Gigantic

by Marc Nesbitt

An extraordinary collection of dynamic stories by an exciting new voice in American fiction, Gigantic features ten powerful stories of emotional stagnation and personal transformation, passion and violence, race and community, that are viscerally immediate in their impact and otherworldly in their scope. In "What Good Is You Anyway?" a struggling mattress salesman witnesses a horrific car accident at his bus stop and embarks on a wild journey that will lead him to put his life in order, beginning with his troubled relationship with his disabled alcoholic father. In "Quality Fuel for Electric Living," a sanitation worker, recovering from a romantic breakup and a painful hangover, suddenly faces a life-threatening situation while collecting an unusual deer carcass. In "Thursday the Sixteenth," a club manager dating the ex-girlfriend of a reggae singer unwittingly becomes entangled in a chain of events that ends in a violent confrontation. At turns comic and heartbreaking, and at all times rich with language and meanings that operate simultaneously on a variety of levels, the stories of Gigantic mark the arrival of an exciting voice in American fiction. "Impressive ... Ten lean and energetic stories ... Grimly funny, bleakly fatalistic, and emotionally true all at once." -- Chris Lehman, The Washington Post "Beautiful ... Nesbitt is smart, dark, and funny, like a young Elmore Leonard with a drinking problem." -- Sam Sifton, The New York Times Book Review "Nesbitt takes risks. ... with imagery, details of his characters' dead-end lives and even with structure.... Wonderful ... A talent to watch." -- David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle "Nesbitt sets out to blow his readers away with his debut collection.... He succeeds.... Funny, tense and horrifying." -- Carole Goldberg, The Hartford Courant

Genres: Short Stories

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty strange but forget conventional story telling and you'll like it.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters are mostly strong and I felt the plots were all moving along at a good clip. His descriptions are truly amazing at times. But why 2 stars you ask? Well, for me, a short story collection has to make me want more from this world the author's created by the end and I never really cared to. The endings left me sort of...ehhh (good description...I know). I guess I can go with ambivalent and the main characters could have been the same person over and over again which is not necessarily what I want in a collection. The side characters were interesting and I did love the short story called Man In Towel With Gun . But if the narrators aren't grabbing my attention and I just can't get invested in anyone by the end of each story, I just can't enjoy it.

[Tim Hennessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of short stories that hang around in your head long after you're finished. I caught Marc Nesbitt read both at Schwartz in Milwaukee and at the Wisconsin Book Festival a few years ago and his work received very warm responses. I keep waiting for another book from Nesbitt, he's a very talented guy with a strong point of view and wicked sense of humor.

[Sultan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very strong, and absolutely underrated, debut collection of stories. Here's some sad shit, though: when I try to google Marc Nesbitt to see if he's written anything else since this, google instantly corrects me and guides me towards Mark Nesbitt, who writes some bullshit books about ghosts and the paranormal. That, pretty much, is what's wrong with the world.

[christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

i adored these short stories.