The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus

by Allan Gurganus

NPR • Best Books of 2021 One of “the best writers of our time” (Ann Patchett) offers this hilarious yet haunting cycle of stories―all previously uncollected. Since the explosive publication of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All , Allan Gurganus has dazzled readers as “the most technically gifted and morally responsive writer of his generation” (John Cheever). He has been praised as "one of America’s preeminent novelists, our prime conductor of electric sentences" (William Giraldi). Above all, Allan Gurganus is a seriously funny writer, an expert at evoking humor, especially in our troubled times. Now he offers nine classic tales―never before between covers. They attest to his mastery of the short story and the growing depth of his genius. Offering characters antic and tragic, Gurganus charts the human condition―masked and unmasked―as we live it now. “Once upon a time” collides with the everyday. We meet a mortician whose dedication to his departed clients exceeds all legal limits. We encounter a seaside couple fighting to save their family dog from Maine’s fierce undertow. A virginal seventy-eight-year-old grammar school librarian has her sole erotic experience with a polyamorous snake farmer. A vicious tornado sends twin boys aloft, leaving only one of them alive. And, in an eerily prescient story, cholera strikes a rural village in 1849 and citizens come to blame their doomed young doctor who saved hundreds. These meticulously crafted parables recall William Faulkner’s scope and Flannery O’Connor’s corrosive wit. Imbuing each story with charged drama, Gurganus, a sublime ventriloquist, again proves himself among our funniest writers and our wisest.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, American, Short Story Collection, Anthologies

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2021

About the author

Since 1989, Allan Gurganus’s novels, stories and essays have become a singularly unified and living body of work. Known for dark humor, erotic candor, pictorial clarity and folkloric sweep, his prose is widely translated. Gurganus’s stories, collected as “Piccoli eroi”, were just published to strong Italian reviews. France’s La Monde has called him “a Mark Twain for our age, hilariously clear-eyed, blessed with perfect pitch.”

Fiction by Gurganus has inspired the greatest compliment of all: memorization and re-reading. The number of new critical works, the theatrical and film treatments of his fiction, testify to its durable urgency. Adaptations have won four Emmy. Robert Wilson of The American Scholar has called Gurganus “the rightful heir to Faulkner and Welty.” In a culture where `branding’ seems all-important, Gurganus has resisted any franchised repetition. Equally adept at stories and novels or novellas, his tone and sense of form can differ widely. On the page Gurganus continues to startle and grow.

Of his previous work “The Practical Heart”, critic Michiko Kakutani wrote in the New York Times, “Masterly and deeply affecting…a testament to Mr. Gurganus’s ability to inhabit his characters’ inner lives and map their emotional histories.” The Atlantic called the same work, “An entertaining, disturbing and inspiring book—a dazzling maturation.” Of “Local Souls”, Wells Tower wrote: “It leaves the reader surfeited with gifts. This is a book to be read for the minutely tuned music of Gurganus’s language, its lithe and wicked wit, its luminosity of vision—shining all the brighter for the heat of its compassion. No living writer knows more about how humans matter to each other. These are tales to make us whole.”

Gurganus’s first published story “Minor Heroism” appeared in theNew Yorker when he was twenty six. In 1974, this tale offered the first gay character that magazine had ever presented. In 1989, after seven years’ composition, Gurganus presented the novel Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters). This first book spent eight months on theNew York Times bestseller list; it became the subject of a New Yorkercartoon and remains a clue on “Jeopardy” (Names for $400). The novel has been translated into twelve languages and has sold over two million copies. The CBS adaptation of the work, starring Donald Sutherland and Diane Lane and won and a “Best Supporting Actress” Emmy for Cecily Tyson as the freed slave, Castalia.

Along with Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Gurganus’s works include White People, (Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Pen-Faulkner Finalist) as well as the novel Plays Well With Others. His last book was The Practical Heart: Four Novellas (Lambda Literary Award). Gurganus’s short fiction appears in the New Yorker, Harper’sand other magazines. A recent essay was seen in The New York Review of Books. His stories have been honored by the O’Henry Prize Stories, Best American Stories, and The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Gurganus was a recent John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. His novella Blessed Assurance: A Moral Tale, from White People, has become part of the Harvard Business School’s Ethics curriculum. The work is discussed at length in Questions of Character (Harvard Business School Press) by Joseph L. Badaracco.

Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1947 to a teacher and businessman, Gurganus first trained as a painter, studying at the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His paintings and drawings are represented in private and public collections. Gurganus has illustrated three limited editions of his fiction. During a three-year stint onboard the USS Yorktown during the Vietnam War, he turned to writing. Gurganus subsequently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where he’d gone to work with Grace Paley. At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, his mentors were Stanley Elkin and John Cheever. Mr. Gur

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of wonderful short stories, many set in Falls, North Carolina. All of the characters felt very real and they were treated with compassion and comprehension. There were many heartbreaking and realistic moments in the lives of ordinary people. As one of the characters said “ain’t people wonderful”, and that is not how I usually feel about people. I listened to the audiobook and the narration by A.T. Chandler and Xe Sands was excellent.

I particularly liked some of the stories. In “The Wish for a Good Young Country Doctor”, a newly graduated doctor goes from savior, to pariah to hero. The understanding family of a man with dementia find a way to ease his retirement in “He’s at the Office”. “Fetch” will kill you with suspense if you like dogs. Xe Sands was absolutely amazing in “The Deluxe $19.95 Walking Tour of Historic Falls(Nc) — Light Lunch Inclusive” in which an elderly tour guide has an outbreak of candor. There really wasn’t a dud in the collection, although I was a little put off by “The Mortician Confesses” about the sexual violation of a corpse. 4.5 stars

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gurganus's prose makes the way most other writers go about using up space on the page seem profligate by comparison. These stories are stylistically precise, with a flourish of something breathlessly beautiful coming along, every now and then, to open my heart and to remind me of how vulnerable we humans are, and how precious. This is why I read.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can often tell a book by its cover. But don’t let this one fool you. These nine short stories written by the amazing novelist, Allan Gurganus, aren’t boring. Nor are they stuffy.

In fact, they’re quite the opposite.

Despite it being an “anticipated read of 2021,” I was absolutely on my way to passing this one up. And then I acquiesced when I saw a video of Ann Patchett telling her bookstore followers that Allan Gurganus taught her to write. Gosh, I thought. If Ann loves Allan—and she loves this new book by Allan—then I want to love Allan. So I promptly signed up to review the audio version of his latest work, “The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus.”

Throughout the collection, I found myself surprised, amused and horrified—and often in the same story. My absolute favorite essay, narrated by the award-winning Xe Sands, is wittily named “The deluxe $19.95 walking tour of Historic Falls (NC) - Light Lunch Inclusive.” It is everything that’s both right and wrong about living in the South. And it’s told through the eyes of a proper Southern docent who, after having several mini strokes has—shall we say—“fleeting” decorum.

I also very much appreciated “The Mortician Confesses” and “Fetch” read by the actor, A.T. Chandler. I’m fairly certain that I was shocked and gasping out loud during both essays.

It’s because Allan Gurganus fills every sentence with such brilliant and detailed descriptions that this is not an audiobook that you play while multitasking. You will miss too much of the good stuff. Instead, it’s a book that requires a quiet, uninterrupted country drive on a 70-degree, cloudless day—sans kids or pets or a talkative spouse.

Chandler and Sands deliver extremely authentic characterizations and show their versatility of portraying such uniquely crafted characters. I’m unsure if I would have had the same emotional connection to these stories if I were to have read the print version. But we’ll never know…

At any rate, I’m going to keep taking book referrals from Patchett because, after listening to these essays, I promptly purchased four other Gurganus novels so I could devour more of his genius. And, yes, I went old-school and got the print versions.

Special thanks to HighBridge Audio for a copy of the audio recording, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncharacteristically, I’ve been reading some Southern fiction lately, though of a more modern and more thrilleresque variety. The thing is, though, as much as I love to read internationally and yes, the American South is very much its own country, it isn’t a favorite destination of mine, far from it. More often than not the southern charm fails to charm and appeal fails to appeal. Maybe I’ve been venturing too far South…because this one stays north, well North Carolina north anyway and it seems that finally, finally I can understand what it’s all about, the appeal, the charm, the works.
Or maybe Gurganus is just that good of an author. Franky, that’s probably it. And to think it’s my first time reading him, though once upon a time I did watch a movie adaptation of his most famous novel, Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, yeah, it rings a distant bell.
Anyway, I’m not quite sure what attracted me to this book. I believe it might have been the cover, something about that portrait just draws you in. Plus it promised a classic and I wanted to mix up my reading variety. And sure enough, this is a classic. I don’t use that word lightly or often. In fact, usually I reserve it for the deserving few books and it seldom has to do with the age of the works or conventional popularity. For me it’s all about quality and a certain timeless element…both of which are perfectly exemplified in this book.
The ten stories in this collection are like a masterclass on crafting short fiction. Both the writing and the plotting, the way they tell a complete story with well developed characters and emotionally charged situations…it’s dangerously close to perfection. Most of these are set in a small North Carolina town, same as the novel that got turned into the movie I watched, so you might expect your typical small town fare, but Gurganus elevates it with a certain elan and grace and infuses it with so much kindness and compassion, you actually kind of get the Southern thing, you really do.
And the latter is done without ever resorting to cheap emotional manipulations, cheese, etc.
It’s remarkable, really, what great writing can accomplish. These stories have varied premises from something as ordinary as a walking tour of the main town to something as exotic as a peculiarly Floridian sideshow attraction and yet every one is a world of its own and plays as vivid and dimensional as your imagination would permit. Fetch is a fine example of it, such a seemingly simple story and yet it’s positively magnetic in its dynamism, you can’t put it down. It’s all just great, really, really great writing.
For some weird reason normally short stories don’t stick to my memory bank walls, usually ‘ll read a collection or an anthology and they all tend to clump together or get forgotten, but this one was so good, so original, so well done, that all the mental entries got arranged properly and satisfactory. Memorable. Excellent. Classic. Recommended.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Robert Schladale · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this collection, each story has a simple premise that doesn’t become anything more. “The Wish for a Good Country Doctor” is a wandering story that presents the cranky owner of an antique store. She tells the narrator about a young doctor who arrived in the 1840s, just when cholera appeared. Although the young man cured many from cholera, he was blamed for introducing it—and then died from it. In “The Mortician Confesses” two sheriff’s deputies come across a funeral home employee having sex with a dead body. In “He’s At the Office” a man becomes depressed after retiring from his job of fifty years. Knowing the problem, his son and wife construct a replica of his office for him in his home. The man immediately resumes working, as if once again employed, and the pretense restores his health.

Each of these simple premises is described ad nauseam by first person narrators. Frequently the narrators come with country dialects or other linguistic quirks that occasionally provide humor. Nothing much ever develops in the stories. There are no surprises or plot twists, nor do any character insights emerge. Some of the stories simply fizzle out at the end. For example, the “Good Country Doctor” ends with an ostensibly verbatim recitation of the doctor’s recommendations for dealing with cholera. All are reasonable and unsurprising. “The Mortician Confesses” ends with Wade, the narrator, saying that all he knows is that he loves his wife. The only surprise here is that his wife plays no role in the story, so this ending doesn’t connect. A twenty page story, it’s about eighteen pages too long.

As I read, I was mystified as to why the author didn’t develop what are potentially good premises. For example, in “He’s At the Office”, we don’t learn anything about the son, who is the narrator. If he had a story that intertwined in some way with his father’s, this story might have gained some substance. But he doesn’t. The story extends for 20+ pages while accomplishing little. The same could be said for the other stories: all seem to be opportunities missed.

I have to admit that I lost heart and patience, and only read four of the nine stories in this collection. Perhaps the other five were scintillating, and I simply gave up to soon. After all, the stories were all published in esteemed literary magazines like The New Yorker. They must be good.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. What I liked the most about this short story collection, aside from the high quality writing, was the range of topics and styles. Author Allan Gurganus is a hidden talent, and based on this book, I recommend him.

[Enchanted Prose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humanity in storytelling (North Carolina, Iowa, Florida; 1970s to present day): “Literature represents my greatest hope for our species at its very best,” Allan Gurganus said when asked about his ideal reading experience. Based on his new collection of stories on the stuff of life and what makes us humans, there’s reason to feel hopeful about the future.

Gurganus is a keen and empathetic observer of people. Hailing from the South, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, many of his stories are set in his invented town of Falls, and yet he speaks to and for all of America.

You may know the author from his award-winning debut novel that brought him instant acclaim, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells Us, in 1989. His last work, Local Souls, was published in 2013, so these uncollected stories were anxiously awaited by the literary community. Also for good reason.

While the voice of some of the narrators in the nine stories conveys an old-timey style of storytelling, there’s nothing old-fashioned about the contemporary issues Gurganus tackles exquisitely – subtly, cynically, wittily, compassionately, open-mindedly, poignantly.

While this is the first time these stories have appeared in one collection, most have appeared in another publication at some earlier time, as noted in the Acknowledgements.

The opening story, for instance, “The Wish for a Good Young Country Doctor,” first appeared in the New Yorker magazine in its May 4, 2020 issue. As you’ll see in all of the stories, the plot – in this case about collecting Americana – goes far deeper than that. It also sets a semi-autobiographical tone. Although it’s not set in North Carolina as others are, it takes place in eastern Iowa within striking distance of the University of Iowa where Gurganus taught creative writing at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. One of his students is one of my favorite writers and most everyone else’s, Ann Patchett, who wrote that Gurganus “was and is my most important teacher. He writes with a deep and joyful expansiveness that is completely his own. Every story comes with a novel’s worth of heft and insight.” Not to be overlooked is that both writers have a distinctly authentic way with words and remarkable compassion.

The narrator in the lead story is a graduate student scouting for art that’s “ethnographic” for a class assignment. On page one, we’re told he’s written his master’s thesis on Hand-Wrought Iowa-Illinois Farm Toys, 1880-1920, part of his “American Studies” program. What could be more American than folk art? When he stumbles into Theodosia’s Antiques, he’s met by an ornery, eccentric (“weighing under ninety pounds” wearing “a county’s worth of brooch timepieces”), and wise proprietor who has plenty to sell but isn’t welcoming. She’s had her share of thoughtless, condescending students who think her precious artifacts are “junk,” as they too have gone hunting for the same class. The unnamed narrator must prove his worth – it’s a dance. When he notices a framed portrait of the aforementioned good doctor on the floor he earns Theodosia’s graces, so she takes over the storytelling, spinning yarns. With wit and sarcasm, we gain a window into a small community’s culture appreciating their folk art that’s viewed by others as the lesser arts.

When the first story touches us in its unique storytelling and wisdom, we’re primed to love all the rest. And we do. You may be hard pressed to choose your favorite. The competition is tough.

The Mortician Confesses, story #2, was originally published in the literary magazine Granta. Narrated by a deputy sheriff, on the surface it’s ghastly: a shocking murder case like he’s never seen before. So flummoxed he repeatedly says: “Babies we all are, when it comes right down to it. We think we know decency, but we ain’t got the first idea of it, now, do we?” The crime itself is nasty, reflecting something much sadder and tragic about the rise in mental illness sweeping the country. This grim case involves the abuse of a woman with Down syndrome by someone mentally disturbed. It’s about human weakness, frailty, and loneliness, asking an existential question we struggle with: “What kind of God lets this stuff happen?”

He’s at the Office also tells a larger story echoing the heartbreak of six million Americans dealing with a parent’s Alzheimer’s disease. The grief a child feels when they watch their aging parent cognitively decline becoming a shell of who they once were. Told by the daughter of a loyal company man whose eighty-year-old dad has had to leave the job he structured his life around. Without the familiarity of his office surroundings and daily patterns, he’s more agitated and disoriented than he needs to be. An achingly beautiful tale of the lengths a family goes through to provide dignity, comfort, and peace for someone they love.

Less than twenty pages in, we realize we’re reading the story of America. Not just in the heartland and in small towns where everyone knows your business, but everywhere. About the impact of the loss of corporate loyalty to long-timers. How technology has dramatically changed lives. And what it means to reach retirement without the means for long-term care. Gurganus’ ability to wrap so much up in the telling is simply marvelous. This story, along with the final one, My Heart is a Snake Farm, also appeared in the New Yorker.

The wacky, tacky snake farm tourist attraction isn’t located in North Carolina but Florida. The snakes are actually alligators – too many to imagine – but it’s a vintage “roadside attraction.” So is the rambling motel across the road, acquired by a sixty-six-year-old librarian who moved to the state where a majority of American retirees move to if they go anywhere. The poignancy of her tale is how after six+ decades and even when her new home isn’t a dreamy situation, she feels appreciated for the first time in her life, making real friends through the kindness of strangers. Reflecting another phenomenon sweeping America: isolation and loneliness. It’s not the only story that will bring watery eyes, but it’s one of them.

The one that guarantees tears is perfectly titled Fetch, particularly if you’re one of 50 million American households who own a dog. The dog fetching is a “fat black” Lab. The narrator an observer whose voice tracks what happens when, “Something is thrown. We retrieve it, without quite knowing why.” The observer is our eyes, ears, and heart initially speculating on why the owners are walking along a rocky beach in Maine the day after a powerful “nor’easter” storm, and then making observations about how the couple is feeling watching their beloved dog who’s jumped into the wild and “frigid Atlantic as if bound for Ireland.” The observer captures the “panic” precisely the way we’d feel in the same situation.

If you’re counting, you know there’s four more stories: Unassisted Human Flight; Fool for Christmas; The Deluxe $19.95 Walking Tour of Historic Falls (NC) – Light Lunch Inclusive; and Fourteen Feet of Water in My House. They span miracles; truth in journalism; homesickness and homelessness; the golden era of shopping malls; racism, war, politics; and the “privilege of at least trying to rescue each other.”

What more could you ask of any collection? And one that’s under 240 pages?

Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)

[Lael Braday · Rating 4 out of 5]

I immediately became a fan of Allan Gurganus through this short story collection. A young, smart-aleck, entitled college kid is sent out to find outsider art, only to be sucked into a story told by an old woman in a small town, both of which he'd held in contempt, yet the story she tells changes the trajectory of his life. While the water rises to envelop his house, a retired gentleman takes his boat around his neighborhood picking up his neighbors, and ends up across town to rescue strangers. A tour guide continues her jubilant effervescent narrative even as she awaits the ambulance for her injury. Gurganus shows how seemingly tenuous connections can capture one's soul and encompass the mind. The characters are superfluous to their circumstances, held aloft within their tales. I recommend this collection to anyone who is fascinated by people in general, or old white male writers who seem to get it. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Liveright through NetGalley.

[Kip Kyburz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This terrific collection wins you over with breathtaking prose, and then seals your love with a heaping dose of humanity. Gurganus wastes no words, putting so much description and warmth into every intentional syllable, it is not flashy language, but it will swallow you up like a weighted blanket.

I have spent much of the early part of 2020 reading Marilynne Robinson and other books that let you fully into the hearts of people in middle America, and this story collection does the same thing for the South. I think there is some drop-off in quality in the last couple stories, but not enough to detract from this being a 5-star outing

[Peter Allum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humorous, gentle short stories set in North Carolina. Didn't do it for me.

I picked up this Gurganus collection in a second-hand book shop, scanning the bar codes for strong goodreads ratings. With a scorching 4.18 and impressive book jacket praise ("one of the best writers of our time", Anne Patchett; "verbal magician", Edmund White; "blending trenchant satire with outrageous humor", Chicago Tribune), I thought I might have a keeper on my hands. But after just four of the nine stories, I realize that Gurganus is not to my taste.

The stories have a southern gothic feel, with dark themes of sex, illness, and death balanced against a lightness of touch and eccentric humor. Gurganus is clearly interested in people and how they live their lives. To the extent that his short stories have a social setting, it is usually to drill down into the experience of one person, typically surreal or bizarre in aspect. Gurganus is drawn to imagined events of extraordinary nature--the sort of tales that would be passed down as family folklore or the topic of barroom storytelling, elaborated a little further on each accounting.

Gurganus's humor is more subtle than I expected, given the book jacket plaudits ("hilarious", "seriously funny"). It's not a knowing, sarcastic or cynical humor but rather a well-natured "well, what about that!" sort of amazement at the bizarre forms that life and people can take. I kept expecting his stories to have an ironic twist, revealing a deeper level, but no, they maintained their sly, affable, eccentric character through the end. This is certainly not Reader's Digest writing, but it does have some of that feeling of being designed for an American readership that could still claim a common cultural heritage, before being fragmented by culture wars and political partisanship. Perhaps this “out-of-time” feeling is why the Chicago Tribune finds a kinship between Gurganus and Mark Twain.

I'd hate to think I have been ruined by irony and modernism, but Gurganus just doesn't hit the mark for me. So my nice hardback is returning to the secondhand market for its next reader, hopefully more attuned to Gurganus's style.

(And before signing off, what sort of marketing decision was it on the cover artwork that prompted a large photo of the author, gazing pensively into the distance? To my mind, this emphasizes Gurganus as personality over Gurganus as author--even if he is ruggedly photogenic.)

[Alexander Gast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any short story collection of substantial length faces a unique challenge: to achieve a sort of tonal continuity between stories without losing the attention of the reader in monotony. Gurganus finds this balance and more in "The Uncollected Stories," creating a cohesive collection that allows each story individuality. At times laugh-out-loud funny, such as the outrageous narration in "The Deluxe $19.95 Walking Tour ...", and just as often heartfelt and serious, like the unparalleled story "Fetch," the range in this book is outstanding. The unique style of the latter story marks it as one of the strongest in the collection. In each story, though, there is a fundamental truth; even the ridiculously out of touch narrator of "Walking Tour" must reckon with her humanity at the end.

We see Gurganus at his absolute best in this collection. Even the less standout stories, like "Unassisted Human Flight," are a great deal of fun. The world of Falls, N.C. is explored deeper and with greater care than before. If you don't have time to commit to the full collection, prioritize "My Heart is a Snake Farm" and "Fetch." I promise that you'll find yourself completing the book after reading these.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just utterly loved this collection. Gurganus has long been a favorite writer, but this seals it.
I think my favorite is the last; it's first for me. "My Heart Is a Snake Farm" finds a virginal retired librarian ensconced in a motel she's bought with a constant "No Vacancy" sign. And yet she escapes the vacancy through the ministrations of a polyamorous carnival huckster.
And we enter the worlds of a twin lifted by a tornado (and losing his brother), a funeral home director who dabbles in sexual twisting but loves his wife, a son who tries to lure his fading father back to life as an insurance salesman, a country doctor who saves many from cholera (except himself), a pet store manager who is a fool for Christmas as he saves the life of a young woman, the Maine-based tale of a couple who save their dear dog while almost losing their lives (the lost shall be found), the Falls, NC docent who (un)willingly offers tours for those who will pay (until she cracks), and the man who rescues all the creatures he can after a huge flood.
Huge heart and humor and spot-on awareness of creatures human and therefore full of foibles.
I'll return the library copy, but I have to buy this book!

[David Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roll together O. Henry, Guy de Maupassant and Flannery O’Connor and you might get something like Allan Gurganus, although there is no formula for creating an original. I’m not sure just how Gurganus happened, but I’m glad we have him, and I’m here to recommend his 2021 collection of short stories, The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus, with as much persuasiveness as I can muster.



The setting in his “The Wish for a Good Young Country Doctor” is an antique shop, and Gurganus nails that setting: “Sunset, gold as egg yolk, now scores with value many otherwise half-worthwhile things. Pot-lids, cuff links, rims of chipped Venetian claret glasses.”

In “Unassisted Human Flight,” about a young newspaper reporter transplanted from Akron to a small Southern town: “Consonants now seem midwestern. The South is all nougat vowel.”

In that story, the narrator observes: “Most people talk better than they write.” Gurganus’ gift as a writer is born in speech. Like fellow Southern writer Eudora Welty, he is fascinated by, addicted to, spoken language. His own voice and the voices he assumes spill over with the richness and color of speech, showing the clear and highly listenable influence of period and region.

Here’s the aged tour guide narrator of “The Deluxe $19.95 Walking Tour of Historic Falls (NC) — Light Lunch Included”: “Some call ours a town that time has forgotten. But I have not.”

From the same story: “One good thing modern is medicine.”

And this: “My daughter belongs to various local book groups. One still reads books.”

Gurganus never, outside dialect, succumbs to cliche, always finding a fresh and memorable way to make a statement. Describing a woman exiting a car: “Her beaten-gold choker, its matching cuff bracelet, demand appraisal.”

That last quote is from a highlight of the collection, “Fetch.” In that remarkable story, suddenly at page 144 Gurganus drops the style a reader has become accustomed to and writes without any dialogue and in the third person. What might be described as the leading character is a black Labrador retriever. When we first encounter him, he has “a pudgy instant grandeur like the aged widow Queen Victoria.” You’ll care about him more than you can care about many a human in other contemporary stories (not written by Allan Gurganus, of course).

[Krenner1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm usually not into short story reading, but this author has such a gift of bringing the most plain characters alive and surrounding them with unusual plots. A gifted writer.

"She rises, stretches, as attractive as he, if darker. Full mouth, long nose, her movements imply a dancer's history. Her beaten-gold choker, its matching cuff-bracelet, demand appraisal. But the neck and wrist look somehow whittled, thinner now than even fashion might require."

"I'd really wanted to head north to college, where my brightness--or goodness, whatever--might get me noticed as more than the by-product of flat-footed others."

"He lived in his great-white-hunter gear, jagged khaki collar, epaulets. Pall Malls got buttoned into a customized slot, the Zippo lighter slid snug into its own next door. This man had a brown face like a very good Italian valise left out in a forest during World War Two and just refound. Weathered, but you could still see how fine its starter material had been."

[Colin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice set of short stories. I picked this up after reading an interview with the author in the Times book review. Just one of their little weekly features where they ask the same six or seven questions. I think you can tell so much about someone (and maybe more so their writing) from how the answer these. I think this is just the second time I read one of said author interviews and immediately ordered one of the writer’s books.

I’m also flirting with an interest in short stories, but this book might’ve put that to bed. I’m giving it four stars cuz about three of the stories are truly excellent, really enjoyable reads, fascinating little concepts, rich with smart structure. The majority of them though were only so so to me and so I found it hard to motivate myself to keep picking the book up. I think if I were reading this guys writing with more of a 200+ arch rather than 10 or so 20 page stories I might’ve enjoyed that better. So may pause on shorts for awhile.

[Homerun2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

I had only read the Oldest Confederate Widow by Gurganus and thought his short stories might be illustrated. He is a masterful writer. His at times folksy language hides some penetrating truths, and several of these stores reminded me of Flannery O'Connor, high praise.

He is that eccentric Southern writer, and the story themes bear that out: a young boy who is picked up by a tornado and has a few moments of naked flight, a widowed insurance salesman who picks up flood victims from their rooftops in his bass boat, an old DAR member who unravels during a local history tour she is leading and more. Offbeat, verging on morbid, but funny and real. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nine wonderful stories by the author of The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and Plays Well With Others. Gurganus is a Southern story teller. His use of language is at once fascinating and evocative. His topics range from a painting of the town doctor who died of cholera to a maiden retired librarian who is suddenly brought to real life by a snake farm and its owners in Florida. In the middle of a flood, a widowed insurance salesman uses his fishing boat to rescue neighbors and strangers. A mortician is caught with his pants down in the back of a hearse. A workaholic army vet with PTSD becomes demented. Everything told with humor and some empathy. His writing is well worth reading and these stories are each a gem.

[Michael Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about Gurganus that hasn't already been said? He's a master of the form, a Southern yarn-spinner out of the 19th century, Twain by way of a Greek chorus. "Country Doctor," the New Yorker story, is an absolute masterwork, a Babuskha-doll tale about American pandemic suffering by way of folk art and academia. "My Heart is a Snake Farm" is Tiger King before Tiger King had been invented--a literal snake charmer starts a popular sideshow in Florida and seduces an old virginal librarian who runs the adjacent motel. His stories are colorful, voice-driven, literary yet approachable. One of our best living writers.

[Robert Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This showed up in an Amazon box. At first I didn’t remember even ordering it. Gurganus is the author of the acclaimed Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All. (Which I never read, but you bet I will.)

These short stories are varied and original. Gurganus immediately brings forth the voice of the narrator in each story. His economy of words paints vivid pictures. Here is Maine: “April is Maine is really January anywhere else. The waves, jade-black, still look sludged with cold. Thirty floating gulls—born into this—appear miserable anyway.”

The Wish for a Good Young Country Doctor and A Fool for Christmas are two stories you will not forget.

[Maggie Rotter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like may readers, I met Allan Gurganus in the extremely long but not nearly long enough novel Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All. If you haven't had the pleasure of his acquaintance, this collection of short stories should convince you to seek out and enjoy all of his not extensive work . I am not a fan of humorous fiction, but found myself laughing out loud during the baby shower gone awry in the 1991 White People. Gurganus is a shining star in the firmament of Southern fiction which, we all know is a guilty pleasure no matter where you were hatched.

[Janie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love a great novel full of short stories. #Author Allan Gurganus's novel # The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus is perfect to buy as a real book and throw in your bag for appointments!! 💜🐾🐾
Ten classic tales for those over eighteen. Offering characters quite different. One being about a mortician whose dedication exceeds all legal limits.....
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, # Allan Gurganus, and # W. W. Norton Company

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a treat to read

Great humanity, wonderful storytelling. The author makes these characters come alive so you will never forget them. How lucky to have accidentally come across the name of this author.

[Nanci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting collection of stories. I had not read any of his books until now, but the stories were quirky and very original as well as written beautifully. It was an enjoyable read for me!

[Margot · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best short story collections I’ve read.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to hunt down a novel by him now. I think several of the short stories could have been lengthened. Read the blurb about the stories. They were all excellent.

[Dan McKay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last story, "My Heart is a Snake Farm" is my favorite.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A more fascinating, flawed, hopeful, grotesque, endearing, picaresque tableau of characters you’ll not find. A catalogue of the American adult version of Homo sapiens.

[OjoAusana · Rating 3 out of 5]

*received for free from netgalley for honest review*Found some of the stories to be really good, some super weird. so more of a 3.5 but not horrible, just, weird.

[Kurt Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories, although some are almost novellas. A few made me uncomfortable, but that’s why I gave it 5 stars.

[Kathy Strayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

...glad I read it from the library...only 3 out of the 9 stories saved it from being rated just 3 stars...🙄