I Walk Between the Raindrops: Witty Literary Short Stories – Inventive Contemporary Fiction

by T.C. Boyle

An electric collection of new short stories from the inimitable, bestselling writer of  Talk to Me and  Outside Looking In In the title story of Walk Between the Raindrops , a woman sits down next to a man at a bar and claims she has ESP. In “Thirteen Days,” passengers on a cruise line are quarantined, to horrifying and hilarious effect. And “Hyena” begins “That was the day the hyena came for him, and never mind that there were no hyenas in the South of France, and especially not in Pont-Saint-Esprit—it was there and it came for him.” A virtuoso of the short form, T.C. Boyle returns with an inventive, uproarious, and masterfully told collection of short stories characterized by biting satire, resonant wit, and a boundless, irrepressible imagination. 

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Roman, Collections

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2022

About the author

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook….read by a full cast - including T.C. Boyle
….8 hours and 41 minutes

VERY ENTERTAINING!!!!
T. C. Boyle….’rocks’.
I love his writing and love these highly imagined contemporary interesting stories.
Each and everyone was a dynamo!!! Hilarious and compelling —-
…Valentines Day, a coffee shop stranger,
marriage, (authentic- functional - non- sentiment)
…suicide hot line short term work volunteer work,
…an unforgettable train ride with a woman in her fifties and a young college age kid who identifies with a school shooting killer
…a covid outbreak on a cruise ship
…etc etc etc.
…I refuse to spoil these stories by sharing more —
but they’re magnificent!!

I just don’t read T.C. Boyle ‘enough’.
He really can’t do ‘bad’.

The audiobook format was excellent — although I admit not equally liking each ‘voice’ — but I liked most (all but one actually).

Overall, I just can’t say it enough - loud enough- how enjoyable and satisfying these stories are.
I can’t imagine anyone not liking them.

Full 5 stars from me!

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incels, adults in arrested development, COVID (of course), climate change, suicide, self-driving cars, the homeless problem, teachers hooking up with students, hallucinogenics, and a social credit system - in the US? TC Boyle’s latest collection of short stories is very much about the here and now of our world.

I’ve read nearly all of Boyle’s short story collections and I Walk Between the Raindrops is probably my least favourite of his so far. That said, they’re usually very high quality collections so this is by no means a bad book and there are some brilliant gems to be found amidst the 13 stories here.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? is the first great story, about an older woman taking the cross-country train to her family and happens to meet an incel (“involuntary celibate” - exclusively guys) and they discuss a recent school shooting by an incel. It’s an increasingly dark and tense story where you wonder what other revelations Boyle will throw at you before the tale is told - very compelling stuff.

The Shape of a Teardrop is my favourite story here. It’s about a thirtysomething manbaby being evicted by his parents for being a deadbeat. It’s written from the point of view of the man and his mother and it’s very funny, but also timely - I recall seeing a similar story in the news in recent years. If you like this story, I highly recommend checking out Todd Solondz’s underrated movie Dark Horse which features a very similar character.

Given the contemporary nature of the stories, there had to be at least one about COVID-19 and that one is The Thirteenth Day. The story takes us aboard the cruise ship that featured in the early days of 2020 where its passengers and crew had to quarantine indefinitely rather than dock anywhere, Boyle perfectly capturing in his characters the increasing panic and fear that all of us felt that year in the first lockdown when we didn’t know what we were suddenly facing.

The title story is about a well-off older couple that basically showcases a multitude of things - the polarised political landscape of America, extreme weather patterns, increased suicide, the obesity crisis - in an uneven story that’s not especially memorable and seems to be saying “things are pretty fucked up right now, eh?” rather underwhelmingly. The suicide hotline anecdote and the description of the aftermath of the Californian mudslide are quite good though.

The Apartment was the last story I sorta enjoyed about a Frenchman who approaches an elderly widower with an offer on her lovely apartment, thinking he’ll be able to move his family in when she passes shortly - and then has a surprise headed his way! It’s a mildly amusing tale that kept me guessing as to where it was going and, while not an impossible conceit, has an air of a satirical fairy tale about it.

I won’t go into all of the stories I didn’t like as much but there were only a couple that I outright disliked. Key to the Kingdom has an unwieldy flashback device that adds little to a story that’s straightforward and mundane in concept - an older man finds out he has a secret son - while The Hyena is about a town that collectively hallucinates after hallucinogens somehow get into their bread; no idea what that story was meant to be about but it was boring.

The others weren’t great stories but they had aspects that were interesting, like the social credit system story SCS 750 and what life under such a regime could look like, and the temp teacher who watches his colleague embark on a relationship with her student.

Boyle’s written better short story collections before - his previous one, The Relive Box, is excellent - but he’s also such a fantastic short story writer that it’s always worth checking out his work regardless as there’s definitely going to be some real bangers mixed in there, as they are in I Walk Between the Raindrops. Fans will pick this one up anyway but I also recommend it to anyone looking to read some pretty decent short fiction about the ever-varied world we’re currently inhabiting.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I marveled at the variety of these stories and enjoyed the narration by twelve different narrators, all but one new to me. These stories explore some interesting topics from different perspectives.

I ended up borrowing the print version as an accompaniment to the audiobook because I was confused by the many titles and discovered that there are chapter titles (or change to topic titles) throughout each short-story. For example, there are ten chapter titles in Asleep at the Wheel. Here is the list of stories with my notes:

1. Valentine's Day, read by T. C. Boyle - this story includes the mudslides in California and a late night suicide prevention helpline caller. Standout quote: "tell me about the fathomless, inexpressible, heartbreaking loneliness of life on this planet."

2. What's Love Got to Do with It, read by Cheryl Smith - A conversation on a train about a mass shooter.

3. Asleep at the Wheel, read by T. C. Boyle - An automated car and a man experiencing homelessness feature.

4. Not Me, read by Jason Culp- Explores relationships between college students and their professors.

5. The Apartment, read by Derek Perkins - This story is my favorite and was read by the one narrator I recognized. A shrewd elderly lady finds a new lease on life when a man makes a wager with her over her apartment.

6. These Are the Circumstances, read by Jeremy Arthur - Our relationship with nature. Standout quotes, "wearing a face molded of dough," and "That was when it began to buzz like an overworked alarm clock and it became apparent just what sort of snake this was."

7. The Thirteenth Day, read by Stephen Mendel - is set on a cruise ship at the very beginning of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. Key to the Kingdom, read by Johnathan McClain - is about an alcoholic writer confronted with his past. He is genuinely unlikable. However, I get the impression that he dislikes himself even more.

9. SCS 750, read by Ewan Chung - is a dystopian story set in a surveillance state. People have a social score to maintain. Good behavior positively affects your score and bad behavior does the opposite. Hanging out with people who have a high score can increase your score also. Standout quote: "They saw something in me even when I was down. That's loyalty, and you can't really put a number on that."

10. Big Mary, read by Pete Simonelli - is about a large lady with a large voice and one of my favorites in this collection. Descriptions such as, "her vocals carrying a full payload of rage at the world that had tried to keep her down," and "an older guy with hippie sideburns who created a lot of drama around her and spurred her to come in raw and powerful over these big chunky chords he was laying down," kept me hooked.

11. The Hyena, read by David de Vries - is set in a village in the South of France where people eat bread and hallucinate hyenas.

12. The Shape of a Teardrop, read by Nan McNamara and T. C. Boyle - this story is told alternately by the mother and her adult son (aged thirty-one) who provide their very different perspectives on him moving out of the family home. He views his parents as "old and weak and ridiculous and they know it, with their stained teeth and droopy necks and faces like masks cut out of sheets of sandpaper with two holes poked for their glittery, hypercritical eyes to blaze through." They look at their beloved son and despise what he has become. The dispute between them progresses to the courts and I loved the description of the judge as a "balding meringue-faced automaton who could have been a clone of my father."

13. Dog Lab, read by Rex Anderson - is set in a teaching hospital where shelter dogs are used by medical students to practice their newly acquired surgical skills. Their instructor tells them to think of the dogs not as pets but "in terms of a problem to be solved." We learn what happens when a student becomes attached to one of the dogs.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

T. C. Boyle has been writing for decades, and in the 40 years or so that I've been a fan, he's rarely disappointed me. While his novels can at times use a bit of a trim as he zeros in his laser gaze, his short fiction is concise and, especially in this latest collection, contemporary and wise. There is an examination of interior monologues, an account of a couple on an unfortunate cruise at the beginning of the pandemic, a sadly hilarious back and forth between a bewildered and fed-up parent and her exasperating adult son. These stories are more slice of life than point of upheaval moments, and I hope he continues with his curiosity and energy.

[Olaf Gütte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bekanntlich bin ich kein Freund von Kurzgeschichten,
aber bei T.C. Boyle kann man mal eine Ausnahme machen.
Und man wird letztendlich belohnt dafür!

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm delighted to be the first to rate and review this book on GR.
I requested this book from Netgalley solely based on the strength of Boyle’s novel Talk to Me. And sure enough, in short form the author doesn’t disappoint either. In fact, this collection is pretty terrific. Some writers just that that certain quality – the organic storytelling technique. They write as if they are speaking directly to you, the natural raconteurs. Boyle is that kind of author. An absolute pleasure to read.
Even though some of the stories weren’t as plot driven as I might have liked. Even though Boyle is prone to page-long paragraphs and paragraph-long sentences. No matter the destination, the journey there was a joy each and every time. Such a striking reminder of the power of words, the evocative potency of language and the beauty of unfolding narrative.
Great collection of short stories. Just what literary fiction ought to be. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

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

[Karen·]

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Robert Burns: To a Mouse

As straight as a die these stories, with drive and energy. They tell of people disappointed by life, by the unkindness of strangers, made to face up to the "fathomless, inexpressible, heartbreaking loneliness of life on this planet." People gaming the system, and losing. People and technology, people and nature - that one really does not go well. You may think you have carried the victory, but nature will come back to bite you, quite literally. (And I do mean LITERALLY. I know what that word means, unlike the woman interviewed on the radio recently who was calling for severe punishment for whatever felonous group was the flavour of the day: she said we should 'literally throw the book at them'. I didn't think that would be a particularly harsh punishment, especially if they ducked).

Sounds bleak? I suppose it is, yes, but also hilarious. I laughed out loud in several places: in These are the Circumstances a doubting cynic is reluctantly persuaded to join a very woo-woo 'nature bath', where participants are encouraged to

"...dwell in the moment and see and feel and appreciate the ordinary, the natural radiance that's there right before our eyes if we can only just stop long enough to recognize it. When was the last time any of you looked at an insect, really looked at it, whether a fly or an ant or a monarch butterfly? Or a leaf? The veins, the symmetry, the perfect unalloyed beauty of its design?"
No one responded. The other six-two couples and two singles, all in their thirties and forties, like him and Laurel-took the question for what it was, a chastisement that required no answer. He wanted to raise his hand and point out that he'd closely observed a cockroach in the shower stall just that morning, both in its animate state and its even more radiant moribund one, but he restrained himself.

That sardonic voice, the forgiving gaze and the obvious appreciation for long term loving relationships mean that this is not as bleak as it appears. It's life. Life is a gamble, and sometimes you lose.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

By this point, I've read enough of T.C. Boyle's work - in particular his short story collections - to know what to expect, or to know what is likely to happen (~ though I should say this was, so far, the 'breeziest' of his collections to get through.) 

Overall, these aren't bad stories - but, for the most part, they're not exactly great either (with a few exceptions). 

I was reminded again that Boyle can have a tendency to give his take on hot-button topics. So we get his spin on incels ('What's Love Got to Do with It?'), sexual harassment ('Not Me'), and COVID-19 ('The Thirteenth Day'). 

We get one rather diffuse story ('Asleep at the Wheel') that left me scratching my head a bit. And we get a rare (for Boyle) excursion into something futuristic ('SCS 750', which comes with a 'gotcha' conclusion).

Now for (t0 me) the standouts:

Of those singled out just above, 'The Thirteenth Day', maybe the longest story is also one of the best. Significantly and expansively detailed, it lays out the havoc brought to a cruise ship (with 2,666 passengers) forced to dock in northern Japan, before being forced from there to uncertain destinations. 

This story is the last of three that are smack-dab in the center of the volume - and which distinguish the collection as being of genuine if partial note. 

The first ('The Apartment') is about a Parisian who finds himself undone by a contract of his own making. It's a story that suggests if life can find a way to fuck you royally, it most likely will.

Following that is 'These Are the Circumstances'. in which - at least in part - Boyle revisits one of his pet peeves (in this case, trendy fads and the - usually - uber-eccentrics who embrace them). This story dovetails effectively with the real terrors of nature.

Preferring certain stories over others can, as always, be a matter of taste and interest. Boyle fans are likely to consistently appreciate the actual writing throughout. I imagine they'll be glad to come upon the few gems within - and may even admire bits and pieces of scattered insight in the less-urgent stories.   

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first blush, the subjects of these stories appear unrelated, even random, until one obvious common thread arises: each story involves an examination of how we perceive one another, and the consequences which result from specific perspectives. 

Thank you to Ecco books, a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, and to #NetGalley for an Advance Reader's e-proof of this collection.

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

These stories are brutal reads. I guess cynicism and apathy and nihilism have their places, but I didn't enjoy or even appreciate the writing here. Some interesting ideas, but just so depressing. I certainly didn't find them "quirky" or "uproarious" as others have.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

via my blof: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝑵𝒐𝒘- 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚- 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

I was hooked by T.C. Boyle’s latest collection of stories, while they aren’t all uplifting and happy, in fact they are often unsettling, the tales have characters behaving, feeling as non-fictional people do . Yes, it can be terrible, but it’s genuine. The quote I used is from the story I enjoyed the most, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. In it, a ‘spritely French woman’ of ninety years of age (Madame C.) has an apartment that many would covet, but no, not the man who desires it. The woman, surely, is nearing the end of her life with no one to leave it to and wouldn’t it just be perfect for his family? Their own apartment is “too small to contain his growing daughters”, so he makes a proposal, one that his wife grows to hate. We all know how plans go awry, and in my mind the blessed Madame C. has a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. It also had me thinkin about the idea of what we deserve and what we get. Life doesn’t always follow the expected path, the order we assume it should.

𝑆𝐶𝑆 750 is a nightmare story for me personally, I don’t know about the rest of the world, but it’s not a farfetched idea at all. The horror is a credit system that benefits all the good citizens, and technology based on facial-recognition, I think people know where this is going. There is a government based social credit system in a certain country now that comes to mind. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝 is a hell of a story, about parents, their responsibilities, adulthood, failure to thrive, and the undeniable hypocrisy of the “victim”. It plucked my emotions, darn it! There is a tale about a cruise and Covid19, I honestly try to stay away from any fictional book about the pandemic as I have Covid19 burnout, I imagine many people feel the same, but 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝐷𝑎𝑦 was an interesting perspective, also rotten to imagine. I can feel the mounting panic those contained and restricted go through, the hopelessness and fear. This collection has stories that are hallucinatory, futuristic, absurd and tender too (I’m thinking of Dog Lab), oh my little dog loving heart! It was refreshing to read stories that aren’t run-of-the-mill, ugh here I go using idioms, sorry. Walking between the raindrops metaphorically, you aren’t getting wet, you are dodging the hardships if you apply it to life, no? Interesting title, 𝐼 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑠, because the characters are trying to avoid obstacles, the dirt of life, but often failing. The book has been described as witty, biting satire, and inventive, it really is. Yes, read it!

Published September 13, 2022

Ecco

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Walk Between the Raindrops: Stories by T. C. Boyle is a very highly recommended collection of thirteen imaginative and irresistible short stories.

The stories range from the reactions of a wealthy couple amidst a variety of experiences, passengers quarantined on a cruise ship, a society controlled by a social credit system, a man kills a rattlesnake in his yard, an author faces his paternity of a young man, a man makes a deal with an elderly woman, a man being evicted by his parents and more.

Boyle writes excellent short stories and I Walk Between the Raindrops is a superb addition to his oeuvre. The writing is impeccable, providing concise descriptions of characters and situations while establishing the plot and setting. The stories cover both realistic situations and surrealistic ones and are set both in the past and the future. They can be simultaneously funny and serious. Some of the stories are idiosyncratic character studies, others veer toward social commentary, and some are futuristic. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/0...

[Desi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just read the excerpt of this novel. Needless to say, I have no interest in reading the rest. The story about Fredda and Paul? Really? Tell me you’re afraid of fat people without telling me you’re afraid of fat people. “…while it’s harsh to say it…”, “…I know that’s not particularly kind of me to say…” okay??? Then simply don’t say it??????
The overly-detailed description of the way Paul eats and how Fredda looks like she was “smuggling another person in with her” to your dinner party. Like we get it. They’re fat. And it’s sad that the only thing this guy knows about his friend since high school is that he enjoys eating. While Paul doesn’t seem to be the greatest guy in the picture either, I’m sure he has more hobbies other than eating.

Oh, and to top it all off, his reaction to hearing that the mentally unwell woman who had been talking to him in a bar went and laid on some railroad tracks after he’d rejected her was that she “didn’t have the faintest inkling of how deep and true he ran…”. Get over yourself

[Lilli Henze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manche Kurzgeschichten haben mich nicht so überzeugt aber einige waren richtig schön traurig und oder schaurig-dystopisch

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boyle is one of my favorite writers, in fact one of his books changed more or less my consciousness, but I didn't like this one at all. Supposed to be humorous, but the humor was not really snide, but I don't know, sort of more judgmental. I don't know. Sort of depressing book which is not at all what the reviews said.

[Clarissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich muss wohl langsam akzeptieren, dass Erzählungs-Bände nicht ganz mein Ding sind. Auch wenn es immer Highlights gibt, fällt es mir schwer, mich immer so schnell auf neue Figuren und Prämissen einzulassen und die meisten Erzählungen haben mich eher irritiert.
Die Themen waren in etwa das, was ich bei Boyle erwartet habe. Gesellschaftliche Überlegungen, Zukunftsvisionen zu den Themen Klima und Technologie, Leben im Kapitalismus etc.
Positiv hervorheben möchte ich:
- „What‘s love got to do with it?“
- „Die Wohnung“
- „Der dreizehnte Tag“

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man wanting to celebrate Valentine’s Day with his wife is hounded by a possibly deranged lady claiming to have ESP. A woman taking a leisurely cross-country train journey has an unsettling encounter with an apologist for a mass murderer. A man makes a bet with the elderly owner of an apartment he covets but quickly learns to regret it. Cruise passengers at the outbreak of Covid make the best of their extended time on board the ship. A self-absorbed alcoholic writer is confronted by a son he never knew he had with a mother he cannot remember. A fungus infecting baguettes in a small French village causes a hallucinatory panic among the citizens. In a future where people’s lives are ruled by their Social Credit Score, a young man makes some impactful relationship decisions. The exasperated parents of their 31-year old unemployed son go to court to evict him from the family home. A medical student with an animal activist girlfriend has misgivings when asked to operate on a friendly dog.

What is the unifying theme connecting these plot summaries? I honestly have no idea, but they represent many of the thirteen stories contained in the volume I Walk Between the Raindrops by acclaimed author T. C. Boyle. Some of the tales can fairly be categorized as social commentary (‘SCS 750’, ‘Not Me’, Dog Lab’), with others being quirky—twisted, really—character studies (‘These Are the Circumstances’, ‘Big Mary’, ‘The Shape of a Teardrop’), while still others rise to a level that borders on magical realism or science fiction (‘Asleep at the Wheel’, ‘The Hyena’). All told, then, the stories appear to share little with one another save two things: they are all well-crafted narratives featuring Boyle’s signature style that combines strange plotlines with familiar settings that move across time and location, and they are all quite funny and entertaining.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection of short fiction, as much because of its eclectic nature as despite it. This was the first time I have read Boyle’s work, but after seeing him likened over the years to writers such as Raymond Carver, John Barth, Flannery O’Connor, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez—all favorites of mine—I thought it was time that I did. The book did not disappoint in any way and each of the stories held my interest from beginning to end. That said, I certainly had my favorites; I found myself attracted more to the character-driven tales, such as ‘The Thirteenth Day’ (about the quarantined cruise ship) or ‘The Apartment’ (which involved the housing bet gone wrong) than the ones in which the author let his imagination run a little more to the wild side. Still, there is not a weak selection in the set and this is a book that I can enthusiastically recommend to both seasoned fans of the author and those new to his work.

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the ebook. As wonderful as a novelist as he is, T.C. Boyle will always be a master of the short story and here is his latest collection that jumps around the world and time as he lets his grand imagination roam from a luxury liner that can’t find a port that will take them as a new virus makes its way around the world, to a man who pays a monthly fee for the right to move into an elderly woman’s apartment after she passes away, only to see her have one birthday after another. And he takes you so many other places, with his endless wit and intelligence.

[Yvonne Tunnat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enthaltene Storys
I walk between the Raindrops
What's Love Got To do With It
Schlaf am Steuer
Ich nicht
Die Wohnung
Dies sind die Umstände
Der dreizehnte Tag
Der Schlüssel zum Königreich
SKS 750
Big Mary
Die Hyäne
Die Form einer Träne
Hundelabor
Lediglich Schlaf am Steuer und SKS 750 ordne ich eindeutig der SF unter, wobei Schlaf am Steuer nicht so meins war und SKS 750 zwar eine schöne, böse Story ist, diese aber dem belesenen SF-Fan nichts Neues bezüglich der Grundidee bietet. Eine dystopische Welt, in der jeder Mensch einen Punktestand hat und sich daraus Konflikte ergeben und Schwierigkeiten: Das ist im SF-Westen absolut nichts Neues.

Dann ist die Pointe auch noch sehr, sehr vorhersehbar, wobei ich die Story trotzdem genossen habe, in ihrer Bösartigkeit. Auch hier ist wieder kaum eine Figur sympathisch und ich lese trotzdem weiter. Das können nur wenige.



Die Highlights dieser Sammlung sind eher einige der realistischen Storys, die entweder im Hier und Jetzt oder in der näheren Vergangenheit spielen.



Besonders viel Spaß gemacht hat mir Die Wohnung, zumal ich sofort wusste, auf welche realen Personen diese Geschichte anspielte. Auch wenn die Namen der beiden Hauptfiguren nicht vollständig genannt werden, war die Inspiration für diese Storys sicherlich die Leibrente der Jeanne Calment, die die älteste Frau der Welt war (und noch ungeschlagen ist), die mit neunzig Jahren eine Leibrente erhielt für ihre Wohnung, von einem Herrn, der dann aber (obwohl Jahrzehnte jünger) deutlich vor ihr den Tod fand und nie in die Wohnung einziehen konnte.



Ebenfalls an reale Situationen angelehnt, wenn auch wohl etwas loser, ist Der dreizehnte Tag. Dies spielt Anfang 2020 auf einem Kreuzschiff, das wegen (zunächst nur einem) Fall von COVID-19 unter Quarantäne gestellt wurde und nirgends anlegen durfte. Beklemmend, sehr realistisch, wirkt authentisch, ist sehr nachvollziehbar und gruselig, gerade aufgrund der nicht allzu fernen Vergangenheit. Wir haben den Anfang der Pandemie alle irgendwo erlebt und noch gut im Kopf, immerhin waren die wenigsten von uns zu Beginn auf einem Kreuzschiff eingesperrt, einer Situation, der Boyle tatsächlich mit so etwas wie Fingerspitzengefühl nachgespürt hat. Trotzdem fehlt es nicht an der Boyl'schen Bösartigkeit, einer Art Erbarmungslosigkeit, auch in der Art, wie er die Enden seiner Storys gestaltet.



Ein bisschen Body-Shaming gibt es auch, vor allem in I walk between the Raindrops, What's Love Got to do With it oder auch Big Mary. Hier gibt es übergewichtige oder sehr hässliche Menschen, was auch ziemlich erbarmungslos geschildert wird. Wenn jemand dick oder hässlich ist, ja, dann kann das einen Einfluss haben auf das Leben, das Erleben, das Wohlbefinden. Auch hier gibt es eine erbarmungslose Treffsicherheit und sicherlich hätten einige andere hier Content Notes verwendet oder die Geschichten so gar nicht erst gedruckt. Die Figuren kommen auch selbst zu Wort, was es nicht unbedingt besser macht, aber eben auch nicht unwahr, vor allem in What's Love Got to do With it, die Einstellung des sehr hässlichen jungen Mannes, der unfreiwilligen Jungfrau, erinnert mich stark an viele Forengespräche, die ich vor zwanzig Jahren mit jungen Männern hatte, die mir (und den anderen Foren-Mitgliedern) geschildert haben, was es für sie bedeutet, hässlich in dieser Welt zu sein, was es für ihr Liebesleben heißt, für ihre Einstellung zu Frauen.

Damals wollte ich das nicht wahrhaben, doch heute stehe ich eher auf der Position der Protagonistin, die von dem hässlichen Mann gefragt wird, ob ihre Tochter denn mit ihm ausgehen würde. Und sie antwortet Nein.


Einzig der Protagonist in Hundelabor wird mir sympathisch und verhält sich, wie ich mich womöglich ebenfalls verhalten würde. Leicht zu lesen ist die Story nicht, hier operieren angehende Chirurgen an Hunden, die sowieso in vier Wochen eingeschläfert werden. Hunde, die von ihren früheren Familien ausgesetzt worden sind und die im Tierheim niemand sonst haben wollte. Diese werden viermal operiert, danach eingeschläfert. So haben die Chirurgen jemanden zum üben, echte lebende Wesen. Es erscheint logisch, dass irgendwo geübt werden muss und notwendig, trotzdem ist das nicht leicht zu lesen und auch der Ich-Erzähler erträgt es kaum. Die Reaktion seiner Freundin finde ich ziemlich unsensibel und wenig hilfreich, ihn und seinen Werdegang kann ich umso besser verstehen.

Fast ein ein versöhnlicher Abschluss.

[Randal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Boyle's short fiction; far prefer it to his novels, for the most part.

This is a collection that shows his strengths: Comedic, bitter, incisive social commentaries. Mostly broken characters, with many echoes back to his younger works ("Dog Lab" is hardly his first foray into medical research using animals; there's historical fiction; the boys racing toward the cliff while a completely different story was playing out in the background reminded me of "Drowning").

And he throws in a a flat-out sci-fi short in "SCS 750," which I loved. It's a broad sweep of stories and styles.

That said, Boyle has a distinctive narrative voice, which will grate on some folks. I loved it.

All the stars, plus some. Seven or eight out of five.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Walk Between the Raindrops is an often uncomfortable, real, and gritty collection of short stories.
T.C. Boyle is often not a "happy" reading experience for me. He's too thought-provoking for that. His books never fail to shove me out of my comfort zone. But I keep coming back for more. His topics never fail to be relevant and compelling.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

With prose like, "everyone had a mother. And for that matter a father too.", This book left me wanting nothing to do with this author's writings in the future. The stories were unprovoking and unoriginal akin to a dishwater black mirror.

The flat women characters contrasted with promenient mysogynisic men makes one wonder if this book is a work of reverse physcology designed to humanize arguments for fatphobia and degrading women.

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painfully ironic. Did not find these "uproarious" (minus a couple stories), most characters were awful people, and themes ranged from dark to f'd up to too soon--but also gripping in a way I couldn't tear away from, like driving past an accident. Masterful craftsmanship, clever characterization, and sometimes profound. My first Boyle and look forward to more.

[Tom O’Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another absolutely exquisite book of provocative and often harrowing book of short stories by short story master T. C. Boyle. I thoroughly enjoyed these varied, raucous tales of deceit, ineptitude and lust. Perfection in every sense.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious Covid-19 story (as it must be), a sci-fi social credit system story, plenty of passionate and witty hijinks, and Boyle has not lost his touch or his grasp of the moment. Sure, not all the stories are home runs, but there are enough to remind us that he is still one of the best.

[Erin Olejniczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these stories. They felt like a slightly dystopian future happening right now.

[Erlesenes.Zerlesenes [Berit] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich schätze Boyles nüchternen Blick auf die Menschheit sehr, ebenso seine trocken-pointierte Art, mit der er unsere Schwächen gnadenlos offenlegt. Ich mochte das Motiv der Natur, das in einigen Geschichten anklang und an den Vorgänger-Roman "Blue Skies" (aus dem Genre der Climate Fiction) erinnerte. Wie in jeder Kurzgeschichtensammlung gibt es Erzählungen, die mehr zu mir gesprochen haben als andere. So war die Story über die, während Covid auf einem Kreuzfahrtschiff feststeckenden, Passagiere bspw. für mich ein echtes Highlight.

[Jana Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das war ein wilder, echt großartiger Ritt!
Die Geschichten in diesem Band sind extrem vielseitig und zeigen eine beeindruckende erzählerische Bandbreite: Vom Frankreich der Nachkriegszeit über eine Lockdown-Kreuzfahrt bis zu einer Sci-Fi Dystopie des autonomen Fahrens ist alles dabei. Und nichts davon wirkt hölzern, alles ist atmosphärisch so dicht und auf den Punkt, dass man bei jeder einzelnen Episode mitgeht. Selbst die Themen, die mich auf den ersten Blick null interessieren, haben mich dann doch eingesogen.
Die Stories sind spannend und lassen sich schnell weglesen, aber ganz unverkrampft und im Vorbeigehen werden hier auch noch ethische Fragen und zeitgenössische Diskurse aufgeworfen. Die Blickwinkel und Standpunkte sind unkonventionell und legen den Finger oft genau in die Wunde der Gegenwart. Vielseitig also auch in diesem Sinne; wirklich ein reichhaltiges Buch, mit dem ich mich noch lange beschäftigen könnte!

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 2022 and I experienced it in the Audible version which was read by multiple readers. It is a book of short stories.

[suri ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆]

remind me to look PROPERLY at books before buying them because how did I not realize it's a collection of short stories?? IT LIRERALLY SAYS "stories" ON THE COVER???? anyways the moment I knew I was reading short stories my brain just went nope!!!!! I dont vibe with short stories, idk why. and they were kinda boring too. expect for the second one