The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards

by Robert Boswell

An enthralling and wise new collection from the author of Century's Son and one of America's most respected writers I was twenty-nine years old and wanted to change before I hit thirty. Clete and I developed a plan for me . . . a plan that would work all that summer and beyond. Even after I left the mountain, it stuck. Robert Boswell's extraordinary range is on full display in this crackling new collection. Set mainly in small, gritty American cities no farther east than Chicago and as far west as El Paso, each of these stories is a world unto itself. Two marriages end, one by death, the other by divorce, and the two wives, lifelong friends, become strangers to each other. A young man's obsession with visiting a fortune-teller leaves him nearly homeless. And in the unforgettable title story, a man dubbed Keen recounts the summer he spent on a mountain with his best friend, Clete, and a loose band of slackers, living in a borrowed house, abstaining from all drugs (other than mushrooms and beer)―and ultimately asking just what kind of harm we can do to one another.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 2009

About the author

Robert Boswell is the author of eleven books, including The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, a story collection with Graywolf Press, in April 2009. His novels: Century's Son, American Owned Love, Mystery Ride, The Geography of Desire, and Crooked Hearts. His other story collections: Living to Be 100 and Dancing in the Movies. His nonfiction: The Half-Known World, a book on the craft of writing, and What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak, a book about a real-life treasure hunt in New Mexico (co-written with David Schweidel). His cyberpunk novel Virtual Death (published under the pseudonym Shale Aaron) was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award.

His play Tongues won the John Gassner Prize. He has received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Iowa School of Letters Award for Fiction, the PEN West Award for Fiction, and the Evil Companions Award. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, Pushcart Prize Stories, Best Stories from the South, Esquire, Ploughshares, Harvard Review, Colorado Review, and many other magazines.

He shares the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston with his wife, Antonya Nelson.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

well I keep meaning to stick up a review for this great, involving, complicated book. I didn't like every story - 'A Sketch of Highway on the Nap of A Mountain' for example, what was all that weird use of language - Did I convention how Billy and I were a pair for ten years?, but even that was good. Several stories were just the dog's bollocks - the title story, the opening one (No River Wide), A Walk in Winter, the wonderful page and a half 'Skin Deep'. (That story appeared in the same issue of Vestal Review as one of mine!) Haven't really had the time to sit down and think about a proper review yet, but I will come back. Meanwhile I came across this graphic review of the book:
http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5...

Here's one of the pictures from it:


actually here's the whole review as one image:

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by Robert Boswell and this particular book is a collection of short stories that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Boswell's writing is strong and he's great at setting up the tone of the story and the character development is exceptional also. His characters are all broken in some way and the author draws you into an emotional relationship with each one and so there is a level of empathy and a certain sadness that I felt while reading. I felt like I knew these people.
Boswell's writing style is very distinct and I felt that I was reading something exciting and new. It didn't ever feel like I was reading a recycled story from another author. Boswell has a great way of weaving words together and I often stopped and read sentences again just so that I could feel them further.
"No River Wide" and "Smoke" were my two favorite stories. In "Smoke" I loved the atmosphere of the boys sitting around talking and in "No River Wide" I enjoyed the authors play with time.
It's so much fun reading an author for the first time and now that I've experienced his short stories, I'm really looking forward to one of his novels.
Robert Boswell did an excellent job of engaging me and he toyed with my emotions which is what I enjoyed most about these stories. Excellent read!!

[Alyson Hagy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boswell is a fine, fine writer. He's remarkably astute about character, and he's fearless when it comes to structure and style. The title piece is wickedly funny and shrewd and sad. The collection features great range and imagination. I've read several of Boswell's novels and collections. He just gets better and better. Story lovers, check him out.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a good collection, and I'm almost a lot more enthusiastic about it than the number of stars would suggest. The writing is not only consistently excellent, but its varied. The stories feature strong characters that reveal their emotional lives in ways that makes it hard not to be sympathetic with them-- even though that might mean this collection has a lot of sad sacks in it, I don't think I ever felt dulled by the experience-- rather, the pain these character endured, their sadness and loneliness always felt real and fresh to me.

So why not give it a higher mark? I think because I found that these elements, the writing and the characters, were sort of arbitrary, or at least not obviously related to the story, either in the way it brought out the characters or the way the plots disposed of the characters, or resolved their troubles, or otherwise did something with them. The stories, despite the level of attention to the sentence, felt a little haphazard or arbitrary, and not just yet fitted to the characters they contained.... the end result is a ton of potential that for me at least didn't really pay off.

The story that sticks with me is an exception to this, "City Bus," which really was awesome, even though I couldn't tell you why it works better for me than the others did.

[Cody Sexton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing collection. The quality of writing was both refreshing and concise, not a single word was out of place and while I may not have loved every single story in this collection, the one story that resonated the most with me was "Smoke," which is a story about boys talking about sex because they don't know how to talk about anything else, at least not with each other.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

nearly 5, no definitely 5 stars. I loved this book. Right up my street. I'd be proud to write such compelling, complex stories. Proper review will come, eventually (slowing down I'm afraid for work reasons..)
So thanks Jacob for putting me onto this.

[Judy Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, mostly strange stories about unusual people. Some are very dark. Some are humorous. Some I didn't get at all. The writing is interesting--unexpected turns of phrase, descriptions that are not ordinary at all. Overall, not my favorite.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't understand some of these stories and the language in most of them was quite colorful

[Edward]

I seem to vaguely remember reading this book for the first time many years ago in high school. I think it was used, first, because it was short and easily fit into an anthology, and second, because the protagonist is a teen age boy and would presumably be of interest to a teen-age audience, particularly as a coming-of-age story. A boy becomes a man and earns his “badge.” And the class might have been shown the l951 film version with WW II hero, Audie Murphy, in the starring role to reinforce thi s idea of becoming a man.

All of this raises the question of whether Henry Fleming has in fact courageously earned his badge. His wound, a superficial head injury is caused by one of his own men, and not by any enemy attack. His comrades, though, as he makes his way back to to his group after deserting it that he has been wounded in battle. He feels guilty about this misrepresentation but does nothing to correct it.

The narrative doesn’t end here, though. In a sense, Henry gets a second chance to redeem himself and show his bravery when he grabs a flag and becomes a bearer, surviving a battle, basically as a bystander although he did continue to hold the flag aloft. But pnot getting shot, is a matter of luck, of circumstance, of being in the right place at the right time. On the other hand, one of Henry’s comrades is shot and killed as he was going to fill his canteen with water. He was in the wrong place in the wrong time.

During his flag holding, what is Henry feeling, thinking? He senses , “the daring spirit of a savage religion-mad. He was capable of profound sacrifices, a tremendous death.” Here, Henry seems to have gone beyond rational thought and is caught in a battle frenzy, hardly the credentials for a display of courage.

Later, he reflects, he “had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man.” A man, or is he engaging in self-delusion?

The novel ends with these words, “ He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks—an existence of soft and eternal peace. Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.” Rays of sunshine, of hope of accomplishment, of a lover’s tenderness. Is this what the reader is to take away from the novel? Or the more prevailing leaden rain clouds dominate, suggesting that the good that comes to persons, or the good that they think they create, is brief and momentary.

What impression did the book leave on me as I read it as a teenager? Did I feel I had read a story about the process of maturing and becoming a man, an adult? I can’t say what I felt at that far-off time, but reading it today, the language of questioning and irony is everywhere.

[Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are strange and sometimes mildly upsetting. They often contain beautiful sentences and intriguing word pairings. What intrigued me most is that I had no idea where they came from. I could guess the spark of the idea that started the story, but I have no idea if I would be right. Many of the stories deal with the vagaries of memory. None of the characters are particularly happy and many are not doing well. I also have no idea how this collection of stories was used to make a movie that has any cohesion at all. The book had sat on my shelf for almost ten years before my tiny book club decided to read it. I am glad I did and will seek out more of Boswell's writing.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a highly entertaining book, full of witty, allegorical descriptions that were so spot on I was like, "Huh," out loud. Boswell is a master of laying bare those pesky human characteristics we all share, yet none of us wants to be the first to admit. Now we don't have to! Just read Insensitive Bastards for proof you're not alone.

[Barb G]

I got over halfway through this and it was just too trashy and weird for my taste. Not going to finish.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed two stories: "No River Wide" and "The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards." Generally they all had interesting ideas, but I did not think much of the execution. "A Walk in Winter" could have been a great story, but Boswell spent half of it on inessential plot. "Lacunae" was promising but wrapped up terribly, and should have been more developed. What most the stories lack is tightness. Boswell explains his characters thoughts too much, includes too many useless details, and places emphasis in the wrong areas.

Take, for instance, the line from "Almost not Beautiful," when Boswell writes that Amanda and Lisa's father died. He mentions that he was an only child, an somewhat important detail because he didn't have to share his parent's estate and was able to buy a nice house. He dies, and then Boswell writes "When Snookie died, the paternal line ended." This line is indicative of how I feel about this collection in general. One, it is stating what can be inferred. The statement is supposed to carry weight, to say that the paternal line ended. It also is not true. The paternal line died when he failed to have any male heirs. And finally, it is such a worthless thing to call attention to, especially because it has no bearing on the story, that the family name won't be carried on, and yet is said significantly.

To be fair, I recognize that I am being harsh. But this is because Boswell is obviously an intelligent writer, and I can appreciate that he reaches farther than a good amount of writers today, even if he fails. I am unsure why, but I expected more from him, though this is the first work of his I've read. I feel this way about writers who promise more than they can deliver. The promise is in the tone and the subject matter.

In general, Boswell structures all his stories much the same, with the stories grounded in the present as a frame. In "No River Wide," presenting the past and the present as if they occur at the same time was an exciting technique, and though it dragged I loved the ending. But it's less interesting in the rest of the stories. "Heyday" is stronger for diverging some from this format, admittedly similar but not the same.

For the writing itself, there are some pretty lines, especially in the two stories I liked (and more in the titular), but he also printed some awful stuff. Boswell does not write action well. By action I mean simple things like the process of throwing a cup into a trash can or of lifting a person into a tub. Some of his metaphors are awful, mostly due to how abstract they are.

I can't help but wonder if Boswell is better as a novelist, seeing as how his longer stories tend to build well.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit, I picked up this book because the title caught my attention. There's something intriguing about The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards. And there's something intriguing about Robert Boswell's stories. They can be quirky, weird, upsetting, funny, or disturbing, but they're all distinct and have strong voices.

There were stories that were better than others, of course, and I actually found myself most disappointed with the story that shares the book's title. I had high expectations for it, but as I made my way through the book, I thought the stories got progressively weaker instead of stronger on the whole. "The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards" came last, and it was my least favorite.

Boswell's talent is clear, and some of the stories are truly enjoyable. It's when the writing is bogged down with gratuitous attempts at shock and awe that the stories become less interesting. Some feel overdone and excessively crass. One girl longs for the father to whom she lost her virginity; another coats her underwear in honey to attract ants as part of an act; a feckless junkie pees in the face of a passed out housemate and throws him in the river. These things are distracting and take away from Boswell's writing more than they add to it. His gift is in creating atmosphere, setting up people in situations and then showing how their minds work. And that gift is what makes the book worth reading.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book that has haunted me and merits a re-read. The hubby picked this one out for me when I was ill a couple years ago and wanted some library books to pass the time. I was amazed by the stories and characters and can't get them out of my head. Boswell takes the worst thoughts that all of us have but never share with others, and writes them down for us to read. You'll love and hate these characters for the honesty with which the author portrays them. It's funny how they manage to endear themselves to you when you read them thinking or saying something awful, stupid or narcissistic, or making some ridiculous justification for some horrible action they just committed. You will definitely not be able to forget them, and you may recognize yourself or people you know amongst them.

[John Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are quite varied but all are about quirky, flawed and somewhat disturbing characters. Boswell has a knack for developing interesting characters and drawing us into some unusual situations. I prefer a story to be more conclusively tied together at the end, but Boswell leaves us pondering the implications and just exactly how to interpret what the story's title implies. Though intrigued by the offbeat characters, it took me awhile to appreciate his style. I have been stealthily seduced by the stories, so my rating edged up to 4 stars, perhaps I may need to delve deeper into Boswell's world.

[anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the weirdest thing about this book. Apart from a couple of stories, i really enjoyed them all. Except i can't remember half of them without a prompt.
So, when i think back on the book, my first reaction is 'meh'. But then i look at the list of titles, and go 'oh, i loved this one', 'i really enjoyed this one', 'meh', 'oh yes, this one was good'. The ratio is completely flipped.
Clearly, this review says more about my shortcomings than the book's, doesn't it. And the upshot is: the book is better.

[Chaitali Sen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often I can't get through a whole short story collection because the writer's style becomes so repetitive and predictable and the stories begin to blur together. I love this book because each story is so different from the next one. I'm really impressed with Boswell's range here. And there are great lines like, "Lisa liked to look on the bright side, but she was often too perceptive to find one." My favorite story in the collection is "City Bus."

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no denying Robert Boswell's talent. His characters are fully formed, very flawed, and buffeted by their bad decisions and lack of self awareness. However, I got bored with every story's stubborn meanness. The women are manipulative, envious, or sad. The men ordinary outlaws in unremarkable circumstances. I wanted some small redemption, some self-awareness, some form of believable recovery. I wanted the man and woman on the cover to stop peeking out the blinds and leave the shadows.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories. Boswell has a gift for considering a moment in a character's life - and we, the reader, also are forced to consider such whisperings within our own life. I think this is the best a story can be - to bottle a moment and allow the reader to experience it and bridge that moment. Quite magical.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read Boswell before, but I really got into these stories. Boswell seems to have a knack for finding the cracks in his characters's psyches and putting the reader into the story right at that point and keep the story swimming along in that dark water. Detailed and fluid, it makes for some good reading.

[Noreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book of short stories. The characters in all of the stories are affecting. The stories cover a range showing Boswell to be a superb craftsman and storyteller. His sense of humor and quirkiness make these stories entertaining and satisfying. This collection is outstanding.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not usually a fan of short stories but I am a big fan of Boswell. And my book club is reading this. And the author is coming to the book club! in just a few hours!! Will update this post then.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This the first I've read of Robert Boswell. I like his style and the stories which are haunting and surprising, even though they are about people who deal with unhappiness and loss in their lives. I'll be reading more of Boswell.

[Robb Todd]

Had to stop reading this. Couldn't get into his style, even though there was a good line here or there. He's very into character portraits. Also, there were some glaring technical errors in some of the stories that I cannot believe got past an editor.

[♥Eliza Marie♥ Goco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well,i just bought this book...And I'm hardly half way through,since I've been busy lately..now i've seen people's review on this book,im super glad that almost everyone rated this five star,and I've read alot of good feed backs,so i have to start reading this asap! <3

[Caro Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such full characters. Stories that come alive, that read like film. Vivid, nuanced, and powerful scenes. Boswell is also a master of dialogue. This is a book to be studied, but reads like its meant to be enjoyed.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each of these stories was so perfectly attenuated (one was exactly 2 pages long!), so complete in and of themselves, that I forgot every story that I wasn't reading a novel. Truly a sign of a great short story writer.

[Lulu McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so good. Only a few stories even worth reading. Personally, didn't like the writer's style and rhythm.

[Wayne Klick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book of short stories. Be forewarned, this is "literary" fiction. There are no murders or space wars, but alcoholism abounds, along with dysfunctional relationships.