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Coronado
One of our favorite writers, Dennis Lehane, slips the bonds of his Boston-based mysteries with a terrific collection of short fiction that reinforces his reputation as a "master of the new noir." The settings may be different (two stories are set south of the Mason-Dixon Line), but these works crackle with the same narrative tension that electrifies the Kenzie and Genarro detective series, as well as stand-alone thrillers like Mystic River. Included among the five short stories is a disturbing set piece called "Until Gwen," which the author has expanded into a two-act play that caps Coronado and gives the anthology its title. Here's proof (as if we needed it!) that Dennis Lehane's talents extend beyond genre fiction into the realm of bona fide literature.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Dennis Lehane
82 books14.8k followersDennis Lehane (born Aug 4th, 1966) is an American author. He has written several novels, including the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award winning film, also called Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon (Lehane can be briefly seen waving from a car in the parade scene at the end of the film). The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award and won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel, the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction, and France's Prix Mystere de la Critique.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 388 reviews
May 8, 2023
Sort of hit and miss with these short crime pieces but “Until Gwen” is enough of a pay-off for the whole book.
"YOUR FATHER PICKS you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon with an eight ball in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the backseat."
I defy any fan of pulp noir to stop reading after that first line. The story is as remarkable for what he writes as for what he demands of readers to imagine for themselves.
I actually like this stuff more than some of his long fiction. It’s a shame that short stories don’t get much traction these days. I don’t even have the pleasure of getting magazines that publish stories, stuff like The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper's that I would devour the fiction immediately after pulling them out of my mailbox. I have embraced my eReader one hundred percent, but I miss the hell out of magazines.
"YOUR FATHER PICKS you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon with an eight ball in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the backseat."
I defy any fan of pulp noir to stop reading after that first line. The story is as remarkable for what he writes as for what he demands of readers to imagine for themselves.
I actually like this stuff more than some of his long fiction. It’s a shame that short stories don’t get much traction these days. I don’t even have the pleasure of getting magazines that publish stories, stuff like The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper's that I would devour the fiction immediately after pulling them out of my mailbox. I have embraced my eReader one hundred percent, but I miss the hell out of magazines.
April 17, 2019
Coronado is a collection of six short stories by author Dennis Lehane.
Running out of Dog – A well-written tale about small town secrecy. Running out of Dog is fueled by pent-up male-aggression threatening to burst inside those who seem to lack a true purpose in life. Blue, the best friend of protagonist Elgin, is the kind of man who when you look into his eyes, you see a whole lot of nothing. As Elgin says, he’s a man who has been dying since he was born.
I really liked this one – a great way to start off the collection. Lehane weaves in Elgin’s experience fighting in the Vietnam War creating some truly haunting moments.
ICU – Follows a man who spends a month or so hiding out in various Intensive Care Units from a group of men in ties looking to tracking him down.
I enjoyed this one well enough. Although the basis of the story is a crime novel, the novel is more so about life for those waiting for others to get better or die while living inside the purgatory of hospital waiting rooms.
Going Down to Corpus – A group of recent high school grads decide to beat up a teammate responsible for blowing the big football game. They arrive at his home to discover he’s left town and instead proceed to destroying everything inside.
This one was alright. The writing was strong and memorable, but it didn’t quite do anything for me in the end. I totally get what he was going for as he had the main character struggle to cope with his inevitable mediocrity, but I just didn’t care.
Mushrooms – A quick tale about revenge and drug-fueled violence.
There’s something to be said about the ability to deliver devastating crime fiction via swift, short stories (I’m both a reader and writer of flash fiction), but I didn’t quite get anything out of this one. I found it a bit ambiguous and not quite as focused.
Until Gwen – Told via second person narration through a series of flashes between the past and present, Until Gwen tells of a rift between father and son born out of tragedy.
Until Gwen is the strongest of the five original stories. Lehane wrote the first draft overnight on his front porch during an intense rain storm. A few revisions followed before it was sent off to live inside a short story anthology. Later, he adapted it for a stage play – Coronado – which follows this story in the book. It expands on the original work, but something is lost in translation. That’s not to say it wouldn’t make an interesting stage production, but the short story is definitely better.
Coronado isn’t a particularly strong collection of short stories, but I really enjoyed both Until Gwen and Running out of Dog. You’ll have to decide if buying a short story collection for just two stories is worth your time, but I think you’d be missing out if you passed on those quick reads. Maybe check it out of your local library or grab it at a used book sale like I did.
Running out of Dog – A well-written tale about small town secrecy. Running out of Dog is fueled by pent-up male-aggression threatening to burst inside those who seem to lack a true purpose in life. Blue, the best friend of protagonist Elgin, is the kind of man who when you look into his eyes, you see a whole lot of nothing. As Elgin says, he’s a man who has been dying since he was born.
I really liked this one – a great way to start off the collection. Lehane weaves in Elgin’s experience fighting in the Vietnam War creating some truly haunting moments.
ICU – Follows a man who spends a month or so hiding out in various Intensive Care Units from a group of men in ties looking to tracking him down.
I enjoyed this one well enough. Although the basis of the story is a crime novel, the novel is more so about life for those waiting for others to get better or die while living inside the purgatory of hospital waiting rooms.
Going Down to Corpus – A group of recent high school grads decide to beat up a teammate responsible for blowing the big football game. They arrive at his home to discover he’s left town and instead proceed to destroying everything inside.
This one was alright. The writing was strong and memorable, but it didn’t quite do anything for me in the end. I totally get what he was going for as he had the main character struggle to cope with his inevitable mediocrity, but I just didn’t care.
Mushrooms – A quick tale about revenge and drug-fueled violence.
There’s something to be said about the ability to deliver devastating crime fiction via swift, short stories (I’m both a reader and writer of flash fiction), but I didn’t quite get anything out of this one. I found it a bit ambiguous and not quite as focused.
Until Gwen – Told via second person narration through a series of flashes between the past and present, Until Gwen tells of a rift between father and son born out of tragedy.
Until Gwen is the strongest of the five original stories. Lehane wrote the first draft overnight on his front porch during an intense rain storm. A few revisions followed before it was sent off to live inside a short story anthology. Later, he adapted it for a stage play – Coronado – which follows this story in the book. It expands on the original work, but something is lost in translation. That’s not to say it wouldn’t make an interesting stage production, but the short story is definitely better.
Coronado isn’t a particularly strong collection of short stories, but I really enjoyed both Until Gwen and Running out of Dog. You’ll have to decide if buying a short story collection for just two stories is worth your time, but I think you’d be missing out if you passed on those quick reads. Maybe check it out of your local library or grab it at a used book sale like I did.
December 29, 2019
"People are selfish, Doctor- odiously, monstrously, but in so small and paltry a monstrousness that we barely notice it."
Every story felt like a glimpse into another one of the darkest parts of a human mind. Lehane proves once again that he is one of the best writers of dark thrillers and mysteries.
Running Out of Dog - 5*
ICU - 4*
Gone Down to Corpus - 3.5*
Mushrooms - 2.5*
Until Gwen - 5*
Coronado the play - 5*
Every story felt like a glimpse into another one of the darkest parts of a human mind. Lehane proves once again that he is one of the best writers of dark thrillers and mysteries.
Running Out of Dog - 5*
ICU - 4*
Gone Down to Corpus - 3.5*
Mushrooms - 2.5*
Until Gwen - 5*
Coronado the play - 5*
March 6, 2012
One of the best short stories I've ever read is in this collection: "Until Gwen."
January 21, 2012
Okay, there's a snow storm and I have to go to my book shelf. I find an unread book with the inscription, "Peggy, Best wishes for your writing," signed by Dennis Lehane. Ouch. I think I feel so guilty whenever my mother gives me a book signed by someone that she tells that I'm a writer I have to hide it. Don't even ask about the Andre Dubus III fiasco. Anyway, I realized that I'd confused Lehane with another South Boston writer and was probably just terrified because I've seen the movies Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. Within three pages of the story "Running Out of Dog" I was hooked in horror. You just knew it was going to be bad, bad, bad but I couldn't look away. I seriously hope that Lehane uses his stories and novels to put all the evil he perceives in the world because if he looks at daily life this way he'll be just another part of the body count. These stories are about people you do not want to encounter randomly (even random encounters leave quite a few corpses as human life has little value to many in these stories). It's "In Cold Blood" meets Dorchester, every day. Strangely enough the story that had a measure of hope in it was called "ICU" and there's an actual moment of grace in the story "Mushrooms." The story "Until Gwen" is a truly great story, even though it relentless and unforgiving. Lehane admits that the characters stayed with him as well and then became the basis of the play that comprises the final section of the book, "Coronado." Give me the story over the play.
December 26, 2017
Picked this book of short stories off my to-read shelf last night. The first story("Running Out of Dog") seems to be kind of cliched Southern Gothic stuff, but well-enough written.
2 - "ICU" - a bit of fancy writing in pursuit of Kafkaesque mystery-whimsy. Existential dread?
3 - "Gone Down to Corpus" - a brief look at the lives of a few youthful losers in Texas. Meh. Again, the prose has a lot of attitude, but seems at times to be an assigned exercise for a fiction-writing workshop.
4 - "Mushrooms" - another story from loser-ville. This stuff has some common ground with Andre' Dubus' stories. Black kids or white kids? Franklin Park? I think that's Boston.
5 - The best is saved for last in "Until Gwen" and "Coronado," a two-act play that is a re-telling and expansion of "Until Gwen." First of all ... the Bobby-Bobby's Father thing is right out of a movie called "Flesh and Bone"(with a fine early-career performance by not-so-skinny and not-blonde Gwyneth Paltrow). One wonders if it's inadvertent or deliberate. You do see these things if you read enough books, see a lot of movies, etc. Whatever ... The play strays of into pretentious verbal territory at times, but is pretty good for all that. The theme of life and love among the violent going-nowhere people is maintained.
- I believe that "seemly" is a legitimate co-relative to seemly. It is, I looked it up.
So ... this book is one of those wholes that is not equal to the sum of it's component. Not bad, not that good ... 2.75* rounds up to 3*.
2 - "ICU" - a bit of fancy writing in pursuit of Kafkaesque mystery-whimsy. Existential dread?
3 - "Gone Down to Corpus" - a brief look at the lives of a few youthful losers in Texas. Meh. Again, the prose has a lot of attitude, but seems at times to be an assigned exercise for a fiction-writing workshop.
4 - "Mushrooms" - another story from loser-ville. This stuff has some common ground with Andre' Dubus' stories. Black kids or white kids? Franklin Park? I think that's Boston.
5 - The best is saved for last in "Until Gwen" and "Coronado," a two-act play that is a re-telling and expansion of "Until Gwen." First of all ... the Bobby-Bobby's Father thing is right out of a movie called "Flesh and Bone"(with a fine early-career performance by not-so-skinny and not-blonde Gwyneth Paltrow). One wonders if it's inadvertent or deliberate. You do see these things if you read enough books, see a lot of movies, etc. Whatever ... The play strays of into pretentious verbal territory at times, but is pretty good for all that. The theme of life and love among the violent going-nowhere people is maintained.
- I believe that "seemly" is a legitimate co-relative to seemly. It is, I looked it up.
So ... this book is one of those wholes that is not equal to the sum of it's component. Not bad, not that good ... 2.75* rounds up to 3*.
October 11, 2020
some great short stories, dark, tragedy, going deep into the soul. not all are the same quality but at least two so good that stay with you long. all have criminal element but is so twisted with human emotions that it seems to me that the bad becomes so human even when if you looking into it directly is real bad.
May 19, 2019
Great! Simply great!
This book was great, simply great! Dennis Lehane is the new Harry Crews, writing Americana low life trailer trash books just the way they should be written, unpredictable and with no respect for political, legal, or moral authority. His characters are erratic and unreliable, suffering from just about every personality disorder you can name; depression, mania, stress, grief, alcohol, drugs.
These stories are unpredictable, uncontrollable and, in a way, challenging. I absolutely loved the first story ‘Running out of Dog,’ where Blue is employed by the mayor to sit up in a tree and shoot all the stray dogs in town, dogs that move through town “in a pack like wolves, their bodies stripped to muscle and gristle, tense and angry, and growling in the dark.” But what’s going to happen when Blue, who’s “the kind of guy you never knew if he was quiet because he didn’t have anything to say or, because what he had to say was so horrible, he knew enough not to send it out into the atmosphere,” runs out of dogs to shoot? What then?
Lehane’s writing truly is top drawer. His women sink into men’s flesh the way heat does. “It wasn’t just that [Jewel Lutt] was pretty, had a beautiful body, moved in a loose, languid way that made you picture her naked no matter what she was wearing. No, there was more to it. Jewel, never the brightest girl in town and not even the most charming, had something in her eyes that none of the women Elgin ever met had.”
Then again, there’s Blue’s mother; “Sometimes they’d pass his trailer together and hear the animal sounds coming from inside, the grunts and moans, the slapping of flesh. Half the time you couldn’t tell if Blue’s old lady was in there f***ing or fighting.”
The stories run on, each one better than the last until we reach ‘Until Gwen,’ in which LeHane surpasses himself. Bobby’s father is a “mean old man” who’ll steal from you or kill you, it’s all the same to him. He is cold, calculating, superficially charming and remorseless. A terrific story.
And then, with ⅔ of the book read we suddenly find ourselves reading the very same story again, except in script format, as if for a play, and you find yourself thinking, “What! I don’t want to read a play!” But LeHane has captured you and you keep on reading, unbelievably enjoying this format with added storylines and sub-plots to it.
When reading these tales you feel something in your head “go all shifty and loose and hot as a cigarette coal.” Not to be missed
This book was great, simply great! Dennis Lehane is the new Harry Crews, writing Americana low life trailer trash books just the way they should be written, unpredictable and with no respect for political, legal, or moral authority. His characters are erratic and unreliable, suffering from just about every personality disorder you can name; depression, mania, stress, grief, alcohol, drugs.
These stories are unpredictable, uncontrollable and, in a way, challenging. I absolutely loved the first story ‘Running out of Dog,’ where Blue is employed by the mayor to sit up in a tree and shoot all the stray dogs in town, dogs that move through town “in a pack like wolves, their bodies stripped to muscle and gristle, tense and angry, and growling in the dark.” But what’s going to happen when Blue, who’s “the kind of guy you never knew if he was quiet because he didn’t have anything to say or, because what he had to say was so horrible, he knew enough not to send it out into the atmosphere,” runs out of dogs to shoot? What then?
Lehane’s writing truly is top drawer. His women sink into men’s flesh the way heat does. “It wasn’t just that [Jewel Lutt] was pretty, had a beautiful body, moved in a loose, languid way that made you picture her naked no matter what she was wearing. No, there was more to it. Jewel, never the brightest girl in town and not even the most charming, had something in her eyes that none of the women Elgin ever met had.”
Then again, there’s Blue’s mother; “Sometimes they’d pass his trailer together and hear the animal sounds coming from inside, the grunts and moans, the slapping of flesh. Half the time you couldn’t tell if Blue’s old lady was in there f***ing or fighting.”
The stories run on, each one better than the last until we reach ‘Until Gwen,’ in which LeHane surpasses himself. Bobby’s father is a “mean old man” who’ll steal from you or kill you, it’s all the same to him. He is cold, calculating, superficially charming and remorseless. A terrific story.
And then, with ⅔ of the book read we suddenly find ourselves reading the very same story again, except in script format, as if for a play, and you find yourself thinking, “What! I don’t want to read a play!” But LeHane has captured you and you keep on reading, unbelievably enjoying this format with added storylines and sub-plots to it.
When reading these tales you feel something in your head “go all shifty and loose and hot as a cigarette coal.” Not to be missed
December 29, 2021
Cooked to perfection, ...this collection is not, but which collection of short fiction is anyway.
Lehane is a tremendously gifted crime writer. Mystic River will always be on top 10 books of all time. There's this innate style to his writing which captures the jaggedness of his characters to a fucking T. He captures this unnerving quality of Suburbia and the corrosive influence it has on you.
Not a lot to like in here... you get Until Gwen, the same story written as a play and as a tiny short story... The short story is more like a first draft which would eventually be fully realised as a play. I dug that one. It was well written, witty, uncouth and whole lot of vintage lehane in it..
The first story, Running out of Dog, was pretty faultless too. You get to see a man, given hope, untimely. Which is dangerous..
ICU had a DeLillo-esque feel to it which I enjoyed well enough.
The other two are serious duds .
Either way, makes up for a decent collection. The play in particular was well done.
Lehane is a tremendously gifted crime writer. Mystic River will always be on top 10 books of all time. There's this innate style to his writing which captures the jaggedness of his characters to a fucking T. He captures this unnerving quality of Suburbia and the corrosive influence it has on you.
Not a lot to like in here... you get Until Gwen, the same story written as a play and as a tiny short story... The short story is more like a first draft which would eventually be fully realised as a play. I dug that one. It was well written, witty, uncouth and whole lot of vintage lehane in it..
The first story, Running out of Dog, was pretty faultless too. You get to see a man, given hope, untimely. Which is dangerous..
ICU had a DeLillo-esque feel to it which I enjoyed well enough.
The other two are serious duds .
Either way, makes up for a decent collection. The play in particular was well done.
April 15, 2012
"What had begun as a nighttime ride into the unknown had turned cold and stale during the hard yellow lurch into morning" (34).
“The man’s eyes are the clear and the bright of skyscraper panes” (58).
“…a guy in a johnny leading his IV-stand across the carpet as if it’s a slow relative…” (63).
“Though he still feels like apologizing. It’s natural, he supposes, to not want to be the cause of any sort of ado, any kind of mass consternation. It’s a judgment, no matter how nebulous, of your entire life” (64).
“Daniel can hear the sucking of the straw, down at the bottom, trapped among the ice cubes” (65).
"You put the brains of both Lewis brothers together and you stil come up with something dumber than a barrel of roofing tar, but those boys are also tear-ass fast and my-daddy's-a-mean-drunk crazy off the snap count, kinda boys can turn a starting left tackle into the town gimp, come back to the huddle not even breathing hard" (79).
*The following are quotes from a play, so I won’t bother with dialogue quotation marks.
“Well that was utterly fucking fruitless” (164).
“…no one ever fought a war over truth or good intentions…” (176).
“People rationalize, they turn their delusions into something romantic that they can disguise as ethics or principles or ideals. People are selfish, Doctor—odiously, monstrously, but in so small land paltry a monstrousness that we barely notice it” (178).
“If we could have everything we wanted in an instant without fear of consequence? No worry of jail or societal reproof of any kind? No having to look our victims in the eyes because the victims have conveniently vanished? If we could have that? Stalin’s crimes would pale in comparison to what we’d do in the name of love. In the name of the heart wanting what the heart wants” (178).
“Never been tested. Hell, everyone’s nice until some kind of hard choice is put in front of them” (193).
“He told me once, swear to god, ‘Ever want to kill someone, Gina? Do it was water or a train. Fucks the evidence all to hell’” (197).
“I always liked this place off-season, the tarps flapping in the wind, faint smell of elephant shit” (198).
“The circus. I hate trapeze artists. Women all look like men and man all look like cock smokers. And don’t even get me started on fucking clowns” (198-199).
“I seen your friendly before. You think you’re good because you grew up not wanting. Not wanting ain’t good. It’s just not poor. You ain’t rich, but poor? That’s evidentiary, son. That’s experience. You ain’t never had experience, so you only imagine you have a soul” (202).
“The man’s eyes are the clear and the bright of skyscraper panes” (58).
“…a guy in a johnny leading his IV-stand across the carpet as if it’s a slow relative…” (63).
“Though he still feels like apologizing. It’s natural, he supposes, to not want to be the cause of any sort of ado, any kind of mass consternation. It’s a judgment, no matter how nebulous, of your entire life” (64).
“Daniel can hear the sucking of the straw, down at the bottom, trapped among the ice cubes” (65).
"You put the brains of both Lewis brothers together and you stil come up with something dumber than a barrel of roofing tar, but those boys are also tear-ass fast and my-daddy's-a-mean-drunk crazy off the snap count, kinda boys can turn a starting left tackle into the town gimp, come back to the huddle not even breathing hard" (79).
*The following are quotes from a play, so I won’t bother with dialogue quotation marks.
“Well that was utterly fucking fruitless” (164).
“…no one ever fought a war over truth or good intentions…” (176).
“People rationalize, they turn their delusions into something romantic that they can disguise as ethics or principles or ideals. People are selfish, Doctor—odiously, monstrously, but in so small land paltry a monstrousness that we barely notice it” (178).
“If we could have everything we wanted in an instant without fear of consequence? No worry of jail or societal reproof of any kind? No having to look our victims in the eyes because the victims have conveniently vanished? If we could have that? Stalin’s crimes would pale in comparison to what we’d do in the name of love. In the name of the heart wanting what the heart wants” (178).
“Never been tested. Hell, everyone’s nice until some kind of hard choice is put in front of them” (193).
“He told me once, swear to god, ‘Ever want to kill someone, Gina? Do it was water or a train. Fucks the evidence all to hell’” (197).
“I always liked this place off-season, the tarps flapping in the wind, faint smell of elephant shit” (198).
“The circus. I hate trapeze artists. Women all look like men and man all look like cock smokers. And don’t even get me started on fucking clowns” (198-199).
“I seen your friendly before. You think you’re good because you grew up not wanting. Not wanting ain’t good. It’s just not poor. You ain’t rich, but poor? That’s evidentiary, son. That’s experience. You ain’t never had experience, so you only imagine you have a soul” (202).
June 4, 2017
As a big fan of Lehane, this collection of stories failed to make an impression on me. The stories mostly felt like they were missing something, and were at times rather unengaging. Unfortunately, personally, majority of the stories were average or below average. "Until Gwen" is the gem in this book, if it weren't for that story, this book would've probably only got one star from me. Seems rather regrettable that a collection of short stories would only have one great story going for it.
August 10, 2017
Denis Lehane has such a beautiful and compelling writing style, but I wasn't always crazy about the subject matter in the stories. I usually tend to gravitate toward the dark and macabre (I'm a huge Stephen King fan), but at times it just felt like too much. Again though, beautiful writing and well-crafted. "Until Gwen" was definitely my favorite in the collection.
November 17, 2021
3.5 Stars.
A somewhat slight collection of stories that nevertheless manages to showcase Lehane's abilities as a storyteller and a stylist. "Running Out Of Dog" could easily fit alongside Russell Banks' "Trailer Park" stories and "Going Down To Corpus" is almost radiant with resignation and quite desperation. This was my first Lehane book, it won't be my last.
A somewhat slight collection of stories that nevertheless manages to showcase Lehane's abilities as a storyteller and a stylist. "Running Out Of Dog" could easily fit alongside Russell Banks' "Trailer Park" stories and "Going Down To Corpus" is almost radiant with resignation and quite desperation. This was my first Lehane book, it won't be my last.
March 17, 2025
Yowza wowza read this collection.
April 27, 2025
The story "Until Gwen" is an easy 5 stars. In fact, it is one of the best things I've read by Lehane. Unfortunately the rest of the book is nowhere near as good.
November 27, 2010
As with most story collections, I found things to like and things to dislike here. I'm a big fan of Lehane and have been impressed time and time again by his ability to take well-worn genre fiction (i.e. crime drama conceits) and turn it into something meaningful about the human condition. There aren't any cliches in his writing and it is typically full of vibrant prose and deep revelations into the human spirit. "Mystic River" and "Shutter Island" affected me deeply when I read them many years ago.
"Until Gwen" was definitely my favorite of the collection. It's a pulse-pounding battle of wits between an evil conman and his son over a missing diamond. The ending alone is worth the read, but few short stories have as much tension packed into such a small space. This one alone is worth reading the whole collection.
If there is a disappointing thing about "Until Gwen", it's that I wanted more background into the relationship between father and son and more about what got them going down the roads they went down. That's the cool thing about "Coronado", a two part play Lehane wrote for his brother. It takes the two antagonizing characters from "Until Gwen" and fleshes them out, adding a deep back story and a heartbreaking yet hopeful resolution...even though most of the action from "Until Gwen" appears intact in "Coronado". It's like seeing the same story from a different angle. I loved the comparison.
Other than that, "Running out of Dog" and "Gone Down to Corpus" are great depictions of small-town America and the class/societal distinctions that divide us. These were great compliments to "Until Gwen"/"Coronado", but it's clear who the star of the collection is.
There were a couple JV type stories too: "Mushrooms" and "I.C.U.". It's not that they were bad. I just thought they weren't as fleshed out as the other stories here, like Lehane was trying to finish the story before it was ready to be done. And there's a lot of ambiguity in "I.C.U." that I found annoying instead of stimulating. I wish Lehane had been a little more clear at least in that case.
All in all, a good collection from one of America's most underrated writers.
"Until Gwen" was definitely my favorite of the collection. It's a pulse-pounding battle of wits between an evil conman and his son over a missing diamond. The ending alone is worth the read, but few short stories have as much tension packed into such a small space. This one alone is worth reading the whole collection.
If there is a disappointing thing about "Until Gwen", it's that I wanted more background into the relationship between father and son and more about what got them going down the roads they went down. That's the cool thing about "Coronado", a two part play Lehane wrote for his brother. It takes the two antagonizing characters from "Until Gwen" and fleshes them out, adding a deep back story and a heartbreaking yet hopeful resolution...even though most of the action from "Until Gwen" appears intact in "Coronado". It's like seeing the same story from a different angle. I loved the comparison.
Other than that, "Running out of Dog" and "Gone Down to Corpus" are great depictions of small-town America and the class/societal distinctions that divide us. These were great compliments to "Until Gwen"/"Coronado", but it's clear who the star of the collection is.
There were a couple JV type stories too: "Mushrooms" and "I.C.U.". It's not that they were bad. I just thought they weren't as fleshed out as the other stories here, like Lehane was trying to finish the story before it was ready to be done. And there's a lot of ambiguity in "I.C.U." that I found annoying instead of stimulating. I wish Lehane had been a little more clear at least in that case.
All in all, a good collection from one of America's most underrated writers.
February 11, 2013
Although I am loath to do so, I am retiring this book to the unappealing pile. It is an unusual action on my part because I am fond of Lehane's writing and characters and I try not to discard a book unread. However, this contained none of his compelling aspects for me. In fact, if I were to classify it in a new genre, I would call it "guy lit". I observed hardboiled, crude characters involed in tasteless activities.
Fortunately, Lehane has written several novels which I enjoyed, so it was not a complete loss for him.
Fortunately, Lehane has written several novels which I enjoyed, so it was not a complete loss for him.
December 4, 2009
Dennis Lehane is normally a good writer, so this book of short stories was really disappointing. There wasn't a character to root for in the whole thing. Every story included a murder. Lehane is so much better that this. Don't miss "The Given Day" or "Shutter Island". Skip this one.
August 19, 2018
First half is a series of short stories.
Second half is a play that ties the stories together (I believe).
Good on Lehane for spreading his creative wings, but this mostly fell short for me.
Second half is a play that ties the stories together (I believe).
Good on Lehane for spreading his creative wings, but this mostly fell short for me.
Read
March 26, 2022I am a big fan of Dennis Lehane. His Kenzie and Gennaro series was terrific, and I went on to read Mystic River, The Given Day, Shutterbug Island, and Live By Night. I wasn't crazy about Shutterbug Island (and the movie was not great, either), but I loved the others. And I know there are more to catch up on. But this collection left me wanting. Most of the stories are set in a bygone era (circa the 70s). A couple of them are compelling -- "Running Out of Dog," "Until Gwen" -- and the latter he turns into a full-blown play, Coronado, which is structured fairly well and adds new dimension to the short story, but, again, left me nonplussed. (I should say that, as a professional in the theatre, I tend to be more critical of scripts). This will not, however, keep me from checking out World Gone By and the other half dozen titles of his I've yet to read! 8]
May 10, 2025
This was impressive work, and I also found an interview with the author where he talks about his process of writing short fiction as opposed to his longer works. I thought some were better than others, but I thought each had its merits. The final story, and basis for his play Coronado, Until Gwen, was my favorite. It contains quite possibly one of the most profoundly evil characters I’ve ever seen put to page, and that is all the more impressive with it being a work of short fiction. So much gets done in so few words. I prefer his novels but will read anything he writes.
March 21, 2021
The great short story “Until Gwen” appears in this book. The other stories are forgettable, but “Until Gwen” is a masterpiece. First published in The Atlantic in June 2004, UNTIL GWEN can also be found on the internet.
February 5, 2024
I have read a few Dennis Lehane novels, and his collection of short stories were excellent. Crime stories that were well written, and character driven. Would have loved to see some of these stories turned into novels. The collection started and ended strong.
December 15, 2024
Oh lord! This book hurt!
It was amazing- compact with romance, violence, addiction and trauma.
This was my first Dennis Lehane book and it won’t be my last. 6 shorts stories that intertwine through characters and locations.
My gosh…this was great.
It was amazing- compact with romance, violence, addiction and trauma.
This was my first Dennis Lehane book and it won’t be my last. 6 shorts stories that intertwine through characters and locations.
My gosh…this was great.
Read
October 22, 2016Did not realize it was short stories, not a big fan of short stories, but they were good, at the end however was a play, based on one of the short stories, and it was very nicely done. However the characters were mostly dark, there seemed to be a little light in a couple of them.
January 15, 2024
dennis lehane is a bit like pizza. if it’s bad, it’s still kinda good.
January 27, 2015
This collection includes five short stories and one play, and the book can be divided almost in half, page-wise, between the former and the latter. Used to Lehane's affinity for Boston, I was surprised by the Southern settings, but noir works here equally well as there. Many of the stories are linked only by this general place and a general time: post-Vietnam. The work seems best discussed in its pieces.
"Running Out of Dog" -- A Vietnam vet comes home to his small South Carolina town and finds an old buddy (who did not go to war) in crisis. The foreboding escalates in this story until you sit reading and waiting for violence to explode off the pages. The conclusion is almost anticlimactic, but the awfulness manages to haunt anyway. A bleak look at the psychology of a man whose "hope came too late" and therefore became dangerous.
"ICU" -- An everyman is harassed by a nebulous government agency for an unnamed crime until he hides ... in a hospital. I've never read a story like this before. It's absurd, yet absurdity seems to be the point. For me, somehow, it worked, maybe because the desperation for human connection overshadows the odd setup.
"Gone Down to Corpus" -- The simplest, most realistic of the stories. A group of low-class high school football players vandalize the home of their rich teammate who lost them the game that would have made a difference in their lives (but to him didn't matter one bit). It doesn't have much of an ending, which seems to be the point.
"Mushrooms" -- A girl who's lost too much to the gang wars in her neighborhood decides on vengeance. She reminds me a lot of the protagonist from the previous story--two kids without hope, with only anger to hold onto. Or, as the stories leave you wondering, maybe not ... but probably yes.
"Until Gwen" -- A young man's father picks him up from prison. This is my favorite of the stories. Layered, chilling, suspenseful, sad. The dialogue in this one just crackles. The father/son relationship is taut and terrible. Something about this story stands out as sharper than any of the others--sharper writing, sharper characters.
"Coronado" (the play) -- Two stars to this. Strong dislike. Which is interesting, since it's built from the story I liked the most. But the attempt to draw out the exchanges in the story falls flat and deadens their impact. A comparison between this story and play is a great study in the rule that economy wins. In addition, I found the scenes between Doctor and Patient to be positively scenery-chewing and the revelation of all the character connections to be forced. I couldn't go back to the beginning and see, yes, aha, it was there all the time, but rather felt that various characters' incarnations contradicted each other without explanation. I'd venture to guess the reason for this is that Lehane's greatest strength as a writer is not his dialogue. Not to say he isn't great at it, but part of what makes the dialogue work in his novels (especially Kenzie & Gennaro) is the richness of the narration surrounding it. His characters have deep, human, sarcastic, poignant thought lives that make them who they are; to prove this, one only has to compare the book and film versions of Mystic River.
As a Lehane fan, I'm glad to have read this piercing little collection, but the stories are far superior to the play.
"Running Out of Dog" -- A Vietnam vet comes home to his small South Carolina town and finds an old buddy (who did not go to war) in crisis. The foreboding escalates in this story until you sit reading and waiting for violence to explode off the pages. The conclusion is almost anticlimactic, but the awfulness manages to haunt anyway. A bleak look at the psychology of a man whose "hope came too late" and therefore became dangerous.
"ICU" -- An everyman is harassed by a nebulous government agency for an unnamed crime until he hides ... in a hospital. I've never read a story like this before. It's absurd, yet absurdity seems to be the point. For me, somehow, it worked, maybe because the desperation for human connection overshadows the odd setup.
"Gone Down to Corpus" -- The simplest, most realistic of the stories. A group of low-class high school football players vandalize the home of their rich teammate who lost them the game that would have made a difference in their lives (but to him didn't matter one bit). It doesn't have much of an ending, which seems to be the point.
"Mushrooms" -- A girl who's lost too much to the gang wars in her neighborhood decides on vengeance. She reminds me a lot of the protagonist from the previous story--two kids without hope, with only anger to hold onto. Or, as the stories leave you wondering, maybe not ... but probably yes.
"Until Gwen" -- A young man's father picks him up from prison. This is my favorite of the stories. Layered, chilling, suspenseful, sad. The dialogue in this one just crackles. The father/son relationship is taut and terrible. Something about this story stands out as sharper than any of the others--sharper writing, sharper characters.
"Coronado" (the play) -- Two stars to this. Strong dislike. Which is interesting, since it's built from the story I liked the most. But the attempt to draw out the exchanges in the story falls flat and deadens their impact. A comparison between this story and play is a great study in the rule that economy wins. In addition, I found the scenes between Doctor and Patient to be positively scenery-chewing and the revelation of all the character connections to be forced. I couldn't go back to the beginning and see, yes, aha, it was there all the time, but rather felt that various characters' incarnations contradicted each other without explanation. I'd venture to guess the reason for this is that Lehane's greatest strength as a writer is not his dialogue. Not to say he isn't great at it, but part of what makes the dialogue work in his novels (especially Kenzie & Gennaro) is the richness of the narration surrounding it. His characters have deep, human, sarcastic, poignant thought lives that make them who they are; to prove this, one only has to compare the book and film versions of Mystic River.
As a Lehane fan, I'm glad to have read this piercing little collection, but the stories are far superior to the play.
February 17, 2017
Woah. Each of the short stories were precise in their humanity - brief glimpses which established character, setting and conflict, and ultimately were powerful enough to deliver real stakes. The short story format offered itself for comparison, and the varying and uneven level of reader connection to protagonist leaves this one short of the 5-star mark.
But then the final story - a play in two acts which fills out one of the previous tales - digs deeper and reveals the author's true craft. It left me cringing and otherwise physically affected. Like a Hitchcock thriller but with deeper shudders, this one comes highly recommended.
But then the final story - a play in two acts which fills out one of the previous tales - digs deeper and reveals the author's true craft. It left me cringing and otherwise physically affected. Like a Hitchcock thriller but with deeper shudders, this one comes highly recommended.
February 25, 2013
Dennis Lehane writes the hell out of Boston. In his Kenzie-Genarro series, six books beginning with "A Drink Before the War," he writes the characters, feelings, and overall aura of that city, and continues to do so in "The Given Day," probably his best novel yet.
The sequel to that book, "Live By Night" takes the reader down to Tampa. And this collection of short stories has us in Texas, South Carolina, among other places in the great U.S. No surprise, they're mostly pretty grim tales, folks ruled by greed, down on their luck slightly nutty types--and Lehane nails them all, his vivid characterizations hallmarks of his novels, brought equally to life in this brief collection.
"Running Out of Dog" follows a man back from Vietnam keeping a watch on his buddy, who's taken an unofficial job from the mayor, shooting down stray dogs by the highway.
"ICU" has a man hiding out in different hospitals for weeks, avoiding mysterious agents who watch him from a distance and keep their motives to themselves.
"Gone Down to Corpus" is among the best; this one involves some just-graduated ex-football stars trashing the house of the kid who lost their big game for them. The baller in charge meets the little sister of the despised ex-footballer, and she shocks him at how much more violent and vindictive she can be, more so than the three of them combined.
"Mushrooms" is about a couple of young folks on the run with another who is unaware they mean to kill him at trip's end.
"Coronado: A Play in Two Acts" is a play version of the fifth story, "Until Gwen," both about a young man being picked up from jail by his greedy, maniacal father, who is after the location of a jewel the son hid years before.
The sequel to that book, "Live By Night" takes the reader down to Tampa. And this collection of short stories has us in Texas, South Carolina, among other places in the great U.S. No surprise, they're mostly pretty grim tales, folks ruled by greed, down on their luck slightly nutty types--and Lehane nails them all, his vivid characterizations hallmarks of his novels, brought equally to life in this brief collection.
"Running Out of Dog" follows a man back from Vietnam keeping a watch on his buddy, who's taken an unofficial job from the mayor, shooting down stray dogs by the highway.
"ICU" has a man hiding out in different hospitals for weeks, avoiding mysterious agents who watch him from a distance and keep their motives to themselves.
"Gone Down to Corpus" is among the best; this one involves some just-graduated ex-football stars trashing the house of the kid who lost their big game for them. The baller in charge meets the little sister of the despised ex-footballer, and she shocks him at how much more violent and vindictive she can be, more so than the three of them combined.
"Mushrooms" is about a couple of young folks on the run with another who is unaware they mean to kill him at trip's end.
"Coronado: A Play in Two Acts" is a play version of the fifth story, "Until Gwen," both about a young man being picked up from jail by his greedy, maniacal father, who is after the location of a jewel the son hid years before.
May 26, 2024
Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite authors. I could read (and re-read) some of his books a number of times, even though they aren't what you would ever call 'great literature' style fiction.
'Coronado' is a book of short stories, however, and while some of the stories work, some of them don't. I think he's at his best describing grimy inner city living. Where those elements pop up in these stories, the book works well. Where they don't appear, the story is missing something I feel.
I don't know whether I was less satisfied with this book because it didn't live up to what I was expecting from Lehane or if the book isn't that good (I sometimes wonder if I've got the intellect to decide that sort of thing -I rather suspect I don't, I just know what I like), but either way, I was left wanting him to return to stories like Mystic River or Gone Baby Gone, both of which are great books in their way.
Incidentally, The book gets its title from the last story, which is written in the form of a play. I always feel a little like I don't know how to read that sort of writing particularly well, which is why I might be a bit ho-hum about the book. It's something you might wish to consider before buying the book too!
'Coronado' is a book of short stories, however, and while some of the stories work, some of them don't. I think he's at his best describing grimy inner city living. Where those elements pop up in these stories, the book works well. Where they don't appear, the story is missing something I feel.
I don't know whether I was less satisfied with this book because it didn't live up to what I was expecting from Lehane or if the book isn't that good (I sometimes wonder if I've got the intellect to decide that sort of thing -I rather suspect I don't, I just know what I like), but either way, I was left wanting him to return to stories like Mystic River or Gone Baby Gone, both of which are great books in their way.
Incidentally, The book gets its title from the last story, which is written in the form of a play. I always feel a little like I don't know how to read that sort of writing particularly well, which is why I might be a bit ho-hum about the book. It's something you might wish to consider before buying the book too!
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