Minor Characters: Stories

by Jaime Clarke, Jonathan Lethem (Foreword), Laura van den Berg (Introduction)

A NEW YORK TIMES NEW & NOTEWORTHY SELECTIONAll novels are necessarily concerned with their protagonists, but what of the minor characters that fill out a novel's landscape? We can never know them as well as we should or like. The same is true for the trilogy of novels by Jaime Vernon Downs, World Gone Water, and Garden Lakes. MINOR CHARACTERS brings together Clarke's previously published short stories featuring the supporting characters in his trilogy, as well as stories by some of today's most talented contemporary writers, who have chosen characters from the trilogy and contributed a story.

With a Foreword by Jonathan Lethem, and an Introduction by Laura van den berg, this Warholian enterprise has produced a unique and stirring collection that both stands on its own and enriches the standalone novels in Clarke's trilogy. Featuring original stories by Mona Awad, Christopher Boucher, Kenneth Calhoun, Nina de Gramont, Ben Greenman, Annie Hartnett, Owen King, Neil LaBute, J. Robert Lennon, Lauren Mechling, Shelly Oria, Stacey Richter, Joseph Salvatore, Andrea Seigel, and Daniel Torday.

"Clarke has done more, even, than Vonnegut in setting his characters he's flipped foreground and background, and at the same time invited others in to browse, and revise, and interfere with, and extend, his fictional who's who."--Jonathan Lethem, from his foreword

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

334 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2021

About the author

Jaime Clarke is a graduate of the University of Arizona and holds an MFA from Bennington College. He is a founding editor of the literary magazine Post Road, now published at Boston College, and co-owner, with his wife, of Newtonville Books, an independent bookstore in Boston.

Reviews

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Minor Characters is pure delight and the perfect read for people obsessed with books and writers.

After recently reading a Wright Morris novel and a collection of stories by Alan Sillitoe, I’ve become obsessed with neglected literature. It’s hard to imagine, but Cormac McCarthy, Percival Everett, and even Faulkner, Melville, and Emily Dickinson were under-appreciated through parts of their career. At some point they were “discovered”.

Reading Jaime Clarke’s Minor Characters, a collection of stories written by other writers (many or most also not household names), was like a discovery.

I have admittedly not read Clarke’s other books, which meant I had to do a bit research because the stories are based on minor characters from his prior books. I guess I didn’t have to research the other books, it’s not absolutely necessary, but it did help to have some background. Either way, I didn’t know anything about Charlie Martens and still don’t know much.

Minor Characters had me from the get go. “So, what am I doing here?” asks Jonathan Lethem in the book’s Forward. “I’m trying to write myself into a fictional character, then: imagine this poor fool, Jaime Clarke’s sole friend whom didn’t ask to write a story about a minor character in his fiction!” Lethem continues, “I wasn’t on the guest list, Jaime, but I crashed the party.” Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude were recently and deservedly published in Everyman’s Library Contemporary Classics Series. It’s important to note that this is the literary pedigree that opens the collection. In the Introduction, one of my other favorite writers, Laura van den Berg, called Clarke’s invention a “restless and relentless wanting.” The wanting is to be heard, understand, known, and in the case of Clarke, read and appreciated.

I think it was Chappell Roan that recently said I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist. With a start like that, Clarke could say the same.

Getting to the stories - I especially enjoyed Stacey Richter, Shelly Oria, and Joseph Salvatore, which also happened to be a few of the only writers new to me.

However, Jaime Clarke’s own stories ascended the most for me. I was saddened by the afterward, The Salinger Principal; or A Writer You’ve Never Heard of Calls it Quite. I hope Clarke doesn’t call it quits.

Really grateful to Goodreads and publisher for the review copy, but I’m certain I would’ve eventually stumbled upon this book somewhere in the wild and asked “What’s This?”

This book is really something, and I look forward to reading Clarke’s other books.

[Jason]

There were some amusing stories in the book, but some were not quite my cup of tea. Maybe I'm not artsy enough or the intellectual kind of person, or just more into science fiction type books. There are sure to be people out there who will like it more than I did.

[Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. I like short story collections. This was a bit different, but I liked it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Goodreads and Roundabout Press for the advance copy of this book!

Have you ever read a book (or even watched a movie or series) and found yourself wanting to know about the story’s minor characters? As evidenced by the title of this newest collection by Jaime Clark and other authors, that is exactly what we get in this book. Though I am not familiar with Clark’s previous work (Vernon Downs, World Gone Water, and Garden Lakes, the novels in which the cast of Minor Characters first appear), that did not diminish the effect of this short story collection for me at all. If anything, it made me want to go back and read the original stories.

To create this collection, Clark recruited several well-known authors to each claim a minor character from one of his three novels and write a short story in which that character becomes the main character. It’s a brilliant idea, and I believe the contributors pull it off beautifully. The book is divided into three parts (for the three novels represented), and a list of characters, each with a short bio, appears at the beginning of each section to provide some background information and offer a brief portrait of the characters before diving into their stories.

I highly recommend this wonderful collection of short stories, whether you’ve read Clark’s novels or not. It may serve you well to read Vernon Downs, World Gone Water, and Garden Lakes beforehand, but I found the book was still enjoyable without doing so, and it allowed me to add three more books to my TBR list!

[Paul Klee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won this book: Minor Characters in a GoodReads giveaway. Thought it be a Sci-Fi story in a Terry Prachett sense. It is not. I decided to read it anyway. The intro informed me that it was a collection of stories by several authors based on the characters in a trilogy of books that I haven’t read by an author I’ve never heard of. Hmm. Was further informed in the Forward that minor characters are in part a homage to J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut authors who I have not read with the exception of Vonnegut’s Galapagos. Additional mention of Gulliver's Travels and Don Quixote stories I’m only vaguely familiar with from my distant past. Hmm hmm. I said to myself maybe it will be like Tom Stoppard’s Rosecrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I’ve seen Macbeth. Hmm Hmm Hmm. So I decided to give it a shot.
As I continued with the Forward the author told us of the high regard for Bret Easton Ellis who I only know as the author of a book that was adapted into the movie American Psycho. I saw 30 minutes of the film which I found troubling. (Horror Movies are not my thing) So I never had any interest in reading Ellis. Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm

That said this Collections was a fun romp. Short stories based on minor characters in from Jaime Clarke’s Vernon Down’s Trilogy. My only knowledge of the characters was from very brief (1 or 2 sentences) bios. The thought going through my head is how the story of Charlie Martens (main character in the Vernon Downs trilogy) in my imagination compares with the actual book when/if I get around to reading them.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a compilation of stories featuring many authors, including Mona Awad, Christopher Boucher, Kenneth Calhoun, Nina de Gramont, and addditional others. The stories are excerpts from the three novels contained in the Complete Charlie Mertens Trilogy including Vernon Downs, World Gone Water, and Garden Lakes. This is a stand-alone work, separate from the larger compilation and appeals to both readers of both works. Jaime Clark’s writing has been compared to the writings of Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger. In particular, Garden Lakes has been described as an homage to the Lord of the Flies.

[Vlbayman]

I had never heard of Jaime Clarke or the Vernon Downs trilogy, but I found the idea of a book of short stories about minor characters in another book (or trilogy of books) a very interesting one. I read Vernon Downs (the first book in the trilogy) before starting the short stories, and maybe that was a mistake. Vernon Downs (the book) was ok, but there weren't many minor characters interesting enough that I wanted to read more about them. Maybe I would have liked these stories better if I knew nothing about the trilogy?

Thank you to Roundabout Press for sending me this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

An epic saga - a trilogy. A commitment of a lot of time to get through this. I'm talking about the original Charlie Marten 3 books before you even get to the minor characters. I think there are absolute 5 star parts of this collection. I really give the original stories 5 stars and minor characters 3 stars for an average of 4 starts overall. Vernon downs is unique and priceless. World gone water continues on and by then you kind of like Charlie, so it works. Garden Lakes drags a bit, but overallstill an excellent endeavor. Minor characters doesn't have the same lift as the others, but worth a read.

[Gayle Slagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minor Characters: Stories by Jaime Clarke is a collection of short stories written by Clarke and writers he recruited in which minor characters in Clarke's books become main characters. While I have not read any of Clarke's books, this did not prevent me from enjoying the stories. They are well-written and the characters come to life and make me want to read the books in which the characters appear. The idea of making a minor character the main character is a brilliant one and works well. The stories are sometimes quirky, sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad, but always enjoyable. If you are looking for something unusual and creative, you will love Minor Characters.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway that I entered because I love short stories and I think the idea of writing/compiling a book of short stories based off minor characters in his trilogy was genius. I had intended on purchasing Minor Characters before I read this one but when I received my amazing package from Jaime Clark, they had included not only the book I won but also the trilogy the characters are based off of.

I have not finished yet so will update my review as soon as I have but I’m excited to start!

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about the minor characters in Vernon Downs, World Gone Water & Garden Lakes. It was on many different characters and written by many different authors. Some were very good and some not so interesting but I thought the idea of writing about the minor characters was a very unique idea.

[Solar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the premise of exploring minor characters and many of the stories feel very art house. For me most of them stopped short of interesting. Maybe that is the point in this collection; to leave you wondering more about the minor characters. I spent an afternoon enjoying this collection but I don’t think it’s one I would return to.

Thank you for sending this as a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Barred Owl Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written short stories based on minor characters in from Jaime Clarke’s Vernon Down’s Trilogy. Who doesn't ever wonder when reading a book - I'd love to see more of that minor character- or know their story? Here is a great book exploring the lives of fantastic minor characters.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite original idea to allow various authors to extract minor characters from Jaime Clarke’s novels and give those characters a major role of their own. The individual stories are raw and creative, poignant, surprising, and often hilarious.

[Mary Nee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written short stories! I enjoyed it!

[Mary Tharp]

Loved the stories.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Closer to a DNF because I did a lot of skimming at the end. Found in the wild and returned to it. It becomes clear that you’re supposed to have read Vernon Downs beforehand, but if you don’t know that in advance, it sounds like some neat-o set of “Six Characters in Search of an Author” type of book, except they’re minor characters in search of a full story and I would 190% read that.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the concept of this collection, but it fell a bit flat for me, maybe partially because I have not read the original books in which these characters appear. There were some stories in here I found quite enjoyable, but a lot were a little boring in my opinion.

[Diana N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story collection. It is a compilation of short stories by various authors.

I did like the overall variety of stories that weren't tied to a single theme, but I felt like many were too short to really appreciate the characters and plots.