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eBook Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives: Stories ePub

by Brad Watson

Brad Watson Short Stories and Anthologies English

eBook Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives: Stories ePub

Author: Brad Watson
Language: English
ISBN: 0393057119
ISBN13: 978-0393057119
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (March 22, 2010)
Pages: 272
Category: Short Stories & Anthologies
Subcategory: Literature
Rating: 4.7
Votes: 796
Formats: doc lit rtf azw
ePub file: 1209 kb
Fb2 file: 1901 kb

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Because Watson knows how to create a tiny universe unto itself in the space of just 15-20 pages. He does it again with this collection, ALIENS IN THE PRIME OF THEIR LIVES.

Because Watson knows how to create a tiny universe unto itself in the space of just 15-20 pages. The art of the short story, done well, is a tough trick, but Watson has mastered it. Just twelve stories, and all of them pretty damn good, although there is a kind of vaguely unhappy "sameness" to several of them, presented as what seem to be childhood recollections varnished with a thin but skillful veneer of invention; or tales of faltering marriages or relationships. Good FICTION, actually.

Watson's 2002 novel The Heaven of Mercury was nominated for the National Book Award

Watson's 2002 novel The Heaven of Mercury was nominated for the National Book Award. For all the ways is struggling and, yes, deficient, or failing, flailing, it is also a place full of wonderful people, and possibly one of the most diverse places in the country.

Brad Watson writes so well-with such an all-seeing, six-dimensional view of human hopes, inadequacies, and .

The boys really wanted to see what was going to happen in the western show, but now they had missed it because they had been watching their mother make faces and then yell that one day she would walk out of the house and never come back. And then they stopped watching the commercial that was coming on because they heard a banging and a clatter and a loud hissing sound in the kitchen, and saw a large cloud of steam and smoke, because the mother had burned her chicken and tumped her pan into the sink and now she came stomping past them toward the back of the house.

In Watson’s new book, the story collection Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, dreams are rare, perhaps because his characters aren’t the sort to put much stock in them

In Watson’s new book, the story collection Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, dreams are rare, perhaps because his characters aren’t the sort to put much stock in them. But there is a notable exception in the title novella, in which Will, the 17-year-old protagonist, secretly marries his pregnant girlfriend, Olivia. They move into a ratty, stifling apartment. Will’s seemingly doomed life becomes far more successful and happy than he thought it could be - unless, of course, he is dreaming. But this familiar conundrum, the stuff of so many sci-fi flicks, is secondary, as Olivia and Will lose.

I loved Brad Watson's previous book of short stories, Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories. This is a collection of haunting stories that delves in the lives of ordinary people stricken by loneliness, longing and the lure of a better world. The stories in this book don't quite measure up to the ones in that book; some of them seem almost experimental in nature. Divorce and men trying to reconnect with their estranged sons during limited visitation hours are popular themes. There're also a few about men trying to understand women. I look forward to reading more of Brad Watson.

Finalist for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: "Watson's talent is. .With exquisite tenderness, Watson relates the brutality of both nature and human nature.

Finalist for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: "Watson's talent is singular, truly awesome; a.

of Their Lives: Stories – carte electronică scrisă de Brad Watson

Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives: Stories – carte electronică scrisă de Brad Watson. His first collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men, won the Sue Kauffman Award for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts & Letters; his first novel, The Heaven of Mercury, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and his Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Amazing stories, dazzling. Author Brad Watson writes in a lucid, unaffected style, drawing the reader into the lives of his troubled characters. I think what makes his writing so delightful is his obvious compassion for his characters, and the flashes of humor that emerge from their sufferings. In the title piece he ventures into magic realism, a young couple's journey through what was and what could've been. If you're a fan of the short story, you must get this one and read it. It's absolutely dazzling. I recommend it most highly.

Other books by Brad Watson at BookBrowse. Membership Advantages.

Finalist for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: "Watson's talent is singular, truly awesome; [his stories] are infused with an uncanny beauty."―A. M. Homes

In this, his first collection of stories since his celebrated, award-winning Last Days of the Dog-Men, Brad Watson takes us even deeper into the riotous, appalling, and mournful oddity of human beings. In prose so perfectly pitched as to suggest some celestial harmony, he writes about every kind of domestic discord: unruly or distant children, alienated spouses, domestic abuse, loneliness, death, divorce. In his masterful title novella, a freshly married teenaged couple are visited by an unusual pair of inmates from a nearby insane asylum―and find out exactly how mismatched they really are. With exquisite tenderness, Watson relates the brutality of both nature and human nature. There’s no question about it. Brad Watson writes so well―with such an all-seeing, six-dimensional view of human hopes, inadequacies, and rare grace―that he must be an extraterrestrial.

Adorardana

It's been more than fifteen years since I first read Brad Watson's first story collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories. Then I found it in my shelves a couple years ago and was just going to look briefly at the first story, and ended up reading the whole book again. Because Watson knows how to create a tiny universe unto itself in the space of just 15-20 pages. The art of the short story, done well, is a tough trick, but Watson has mastered it. He does it again with this collection, ALIENS IN THE PRIME OF THEIR LIVES.

Just twelve stories, and all of them pretty damn good, although there is a kind of vaguely unhappy "sameness" to several of them, presented as what seem to be childhood recollections varnished with a thin but skillful veneer of invention; or tales of faltering marriages or relationships. Good FICTION, actually.

The three unnamed brothers in "Vacuum" seem unworried about the unstable nature of their parents' marriage, and you get the impression that they'll survive, no matter what happens. In "Water Dog God" you get Maeve, a wild child victim of incest, who shows up out of the wood with a pack of dogs. "Carl's Outside" gives us another child coping in the shadow of a troubled marriage. "Alamo Plaza" recounts a long-ago family vacation on the Gulf Coast recalled years later by the middle child. "Visitation" is what it sounds like, a divorced father trying to make his weekends with his son meaningful.

If I had to pick one weak story it would be "Fallen Nellie," the shortest, and a rather gruesome one that brought to mind Jim Crace's novel, Being Dead: A Novel, a book I didn't particularly love.

The strongest story is, I think, the title one, about two teenagers, the girl pregnant, with strange overtones of the supernatural or, perhaps better, "alien" worlds. It's a damn fine story which may leave you scratching your head wondering what was real and what was imagined.

I thoroughly enjoyed Watson's stories. He's still got it. If you like a good short story, you'll like this book. I'll recommend it.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

Nalmergas

This story chronicles young love and pregnancy from the point of view of a teenage father. We have to admire the young man's sense of responsibility. Seems straight forward story until he is visited late one night from a couple from the mental hospital across the road. Enter the aliens or the onset of mental illness. Reality from this point is uncertain and the author gives us lots of choices. I like the emotional and psychological dimensions but am somewhat unsure of ambiguity of these conflicting narratives. This story doesn't really need any aliens or alternate outcomes. The best part was in the heartfelt telling of what it's like to be seventeen, secretly married and your girlfriend's pregnant.

Arlelond

The stories in this book were so surreal, moving and sentimental. I was required to read stories from this for my Fiction Writing class, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Brad Watson is an amazing story teller, making the most ordinary aspects divine. Water God Dog, Vacuum, and Are You Mister Lonelee? were some of my favorite short stories in this collection. Also, the paperback copy I bought was in great condition and was shipped quickly.

Jorius

The PW review in which the stories are compared to the films of David Lynch is amazingly accurate. In these stories, women eat dirt and a soon-to-be father is visited by space aliens who offer him the chance to abandon his unborn child to benevolent forces on another planet. Most stories hinge on an unusual turn--one that often feels organic to the story as a whole. But still, this is the world of Lynch, which relies on compelling surfaces and language, not the surreal world of George Saunders, which relies more heavily on interior characterization. My favorite story, by far, is the traditional "Visitation," in which a divorced father attempts to raise his son by visiting him at a beach hotel every few weeks. The language throughout is beautiful. Individual scenes bristle. Even though I tend to prefer more traditional fiction, this collection compelled me from start to finish, continuously lifted by the force of its prose.

Todd Pierce

Downloaded

This brilliant, darkly comic, sometimes sad, always imaginative and inventive story collection is unlike any I've ever read. Watson is a humanist of the first order, and also a truly original fiction writer. He takes on the themes of depression, loss, marital discord, alcoholism, coming-of-age, family relations, and what he does with these themes is both funny and very insightful, sometimes tragic. I loved this collection.

Worla

great story, did not realize it was excerpt...

Xar

Watson delves into the depths of human emotions exposing the dark humor of human nature. The book contains true to life short stories with themes of alienation, spirituality and the unchangeable nature of people. Watson delivers interesting insight into dysfunctional relationships and family life. He exposes the common tragedy of average people and everyday life. A thought-provoking collection of stories, essential to any reader's reading list.

As so many of the other reviewers have written, it is mostly a book about alienation, feeling a little like the characters feel as though they don't belong in the lives they are living. A well written collection about life and the rough spots many people find themselves in. Though each story shows a darker feeling about humanity and life, it is still a very readable and interesting book, one you will want to finish quickly.