Assorted Fire Events by David Means

Assorted Fire Events

David Means

These short stories have a throwaway violence, a laconic sideview of human frailty and death, a implicit compassion which all adds up to a uniquely American voice. So dense and driven are some of these mini-narratives and mood-pictures that I'm not sure I've understood them all. But I'm still gripped.

Extract
Last thoughts don't come easily, last thoughts rising above the shock and pain and the roar of blood to the eardrums and colors splashing behind eyelids, the ping of water dripping off the tunnel wall, the shuffled footfalls of the boys taking their leave, leaving him behind against the wall.

Parallels
  • What the birds see by Sonya Hartnett
  • The Lake by Daniel Villasenor
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
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Violence
Explicit sexual content

A terrible beauty