Problems with People

March 3, 2014
People struggle to connect with each other in this succinct but ambitious collection of 10 stories from the author of Snow Falling on Cedars. Some return to Guterson’s customary Pacific Northwestern milieu, but elsewhere he ranges abroad, with settings including Katmandu, Berlin, and South Africa. “Paradise” observes a man and a woman struggling through the awkwardness of their first few dates, while in “Tenant,” a landlord obsesses over a new renter whom he has never met. “Politics” explores the superficial yet fraught relationship between a beggar and those he solicits, and “Krassavitseh” follows a father and son as they navigate Holocaust memorials in Germany with an enigmatic tour guide. Though Guterson’s characters differ in their ages, locations, and worries, all of their stories turn on the thin lines that separate friendship from acquaintance, and the strange from the familiar. While the stories lack depth, they gain resonance from Guterson’s eagerness to remind us of the boundless potential of everyday encounters. Agent: Georges Borchardt, Georges Borchardt Inc.

May 1, 2014
Some of the best stories in this uneven collection suggest a return to form for a writer better known for his novels.Guterson's first story collection in 15 years should appeal to fans of his debut novel (Snow Falling on Cedars, 1994) who might have found the dark, antic humor of his most recent one (Ed King, 2011) jarring. Many of these stories concern the awkwardness of intimacy, how uncomfortable it can be-particularly in the Internet age, which has had such a profound effect on how people understand their own lives and each other. The first story, "Paradise," sets the tone and theme; it concerns two middle-aged people traveling to consummate a relationship that began through an online dating service. They barely know each other except for the narratives they have conjured, and the unnamed man has particular concerns: "He told her he didn't know what would happen in bed. He said he hadn't slept with anyone but his wife for twenty-six years-then add on the six months since she'd died of a heart attack while in the middle of leaving him for someone new." The woman ultimately tells her story, which casts her in a different light than he had imagined, in a tale that resists sentimentality or pat resolution. Many of the rest feature similar difficulties in connecting: the landlord and the title character of "Tenant" (whose interplay is restricted to email and bank transfers until they finally meet in person); the adult brother and sister in "Pilanesberg" (he visits her in Africa, where she is dying of cancer). Many of the stories hit similar notes, in which self-conscious characters discover that "no matter what you did, you were wrong."The return to the Pacific Northwest and introspective characters finds the author striking familiar, responsive chords.

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May 1, 2014
Whether it's the utter disdain a successful son feels for his nattering mother or the unavoidable anguish an elderly father experiences at not being able to reunite with his peripatetic son, missed connections often take center stage in award-winning novelist Guterson's (Ed King, 2011) second short story collection. In 10 perceptive tales, he explores the monumental and circumstantial episodes that form the underpinnings of daily life.There are petty jealousies and niggling insecurities, long-held grievances and newly minted outrages. There are memories that blur when the past and present collide, conjuring up images of good times and bad for fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and strangers. Through them all, Guterson's protagonists confront life's challenges with something like aplomb, if not outright skill, and in doing so, often uncover unsuspected silver linings in otherwise darkly cloudy situations. While most stories are set primarily within the familiar landscape of Guterson's native Northwest, several venture farther afield to Germany, Nepal, and South Africa to further highlight the universality of emotional connectivity. Guterson is celebrated for his deeply atmospheric novels, and his electrifying short fiction is equally expressive.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014

PEN/Faulkner Award winner Guterson revisits the Pacific Northwest setting of his beloved Snow Falling on Cedars, though he also hotfoots it across America, then travels on to Nepal, South Africa, and Germany.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2014

A dispirited quality connects the characters in this second story collection from Guterson (Snow Falling on Cedars), giving each such a strong sense of anonymity and isolation that the author avoids naming them in most instances. In the opening piece, "Paradise," a sixtysomething couple who meet through an online dating site struggle to ignite their new relationship at a romantic lodge but fail when the woman talks about a former lover on into the night. In one of the strongest stories, "Krassavitseh," a father and son on an emotional Jewish tour of Berlin to revisit the Jewish quarter where the father lived in the 1930s, find their guide also has a connection to the unthinkable horrors in Germany's wartime past. Retirement is not going well for the narrator of "Shadow" because he has developed short-term memory loss, a condition that causes him to miss a plane connection to see his son. "Photograph" depicts a husband and wife grieving over their grown son's drowning death, but the wife can only blame the husband because of a duck-hunting trip when the boy was 12 years old. VERDICT Missed signals, isolation, distancing oneself from social contact--all describe the emotional core of Guterson's deeply affecting narratives. A haunting collection from a thoughtful storyteller. [See Prepub Alert, 12/16/13.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2014

A dispirited quality connects the characters in this second story collection from Guterson (Snow Falling on Cedars), giving each such a strong sense of anonymity and isolation that the author avoids naming them in most instances. In the opening piece, "Paradise," a sixtysomething couple who meet through an online dating site struggle to ignite their new relationship at a romantic lodge but fail when the woman talks about a former lover on into the night. In one of the strongest stories, "Krassavitseh," a father and son on an emotional Jewish tour of Berlin to revisit the Jewish quarter where the father lived in the 1930s, find their guide also has a connection to the unthinkable horrors in Germany's wartime past. Retirement is not going well for the narrator of "Shadow" because he has developed short-term memory loss, a condition that causes him to miss a plane connection to see his son. "Photograph" depicts a husband and wife grieving over their grown son's drowning death, but the wife can only blame the husband because of a duck-hunting trip when the boy was 12 years old. VERDICT Missed signals, isolation, distancing oneself from social contact--all describe the emotional core of Guterson's deeply affecting narratives. A haunting collection from a thoughtful storyteller. [See Prepub Alert, 12/16/13.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.