What do you think?
Rate this book
Thirst
This acclaimed short story collection “veers between whimsical postmodern playfulness and a darker realism [with] sophisticated comic flare” ( Publishers Weekly ). Distinguished by black comedy and an international perspective, Ken Kalfus’ stories demonstrate the author’s chameleon-like ability to change mode, manner, and voice. They often concern the abrupt dislocation of people bumping into different cultures, be they real, hallucinated, dreamed, or desired. Kalfus’ characters — which include an endless line of refugees fleeing Sarajevo with no particular destination; an Irish au pair plagued by her own psychosexual fears in a Paris science museum; and an entirely fictitious baseball league — are constantly thumping their heads against a shifting reality. These sympathetic portraits of human beings caught in the tectonic cultural shifts that disrupt our lives are frequently hilarious, consistently touching, and powerfully creative. “A book for people who piss and moan about the unpromising future of American fiction.” —David Foster Wallace
224 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1998
12 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Ken Kalfus
31 books74 followersHe was born in the Bronx, NY and grew up in Plainview, Long Island.
Kalfus started college at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, but dropped out after the first year. He attended various other universities including the New School for Social Research in Manhattan and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Kalfus started writing at an early age.
Kalfus started college at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, but dropped out after the first year. He attended various other universities including the New School for Social Research in Manhattan and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Kalfus started writing at an early age.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 26, 2008
Half great, half forgettable. I once wrote Kalfus to thank him for the great ones in this collection, and the guy actually wrote me back a thoughtful, kind note. Now we're friends on facebook. This is what technology can do for you.
August 17, 2020
The first collection…
Ken Kalfus has become one of my favourite authors in recent years, and I’m gradually working my way through his earlier works. This collection of short stories was his first publication, so I was prepared for it to perhaps be less polished than his more recent stuff. And, indeed, I found it very variable, with only around half of the stories rating as good or excellent, and some of the rest being really rather poor. It reads to me as if he was maybe still searching for a style, trying things out, some of which worked better than others. His trademark humour, insight and precise prose are already there, but many of the stories are too insubstantial to be satisfying.
I’ve read both of his later collections, Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies and Coup de Foudre, both of which I loved, and I think the major difference is that the stories in them tend to have a more political edge or be more clearly about that nebulous thing we call the “human condition”, even when he’s being whimsical. So, on the one hand, I found this collection a little disappointing but, on the other hand, it was interesting to see this early stage in his development towards becoming a master of the short story form, as he undoubtedly now is.
Here’s a flavour of a few of the ones I most enjoyed:
Suit – a teenage boy and his father are in a men’s outfitters looking for a suit for the boy. It’s for a particular occasion, although we don’t know what. We only know the father is not pleased about it. They are joined by a third man, and together the three reject every suit the poor assistant shows them – too smart, too casual, too old, too preppy, etc. It is only when the harassed assistant asks what the occasion is that we finally have confirmed what we have gradually come to suspect… This is whimsical and humorous but it’s very well done, and gives a light-hearted commentary on a specific aspect of privilege, about which I can’t be clearer without spoiling the story.
Night and Day You Are the One – a rather strange story about a man who is living two lives, inadvertently shifting between them each time he falls asleep. In each life he has a different home and a relationship with a different woman. Neither of these women knows about his other life, and indeed, it’s not clear if the two lives are real or if the man is suffering from some kind of delusion. In essence, it’s a love story, but done with a lot of originality and with a nicely satisfying ending.
Among the Bulgarians – this was my favourite story. A teenage boy has spent the summer in Bulgaria with his parents. Now he’s home, and in the narcissistic way of teenagers, he assumes the world will have stood still in his absence, his friends waiting impatiently to hear all about his adventures. But he’ll learn that they have had their adventures too – normal teenage ones, dating, and learning to drive and so on – and that to them his Bulgarian experiences are only of mild interest. It’s a coming-of-age tale, beautifully done, and with the suggestion that the boy may have been inspired over the course of this summer to take a first small step towards becoming a writer. I wondered, as I often do with Kalfus, if it had an autobiographical element.
So enough in there to make the collection worth reading, but it wouldn’t be where I would suggest any newcomer to Kalfus should begin. I’m glad I’d read his later stuff first, since I may not have been tempted to investigate further if this had been my introduction to his work. But I recommend it for existing fans, since it’s always interesting to see how a favourite author started out.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Ken Kalfus has become one of my favourite authors in recent years, and I’m gradually working my way through his earlier works. This collection of short stories was his first publication, so I was prepared for it to perhaps be less polished than his more recent stuff. And, indeed, I found it very variable, with only around half of the stories rating as good or excellent, and some of the rest being really rather poor. It reads to me as if he was maybe still searching for a style, trying things out, some of which worked better than others. His trademark humour, insight and precise prose are already there, but many of the stories are too insubstantial to be satisfying.
I’ve read both of his later collections, Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies and Coup de Foudre, both of which I loved, and I think the major difference is that the stories in them tend to have a more political edge or be more clearly about that nebulous thing we call the “human condition”, even when he’s being whimsical. So, on the one hand, I found this collection a little disappointing but, on the other hand, it was interesting to see this early stage in his development towards becoming a master of the short story form, as he undoubtedly now is.
Here’s a flavour of a few of the ones I most enjoyed:
Suit – a teenage boy and his father are in a men’s outfitters looking for a suit for the boy. It’s for a particular occasion, although we don’t know what. We only know the father is not pleased about it. They are joined by a third man, and together the three reject every suit the poor assistant shows them – too smart, too casual, too old, too preppy, etc. It is only when the harassed assistant asks what the occasion is that we finally have confirmed what we have gradually come to suspect… This is whimsical and humorous but it’s very well done, and gives a light-hearted commentary on a specific aspect of privilege, about which I can’t be clearer without spoiling the story.
Night and Day You Are the One – a rather strange story about a man who is living two lives, inadvertently shifting between them each time he falls asleep. In each life he has a different home and a relationship with a different woman. Neither of these women knows about his other life, and indeed, it’s not clear if the two lives are real or if the man is suffering from some kind of delusion. In essence, it’s a love story, but done with a lot of originality and with a nicely satisfying ending.
Among the Bulgarians – this was my favourite story. A teenage boy has spent the summer in Bulgaria with his parents. Now he’s home, and in the narcissistic way of teenagers, he assumes the world will have stood still in his absence, his friends waiting impatiently to hear all about his adventures. But he’ll learn that they have had their adventures too – normal teenage ones, dating, and learning to drive and so on – and that to them his Bulgarian experiences are only of mild interest. It’s a coming-of-age tale, beautifully done, and with the suggestion that the boy may have been inspired over the course of this summer to take a first small step towards becoming a writer. I wondered, as I often do with Kalfus, if it had an autobiographical element.
So enough in there to make the collection worth reading, but it wouldn’t be where I would suggest any newcomer to Kalfus should begin. I’m glad I’d read his later stuff first, since I may not have been tempted to investigate further if this had been my introduction to his work. But I recommend it for existing fans, since it’s always interesting to see how a favourite author started out.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
January 22, 2021
A robust assortment of stories from the offbeat KK (K?), among the top ‘uns ‘Night and Day You are the One’, where a man living two consecutive lives struggles as they intersect, ‘Rope Bridge’, where a man considers and commits extremely awkward low-key adultery in New Hampshire, and ‘No Grace on the Road’, where a man collides with peasants from his former CCCP homeland and their moribund infant. The lessers here are ‘Trivia Quiz’ (not sic), an extremely tedious thing about baseball (right?), and ‘Cats in Space’, an unpalatable tale of feline cruelty that is simply unacceptable. Otherwise, an inspired, funky slab of stories from one of the best merkin writers of late.
August 18, 2010
A few quite good stories, reminiscent of Calvino and Borges, surrounded by some okay stories. And then I remembered, Calvino and Borges do a pretty good Calvino and Borges as well--so I'll read them instead. If you only read one story from this collection, though read "Night And Day You Are The One"
I'll probably continue to be suckered in by DFW cover quotes, in spite of this bit of a misfire. And, if I didn't happen to give so many 3 star reviews as to render them all meaningless this would have gotten three stars again.
And now I've just talked myself into bumping it back up to three stars, now that I've reviewed my review
I'll probably continue to be suckered in by DFW cover quotes, in spite of this bit of a misfire. And, if I didn't happen to give so many 3 star reviews as to render them all meaningless this would have gotten three stars again.
And now I've just talked myself into bumping it back up to three stars, now that I've reviewed my review
November 20, 2017
"No, no. I mean very thirsty. Let us say that you miss two meals. Then you are very hungry, yes. Your stomach hurts, you are faint. That is not so uncommon. You can remain many days without eating. But have you been so thirsty? So thirsty that you cannot take another step, you cannot even think. That is how thirsty you must be in the desert before you allow yourself the most tiny ration of water. Just a taste really, only enough amount to live and remind you that you remain thirsty. In Europe water runs from leaky faucets, washes streets, spills from fountains, am I right? Pools. Ice rinks. Water Piks. People take showers long enough to conduct sexual acts, do you know that? It is not francs that make this country rich, but its water."
The term thirst has been brought back to prominence on the global stage in recent years. You realize once you hear it mentioned on a talk show like The Ellen DeGeneres Show, something, whatever it may be, has finally jumped the shark. Thirst in this sense is a reference to a look of lust, pouty lips, eyes gazing all over a person's body and ready to pounce. In the digital age thirst isn't relegated to one gender or humans for that matter, in this day and age every living thing can look thirsty enough. In Ken Kalfus' Thirst he takes the strong desire, craving and longing feeling to a level far beyond just sex.
The Joy And Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz is a fictional story about common and strange occurrences within the game of baseball. Pitchers pitching without control happens, hanging them out to dry also happens occasionally, but what rarely happens is resentment towards the sport that let them down. There are also stories revolving around the convoluted unwritten rules of the game, self-policing, and how one bad decision by the ruling authority can lead to the apathy of a fan base and the relocation of a once beloved team. The author also raised a question about cheering a team or players, and does a team really exist if it's not being reported by the media. My favourite was the 55 pitch battle between pitcher and batter, protecting the plate just to get an advantage, it must have been at least a 30 minute at bat and this in a time when there was no pitch clock. Suit is a tale of a man in desperate need to grow up. If an arrest, lawyering up, a hair cut, and a court date won't do it perhaps a new suit will sway him; but what does the future really look like? The Republic Of St. Mark 1849 is about the last young man of his family in the historic city of Venice. At this point Venice was nothing but war torn and disease ridden. The man's been preparing to die all of his life, he has become invisible to the opposition, Cholera doesn't even want him; he can now die the way he wanted, as the last hope in a dying city.
"The best life is the one that prepares you best for death. This is the life in which you gradually lose your ties to the earth: those to your parents, your siblings and cousins, your wife, your children, your comrades. Rather than being struck down when you feel yourself to be most loved, it is better to lose your teeth, your hair, your eyesight, and then your loved ones and thus for your body to lose weight in increments, so that in the end you barely disturb the soil of the earth you tread."
Night And Day You Are The One is a tale about a man who doesn't know yet it but he's living a double life. He suffers from a sleep disorder, that is what he does know, but what leaves him confounded is the bouts of surrealism that begin to merge his alternate lives. It's hard enough keeping one life in order, throw in another one and a sleep disorder on top of that; I'm tired just thinking about it. This is one reason why a small minority prefer their sleeping life to that of their waking life; just as confusing but more answers. Cats In Space was not the cat's meow or even its pajamas from my perspective. It reminded me too much of the movie Gummo and what path adolescence can lead you down. Besides the movie I couldn't get the voice of Bob Barker out of my head telling the viewers to “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” The Weather In New York is kind of funny as an older retired man and native New Yorker flies home to his father's home from Florida during a blizzard to try and persuade his octogenarian father to join him. As the winter shocks his system and brings out the worst of him the father just wants to read the paper. In Among The Bulgarians a young man travels with his American family to of all places Bulgaria. At the time of the story Bulgaria is a communist country and after spending the summer in this alien land he can't remember much of anything and has this strange feeling of being less American while back home with his friends in Long Island.
"And now he had returned home, the trip was over. Well, that too was incredible. He had never expected to journey this far in time. He marveled at the passing of every moment: the fact that he was here, in Nadelman's mother's car, and that this too in another moment would be no more than a memory, a kind of dream as insubstantial as his previous anticipation."
Le Jardin De La Sexualité was a two part short story about a family noticing the prevalence of sex after moving from Dublin to Paris. Sex is depicted in the billboards in the sky, and art on the streets; there is no escaping it and it seems to be on the residents mind. While looking after two impressionable minds a babysitter wonders about the right age to broach the subject of sexuality? And who should be responsible for discussing it? You begin to wonder if any person holding on to their virginity with a death clutch lost it the moment they stepped foot into gay Paris. Rope Bridge is one of the few straightforward stories in this collection but one of the more psychological and conflicting. As time goes on people get bored, the eye begins to gaze and the mind starts to wander. Life is not about waiting to die, animal instincts kick in and challenges are accepted in order to address some pressing questions and feel alive again. Steps must be calculated in order to get the answer you were hoping for while also preserving the status quo; a rope bridge for sure, but it can turn into a slippery slope with one false move.
No Grace On The Road is a story of division. Besides the obvious language barrier there is a financial divide, a cultural divide, and a spiritual divide as a high ranking military official returns to his birthplace with his American wife. An environmental event brings the man closer to the realization that he isn't who he thought he was as native tradition trumps common sense during a time of crisis. A Line Is A Series Of Points is a refugee story that highlights the potential loss of civilizations when focus is so narrow and survival is in question. Invisible Malls sounds like a great place to spend the day with the family. You can buy pretty much everything you could imagine it's just up to the consumer to pony up. Each mall offers very unique items but the common thread is the psychology of consumerism: desirable items always remain out of reach for the frugal buyer, there's always a remedy for something, lining up for days for that limited edition item, food courts that deep fry everything, commercializing the galaxy, and even a store where you can buy packets of time. Nothing is sacred anymore.
"Did the hours tick away? No, there was no clock. The rain falling - that is, crashing, drumming, rattling, popping, hissing, and, if you will, ringing like a spill of coins - on the tin-paneled section of the roof marked the only passage of time. It was a time that could not be represented by the even sweep of a second hand, nor that of an hour hand, nor by the publication of calendars nor by the magnetic resonance of cesium. It came in floods. In a roar. First a second, then a century. History was only a sequence of events and if nothing happened - as nothing here ever did - no time has passed at all."
What I found most interesting about the author's style was how as a reader you never felt like you were in a groove or settled in while reading this collection. From story to story you didn't really know what genre to expect, and from page to page within a story the outlook could be turned on its head. For example, after a few sexually heightened stories we are thrown into a story about baseball and many of its historical quirks. Now you see I was told when I was inexperienced in sex to think about baseball to prolong the experience but while reading it kind of killed the mood. Good job sir. Recommended.
May 30, 2013
I have found myself drawn back to this modest collection again and again over the past 14 years.
Sometimes a similar book will appear and the urge to revisit Kalfus will goad me again down the path of memory.
At least two times I have contemplated selling this paperback. Each time I have thought better of it, recognizing that my future desire to reread these stories outweighs my lust for credit at the local used book mine.
In retrospect, there are times in my life when I wish that I had this book handy to share aloud with another—notably "The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz" but also "Night and Day You are the One", both of which subvert narrative form in pleasingly different ways.
Equally unforgettable are: the homage to Calvino in "Invisible Malls" & the opening piece (a sardonic send-up of a post-modern copyright page) AND the first "real" story, "La Jardine de Sexualitie".
And the other stories are all mostly good, if somewhat more conventional in form or subject matter. There are one or two which I admit to not having finished, still. There is time yet, yes?
Previously I have thought ill of this book, accusing it of not being "whole" in some way. I now see that this collection is unified by its wanting.
And I too do want.
Sometimes a similar book will appear and the urge to revisit Kalfus will goad me again down the path of memory.
At least two times I have contemplated selling this paperback. Each time I have thought better of it, recognizing that my future desire to reread these stories outweighs my lust for credit at the local used book mine.
In retrospect, there are times in my life when I wish that I had this book handy to share aloud with another—notably "The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz" but also "Night and Day You are the One", both of which subvert narrative form in pleasingly different ways.
Equally unforgettable are: the homage to Calvino in "Invisible Malls" & the opening piece (a sardonic send-up of a post-modern copyright page) AND the first "real" story, "La Jardine de Sexualitie".
And the other stories are all mostly good, if somewhat more conventional in form or subject matter. There are one or two which I admit to not having finished, still. There is time yet, yes?
Previously I have thought ill of this book, accusing it of not being "whole" in some way. I now see that this collection is unified by its wanting.
And I too do want.
January 24, 2015
Freaky-deaky good in ways I'm not sure I comprehend yet
September 12, 2023
4.5 Stars. Loved it. I decided to pick this one up solely on the blurb from David Foster Wallace.
A dozen short stories, each unique in it's own way, but all entertaining.
My personal favorites were:
1. Night and Day You Are the One. (This one is super trippy and a blast to think about.)
2. The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz
3. Invisible Malls
A dozen short stories, each unique in it's own way, but all entertaining.
My personal favorites were:
1. Night and Day You Are the One. (This one is super trippy and a blast to think about.)
2. The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz
3. Invisible Malls
July 24, 2022
Criminally under-read. These stories take the mandate of David Foster Wallace and pair it with the rigorous execution of Chuck Palahniuk. Ridiculously creative, and almost all of the time Kalfus gets away clean.
July 4, 2018
A collection of stories, of indescribable breadth, all deeply evocative. Such a delicious read.
June 5, 2019
At best these stories left me wondering, "why should i care?" But mostly i kept thinking "why are men?"
December 30, 2022
Left me feeling sick and unsettled. There is a story about drowning cats. Need I say more?
November 25, 2016
It's interesting that no one has this book on Shelfari. It has a very complimentary blurb by David Foster Wallace on the back cover. You would think that at least would have sold a few copies.
Mostly I found it uneven. Some parts work, some don't. No story was an outright success but every one at least intrigued in some way. For example, the longest piece in the book, "No Grace on the Road" did not hold together for me. The main character was cruel beyond understanding, his wife tolerant beyond understanding and yet the ending was quite beautiful.
Each piece is so completely different in style and tone, it's hard to believe that they were all written by one person. Perhaps Mr. Kalfus's style hasn't jelled yet. I expect more and better things to come from him. "
Mostly I found it uneven. Some parts work, some don't. No story was an outright success but every one at least intrigued in some way. For example, the longest piece in the book, "No Grace on the Road" did not hold together for me. The main character was cruel beyond understanding, his wife tolerant beyond understanding and yet the ending was quite beautiful.
Each piece is so completely different in style and tone, it's hard to believe that they were all written by one person. Perhaps Mr. Kalfus's style hasn't jelled yet. I expect more and better things to come from him. "
February 13, 2012
Consistently good. Detailed comments on all stories (with possible spoilers) at A Just Recompense.
June 21, 2015
The first story in the book is a total knockout, and then it just keeps getting more and more interesting -- really good and crafty and cool.
March 15, 2008
Well crafted and original stories. I liked them all except for the one about baseball. A little like David Foster Wallace only not as funny or annoying.
August 30, 2008
Vague Stories built around scant insights and (only) slightly-off nostalgia parodies
August 31, 2008
Le Jardin de Sexualite, the two part story that heads the collections, as perfect a piece of short fiction as any I've read.
January 12, 2010
Nice collection. I especially liked "Rope Bridge", "The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz", and "Cats in Space".
Worth a look. (3.5 stars.)
Worth a look. (3.5 stars.)
June 6, 2010
Some stories were exceptional and some were awful.
July 31, 2010
crazy short stories on all kinds of topics. On a trip to Minneapolis we stopped into the Loft Literary Center. They have a Milkweed Press store there and I bought this and An American Brat.
December 8, 2010
A nice range within this collection.
Read
March 13, 2013Salon.com Book Award Winner
June 4, 2013
When this guy learns how not to muff the endings of his short stories, he'll be a master.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews