Bullet in the Brain

by Tobias Wolff

The story of a book critic and his final thoughts from short-story master Tobias Wolff...

Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, School, Classics, Audiobook, Read For School, Contemporary

Audiobook

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is a writer of fiction and nonfiction.

He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.

Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2002.

Reviews

[Mwanamali · Rating 4 out of 5]

They is finna stay with y'all

[Darcel Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story made me ponder...what do people think of when they are dying? Do they, like the protagonist Anders, recall trivial moments in their life - some that they did not even think of till the very moment their cord to life has been snapped?

Here's a fantastic quote:

"The bullet is already in the brain; it won’t be outrun forever, or charmed to a halt. In the end it will do its work and leave the troubled skull behind, dragging its comet’s tail of memory and hope and talent and love into the marble hall of commerce."

[Bilal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was made aware of this short story as it was mentioned in the Netflix series 'You'.

The prose are vivid, the plot is simple, the theme is compelling, I read it once and re-read it immediately.

[Mike Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short story selected for only one reason - to close off 2024 Goodreads season. Petty and shallow I know but superb read.

Anders an embittered book critic is stuck in a line at the bank when two robbers walk in. His mouth gets the better of him. As a result he is shot in the head. I don’t expect this is where Rage Against the Machine got their song ‘Bullet in the Head from but…I digress.

The commentary as the bullet passes through Anders head is clever. I need to dig out more works by this Author.

To all my Goodreads friends have a great 2025👍

[▫️Ron S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good about this brilliant (and partially hilarious) short story.

I think that people sell it short with a one-dimensional understanding of the ending. As wonderful as that one-dimension is, it's a deeper revelation of his true motivation to celebrate unique and unusual quirks in the world around him - and the unfortunate acceptance of others seeing that as negative or cynical, thus the adoption of their view of him. The seed of the honest child lies in his observations and frustrations - that child just has no one to support, love and nurture it. It's seen as mean because people would rather not deal with complexity, understanding, or - at the most basic level - *merely thinking for oneself*.

If you're intelligent, if you are a realist who points out the problems with situations before you - it's incredibly freeing to recognize the admiration of creative honest beauty at the heart of your nature. The refusal to be a child hushed, upon observing reality with innocent contemplation. It also wouldn't hurt to extend your observation to the neutral motives of the people who don't understand you.

[Blakepatterson · Rating 1 out of 5]

A classic example of an author fantasizing about the killing of a critic they despise. Woolf relishes in every detail by focusing on the loss of the book critic’s senses and memories as the bullet passes through his brain. I say classic in the conventional sense because this kind of ridiculously superficial writing is common for authors who pride themselves too much.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story about an angry cynical man who is a book critic with a terrible attitude. At the moment of his death, we're taken back to a beautiful moment when he is 12, playing baseball with his friend and his friend's cousin from a southern state.

[Cecilia Gunther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved fast-paced stories, especially stories that get me invested from the beginning and leave me racing through the pages to keep up with the plot. Tobias Wolff’s short story Bullet In The Brain succeeds in delivering that thrill without neglecting character development. In only eight pages, Wolff manages to capture all the major events and small experiences that shape the life of one man and shows how they affect and change him.
In the first scene, the main character, a book critic named Anders, is on line at a bank. This mundane scenario is instantly escalated into a dire situation when two masked men enter the building, one brandishing a shotgun and the other with his pistol pressed against the cheek of a security guard. Anders is a sarcastic and bitter character who does not seem to consider this case of emergency to be anything more than an inconvenience. He proceeds to laugh at and make fun of the armed men in spite of the danger to himself and his fellow hostages. His rash behavior earns him the smack of a pistol against his chin, thrusting his face upward and forcing him to examine what could very well be his last sight, the ceiling of the bank.
What first struck me about this story was the character of Anders. I love the way the author describes him, writing, “Anders– a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed.” This characterization sets up the remainder of Anders’s dialogue where he mocks everything around him as though it too is being presented to him for review. He even goes so far as to critique the armed robbers' word choice. After hearing a robber threaten that they would all be “dead meat,” Anders turned to the beleaguered woman
in front of him and said, “Great script, eh? The stern, brass-knuckled poetry of the dangerous classes.” The world has become an old worn out script to Anders, and the story highlights this reality with his clever, nonchalant commentary even when faced with death.
I was entertained by the way Wolff presents Anders’ current dissatisfied personality because it is sardonic and humorous, but what I enjoyed the most about his character was learning what he was like before he became jaded and ill-tempered, before he “began to regard the heap of books on his desk with boredom and dread, or when he grew angry at writers for writing them.” Elements of Anders's past are revealed as the story progresses, detailing his former loves, joys and heartbreaks, including the abuse he suffered at an anti-war rally and a soul-crushing event that he witnessed a couple days after his daughter was born. These details help the reader to realize what may have led him to be the resentful, discontent man that is waiting in line at the very beginning. This somewhat backwards storytelling, along with the pacing, completes the story for me. The author allows the reader to despise Anders at the beginning. In the first scene, Anders savagely shreds apart anything that the other characters say, but eventually the reader gets to know his former appreciation for the work of others when the author adds that there were “hundreds of poems he had committed to memory in his youth so that he could give himself the shivers at will.” Likewise, in the first scene, Anders gambles with everyone else’s lives by laughing at the gunman without seeming to care in the slightest if they all get shot. Later, the story recounts a time Anders cried out “Lord have mercy!” when confronted with a tragic event. I was struck by the contrast in his capacity for emotion throughout his life. When I read it the first time, I could not understand his shocking, careless behavior in the first scene, but it only made me care about him more in the end. The reverse introduction of Anders also made me read it multiple times, each time giving deeper insight on the man standing with the gun against his chin on line at the bank.
Tobias Wolff created a character worth discovering and forces you to examine his entire existence by placing him in a deadly scenario. The story does not just have an engaging plot with an interesting character but is also a reminder of how individuals' environments can completely rearrange their outlooks on life. When I first finished the story, I thought of how often I make instant judgments about people without the benefit of their history to show me how they got where they are. That reminder is always important, and I appreciated that it is not delivered in a preachy way, but hidden within the tension of an armed robbery. It also made me consider what experiences in my life have caused me to be more cynical or callous, and how I can use the knowledge of my own backstory to better myself in the present. I definitely recommend this story –it is an insightful and thrilling read.

[Jeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I wasn't really sure what rating to give to this story. I enjoyed it and was gripped the whole way through, however, at the same time, it felt quite strange. I think this is due to the shocking bluntness of Anders (the main character), this was also reflected in the matter-of-fact tone throughout the piece. But by the end of the story, I found this worked really well.
A specific section of the story that made me give this book, four stars (rather than three) is the bullet. The writing almost "zoomed in" and the whole scene felt like it was in slow motion, but instead of feeling suspenseful and panicked, it just felt neutral. This (in an odd way) was very fitting to the character and story and the reader is plunged into Anders way of thinking.
Overall, a great short-story and will definitely try to read more of Tobias Wolff in the future!

[Ariya · Rating 4 out of 5]

"in the end...the bullet will do its work and leave the troubled skull behind, dragging its comet's tail of memory and hope and talent and love... "

HOLY SHIT.

[MaKensie Tully · Rating 1 out of 5]

The dullest one yet despite the riveting title and the main scenario being a bank robbery. Yes the senses before death was a cool take but not different enough to really set it apart

[Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird and unexpectedly good.

[Rachel Pudsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't root for the main character. Felt like he brought his fate upon himself

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story that zooms in upon a single moment of a rude man's life just as it reaches its avoidable end. Straight to the point, well written and kept me gripped.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

He did not remember Professor Josephs telling his class how the Spartans had released Athenian prisoners from their mines if they could recite Aeschylus, and then reciting Aeschylus himself, right there, in the Greek. Anders did not remember how his eyes had burned at those sounds. He did not remember the surprise of seeing a college classmate’s name on the jacket of a novel not long after they graduated, or the respect he had felt after reading the book. He did not remember the pleasure of giving respect.

***
He did not remember deliberately crashing his father’s car into a tree, or having his ribs kicked in by three policemen at an antiwar rally, or waking himself up with laughter. He did not remember when he began to regard the heap of books on his desk with boredom and dread, or when he grew angry at writers for writing them. He did not remember when everything began to remind him of something else.

A perfect, pointed, painful little gem.

[Roosmarijn Visser Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read this short shorty because it was mentioned in one of my favorite series. I did not know what to expect but i think these kind of stories are what i've been looking for. Something with meaning and a message. I would reccomend

[Sophy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this online here :

https://public.wsu.edu/~bryanfry/Wolf...

A brilliant short story of a man whose intellect, sarcasm and causticity gets him into the ultimate trouble! Very clever writing to convey such a strong reaction in so few pages. Inspired.

[Brian Skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a funny story about how a man can’t stop smiling during a bank robbery. This makes the robber angry and I am sure you know what happens next.

[Elesha Maynard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just feel ambivalent.

[dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was only cool to analyse

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's just like me fr

[Sara Tilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Portrait of a life in 13 minutes. Very immediate, rather dark but quite funny in places. A great little story.

* Thanks to Audible for the freebie *

[Liam Donohue · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting existential short story that has you wondering what do you think of when the death’s clock turns 0. Have to read this 10 more times to catch all the literature elements for my college class but good read, regardless.

7/10

[Ashley Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this. For some reason it reminded me of when I first fell in love with reading, and the art of the written word.

[Thi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't like this piece of work. The writing is so incel coded I felt like I accidentally walked into a conversation with one. I had to read it for class, which isn't a problem but the fact that I couldn't dnf it is a pity. It's technically a short story but it's existence is already a waste of space.
Down below I pasted what I wrote about it for class cause this story has already taken up too much of my time, I can't be bothered to rewrite it in a more review like way. It's a character analysis by the way.
----
To be honest, I don't like the writing of this piece and I don't like Anders, but I can't tell if he's purposefully written that way, or if it's just bad writing. And the reason I can't tell, is because at some points, the writing is as presumptuous as Anders is, and other times it's presumptuous all on its own.

1.) Before the bullet to the head, he's supposed to be written as an older man (past his forties) who's in a constant state of anger/bitterness who's also full of himself. Apparently this is justified because he's a "book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed." Sure. I don't know what being a critical and tough book critic has anything to do with no anger management skills, but have at it. You can tell he's full of himself, because when the teller decides to close her window, he has "towering hatred" for the teller, but when the women in line decides to voice the same emotions and thoughts as Anders, she's a "presumptuous crybaby." He then redirects his hatred to her, which, fine. But it's in a way that feels like the writer was trying to make Anders seem cool, emoting cold hatred and sarcasm, but it just comes off as incel-y, "I'm better than thou (for no reason)" vibes. It doesn't help that nobody in this short story acts or talks like a normal human. There's an uncanny valley of existence that these characters walk, like one time the author went outside and saw some human interactions and considered it good enough to base all human activities on. It feels like bad writing on a disney channel original sitcom of modern television. It's not good.

I know that during the part where the robbers come in and threaten everybody, that Anders is supposed to be so bitter to the world and over it that he's still make snide comments, to the point where he giggles at the ceiling mural (a description that goes on for too long) and then giggles at the robber's word choice despite the gun to his head. But like I said, the writings not good and the characters don't act like normal people. Don't get me wrong. I 100% believe that a person can write this scene and make it work without changing anything, it's just not Tobias Wolfe.

2.) None of my opinions about Anders has changed after he got shot other than maybe at one point in his boyhood, he enjoyed some fun word play. The reason I don't think he's ever a different person, even as a boy or young adult and into his later years, is because his reactions to everything is the same. Again, I don't know if this is just bad writing, or if the author purposefully wrote an unchanging character. During the memories he didn't remember, he fell out of love twice because the women he was with didn't change, which led to him being irritated or bored. The only things mentioned about his daughter was that one time she threated her stuffed animal and now she has an unsatisfying job. Anders respected a fellow classmate for publishing a book but it was the "pleasure of giving respect" that stood out to him. Sure, some of his memories are interesting like how he suffered police brutality at an anti-war protest or that his mother's last breath was regret for not killing his father, but to be honest, at this point, the section on his unremembered moments had gone on for too long and mentally I was checking out. He's been through some stuff, but mostly it sounds like he got himself into a job he turned bitter towards all on his own ("He did not remember when he began to regard the heap of books on his desk with boredom and dread, or when he grew angry at writers for writing them. He did not remember when everything began to remind him of something else.") I wish there was some correlation between all these lost memories. Where you were allowed into moments of his life where he was happy but then all these things happened and now he's old and bitter. But nothing connected except his distain for life. Even in boyhood, despite the small moment of joy he experienced, even in the one memory he recalls, he's a one note character. He's upset that the the "boys of the neighborhood" (he doesn't even call them friends), who he's been playing baseball with all summer, have been debating over baseball players for too long. It's apparently too much for Anders, he feels it "tedious [...] an oppression, like the heat." And even when a new kid shows up out of nowhere, all he can muster is a "hi," then he goes through the motions of playing ball. If it weren't for the kid being the one to intrigue Anders with his word choice, he would have been just as forgotten and ignored as the rest of "the boys."

I know that the author is trying to be like, "Hey, look at this bitter guy. You don't know it, but he actually has been through a lot and that's why he's a grump. But at one point, he was just a boy like any other, it's not his fault why he's like this. Look at all these events that led up to how he got himself killed. Look at this one moment where his spark for literature was probably sparked. Too bad he's bitter now." But like I said at the beginning and I'll stand by it now, with Tobias Wolfe's writing, it just doesn't work. He focuses on all the wrong things, spends too much time on details we don't need, and not enough time on the actual core of the character. It's a lot of telling, and I don't even think showing would have helped, not with his writing style and stilted ways the character try to be human.

[Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robin Sloan said this is the best short story in a recent newsletter and that all short stories are about death. So, I decided to read it. And I’m glad. This short story is perfectly executed in the style I’m most obsessed with - time limit. Adding this to my list of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and The Story of an Hour.

[Indu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tobias Wolff is really good at this kind of writing. Short, succinct but gets the message across wonderful while keeping you riveted by his storytelling. Love this short story for its stark, lucid and simple narration.

[Anna]

a great study in compressed time

[Chantelle Melia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not gonna lie I found this boring but for a short story it’s another to add to the read list

[Hatari | Fien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever read a short story that hasn’t haunted me afterwards, and this one is no exception. It was so bizarre I had to read it a second time to wake up from the daze the first reading had left me in, and my first thought after finishing it was “what on earth have I just read?”

The beginning is relatively ordinary. The main character, Anders, is waiting in line at the bank, criticizing everyone and everything, when two robbers come in. The title of the story might be a spoiler for what happens next. But then, the story describes what happens inside the brain that has just been blown out. That was a very odd experience, especially since the thoughts and memories that are depicted are not ordinary whatsoever. There is a whole paragraph dedicated to what Anders wasn’t thinking and one to what he was thinking, and I can’t decide which of those was more absurd. The things he wasn’t thinking about demonstrated the unhappy life he had lived. I’m not sure whether they were, indeed, “worth noting” for the story, but they certainly made an impression. As for what he was thinking: that was a pretty sad last memory.

Anders’ persona is interesting, to say the least. At first he seems like a moody, grumpy old man, arrogant and judgemental. When the robbers come in, however, he turns into a teenager who doesn’t take anything seriously. He turns up his nose at any kind of human interaction and reacts with sarcasm when spoken to. To be fair, his sarcasm is always spot on and made me smirk; he has a way with words. He is straight up rude to other people, even to his own daughter who he thinks of as ‘sullen’ – I wonder who she got that from – and even to the robbers who threaten to kill him. He studies the ceiling instead of being scared out of his mind, almost as if he is bored with the whole situation. The most shocking thing for him is not the robbery itself, or the fact that he is being held at gunpoint, but that the man has a bad breath.

To sum it up, nothing made sense in this story: not Ander’s behaviour, nor his thoughts, and definitely not the focus on thoughts he doesn’t even have. All these factors made this quite a ridiculous short story, but (or perhaps therefore) one I could appreciate.