Cassingle: Five Stories

by Jim Hanas

A follow-up to 2006's Single, Cassingle is a collection of stories that originally appeared in Fence, McSweeney's, Stories & Ideas, and Twelve Stories. Toronto's Eye Weekly recently wrote of Cassingle, "No matter the cut, this is writing that speaks American, in all its complexity."

33 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jim Hanas is the author of the short story collection Why They Cried (Joyland/ECW Press) and the novel Lou Reed’s Nephew, forthcoming from Coffee House Press. His fiction has appeared in Electric Literature, Fence, Joyland, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and One Story.

Reviews

[Nibra Tee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to think exactly where these stories touch each other, because each seems more foreign than the other. And then I realized that this is actually a collection of previously published works, so it makes sense to me now why it did not make sense.

The stories here are the kind whose cuts I could not make out clearly, if not completely. The Guest is, in its own way, a story of forgiveness; July 4: Easter is a mockery on blind faith; Nose is about finding good about one's self and celebrating it; The Adventures of Bad Badger is about individuality; and The Arab Bank is about regret.

[Moxie Mezcal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim writes the kind of stories that sneak up on you. Unassuming at first, they don't fire out of the gate with a lot of fanfare and bluster. They are simple stories, elegantly told, that stay with you long after you've put them down. My personal favorite is "July 4: Easter", which deftly manages to weave together issues of love, relationship power dynamics, guilt, vindictiveness, tradition, and ceremony.