The Taste of Penny

by Jeff Parker

Tight, wry, dark, and deeply funny, The Taste of Penny agitates the senses in stories modern and mischievous.

Jeff Parker is the author of the novel Ovenman. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in American Short Fiction, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Indiana Review, Ploughshares, Spin, The Walrus, and others. He co-edited Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia (Tin House) and Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States (Dalkey Archive). Harper Collins will publish his nonfiction book, Where Bears Roam the Streets: A Russian Journal, in late 2010. He teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto.

Genres: Short Stories

167 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Hugo Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy meeting good people. I especially enjoy liking their work in addition to liking them.

[Alex Budris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these stories in the lifetime previous to the one I am living now, and they transited just fine. Despite the embarrassing email I sent him, author Jeff Parker signed my copy of his novel Ovenman, and also sent a signed copy of a limited edition illustrated chapbook featuring his stories. This book - A Taste of Penny - is very funny. Many times, authors tend to miss the mark. The humor in Mr. Parker's books is spot-on. These are tales for the young, hapless, and disaffected. I am two of those things. And also a fan of this author.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Jeff's earlier book Ovenman, and was sent a copy of this one in advance of the real thing.... and I really liked this one, maybe more than Ovenman. Where that book trucked in the punk-coming-pf-age genre, which I really like. But this one has on the one hand, a broader focus, and on the other, a really nice focus on language.

I mean, a real focus on language, so much so that almost all the stories turn on the interp of particular words. It's often said that writers only have language t o work with, but it's sort of a pleasure to see writing that is as attentive as this to that fact.

So we have a story about Russian black widows, which was super-timely when I read it, that is about mistaking the words barber and prostitute, for example, and other similar fumbles. But in the process, Parker has, more than subtly, shifted the focus of the stories he's telling. Instead of concerns of, I don't know, authenticity that the novel engaged, these stories feel more timeless, or at least less indebted to a time and place. It's a really satisfying development, if nothing else because it suggests Parker will be telling different stories in ten years than he does now.

That's not to slight this book, which has lots of good stories in it-- the one about the movers was especially funny, and the stories I've previously read, even, those about James, are funnier and more moving than I remembered.

My thought are jumbled, because I got interrupted in the middle of this. But someday soon, I'll try to make something more focused out of this, hopefully for publication somewhere.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the follow-up to his debut novel, Ovenman, Jeff Parker brings the reader a series short stories that are wild, dark, adventurous, and strangely compelling. Even as Parker is describing the sensation of biting of the tip of his tongue or caving through the carcass of a roadkill moose (same story!) you are drawn in to the drama, tragedy, action, and comedy.

"Her body explodes. But James doesn't stop there. He pounds again and again and again until she is a bloody nothing."

The car wreck of a collection culminates with a series of stories about a man named James. It kicks off with a tale of how and why James killed a bird with a hammer. It's so wrong, but so hard to put down. The collection ends with a series of e-mails between a lonely guy and a series of his past flings. It adds a bit of humor, and a little sadness to this heavily layered collection. This collection is the perfect way to escape and live a life (or lives) a little more dangerous and adventurous for awhile.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Parker has an incredible gift. He tells the story of the characters we see everyday, the kids skating in public spaces, the sketchballs in the laundromat, the strange neighbor with the bad skin and his hands in his pockets. Parker is the product of the MFA and he has discovered a way of excelling at the first mantra they teach, make the ordinary extraordinary.

I am not saying that The Taste of Penny or any of Parker's books are life altering, nor do they seek to answer the big metaphysical questions of our time. What they do is lend meaning to an existence that might be slightly pointless. The meaning is that things are. They just can be. And we need to remember that.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, enjoyable read about the fringe. The feckless. The directionless. The one's who do, but know they could do better. I applaud this collection of stories.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've followed Jeff Parker's work for quite some time now... and i was happily excited to start on taste of penny. it certainly didn't disappoint. i know when i'm getting into when i pick up one of Parker's books, so i was well prepared (which you kind of need to be, this stuff might catch you off guard if not!). but i'd have to say, this shines above anything else Parker has done, definitely his best work in my opinion. one of the most oddly funny collections of stories i have read in a very long time. you never know what you're going to get, and, BAM, when you get it, you know you've got it. he sets you up and then he delivers, with all the details, humor and wit one would hope for.

[Stina · Rating 4 out of 5]

disfigurement and displacement; drinking games and sensory deprivation; losing consciousness and losing body parts; abortions and physical deformities; centipedes slaughtered in cheap cologne and salvaged roadkill; foreigners and foreign objects in the body; travelling and suitcase stowaways; earthquake survivors and toppled jenga towers. language permeates directly into the concepts here: accents, mangled translations, atypical wording; reinforcing subject matter. a dry, dark, surreal collection of stories.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parker certainly has imagination, wit, and an interesting way to lay down a line. I do have to say that some of these stories depress the crap out of me. Not that they are bad, but they just affect me in that way. It reminded me a lot of George Saunders, though Parker certainly has his own voice. I would recommend these stories, but warn people that they might get a bit bummed out. These stories will affect them.

[Brian]

i started going through CAConrad's somatic exercises (somaticpoetryexercises.blogspot.com/). the first one has you put a penny and orange juice in your mouth. after i did this and the exercise that went with it, i went to the library where i discovered this book, The Taste of Penny, had arrived for me.

[Charles White · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review of this book at Rain Taxi

http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2010wi...