heard that J. Robert Lennon had a new collection of flash fiction (or micro fiction or whatever the best term is), I knew I wanted to read it. Many of these stories have to do with the trials and tribulations of marriage and relationships--and the contradictions and absurdities within. The stories in this collection often had an arresting form of melancholic irony, a wry look at the way in which idiosyncratic mundanity can end up with extreme stakes (that was a mouthful). Ending a story that is only one, or two, or three pages in a way that feels complete is a lofty order, and the best of them really linger with you at the end. I didn't ultimately find the stories as compelling as his prior collection, but it's still worth a read--and it goes by briskly.

[Shannon Wolf]

These stories are typical of Lennon's fantastical flair. Some briefer than others, and some interlinked through form or content, there is the underlying sense of tension that I"ve come to find familiar in Lennon's writing: something dark and ominous among colorful symbols and eccentric characters. Particular favorites from this collection include the four-part series "The Cottage on the Hill" where an unhappy man continually revisits an old haunt finding a strange, unsettling decay, and "The Loop" where a divorced and fired teacher volunteers to collect and deliver discarded furniture and becomes trapped in an ever-repeating day. I didn't like this collection quite as much as Lennon's novels, but they are delightful to wolf down, and intimate and peculiar enough to linger in the mind.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 71 mostly very short stories in this book. They are funny, mordant, dark, and often surprising. Themes include unhappy or at least conflicted marriage, alienated fathers, and death. The best are superb, with full arcs inscribed in a page or two, while the weakest are little more than literary exercises. Many of the stories are thematically linked, while a few are linked more conventionally by having recurring characters seen over time. The most memorable stories are the “Marriage” series, which explore with precision, humor and lack of sentimentality what unites, or splits up, a long-married couple. The writing is razor sharp and lean, in Lennon’s distinctive style.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good collection of stories overall, though with 71 there's going to be some misses. Despite the short page counts of some of these stories, there are some very strong characters and scenes that will stick with me for a while.

Favorites:
"Blue Light, Red Light"
"Doors"
"Pins"
"The Unsupported Circle"
"The Regulations"
"Breadman"
"Sympathy"
"Eleven"
"Apparently Not"
"Choirboy"
"Candle"
"The Cottage on the Hill (IV)"

[Hank]

I prefer the shortest of the stories, which have more punchiness. Lennon's prose can be a bit overelaborate. I'm being picky. His version of the suburban American short story is one of the only ones I am still interested in.

Choice cuts: Want (Nut), Polydactyl, Marriage (Love), Marriage (Points), As Usual Only the Crows

[Shawn Aebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the cadence and audacity here. Stories range from one page vignettes to longer ambles; most dealing with relationships and that awkward moment when you need time to formulate what you really think about the other person - mostly because you haven't spent the time to clearly figure it out as you go.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific and stuffed-full collection of flash-y short fiction. Some stories miss, but of course they do, how could a collection of 70+ tales all work for every reader? Mostly these are strange slices of craft and a must-read for anybody interested in the bones of storytelling.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several of the shorter of these seventy 'stories'
remind me of the prose poems of my hero James Tate.
Many remind me of nothing I've read before.
Lennon has been added to my Authors To Explore" list.

[Becky Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story "red light blue light" so much. While I enjoyed Robert Lennon's writing style throughout the book, none of the subsequent stories were as wonderful as that one. That story was a 5+/5. The book as a whole was not a 5/5 for me.

[Brett Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful collection of stories, sometimes poignant, often funny, and always infused with the mundane strangeness that J. Robert Lennon has made his trademark.

[Graham Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a massive fan of Lennon's writing, and this new addition is another brilliant addition to the collection.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Death (After)

I believe in the afterlife in the same way I believe in the afterparty: it may exist, but I'm not invited, and so will never find out."

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of flash fiction.

[David Adams Rico · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some great stories in there. The ones from the "marriage" series stand out, as do the "Cottage on the Hill" ones. Breadman and The Regulations are absolutely insane, wonderful.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories worth reading:

• Blue Light, Red Light
• Polydactyly
• Therapy
• The Museum of Near Misses
• Husbands
• Marriage (Divorce (Pie))
• Candle
• Subject Verb