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eBook Bang Crunch download

by Neil Smith

ISBN: 0753824442
Author: Neil Smith
Publisher: Phoenix; Advance Reading Copy (ARC) edition (2008)
Language: English
ePub: 1294 kb
Fb2: 1151 kb
Rating: 4.2
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Category: Other

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Neil Smith's audacious, ambitious debut story collection, Bang Crunch, shows great promise, says Michel Faber. What Smith was sitting on is a nest of oddly assorted eggs indeed. Rarely have I read a collection so various in theme and approach, so magpie-like in its influences.

Neil Smith's audacious, ambitious debut story collection, Bang Crunch, shows great promise, says Michel Faber. Scrapbook" focuses on the aftermath of a Columbine-style massacre at a university, as the girlfriend of one of the survivors attempts to nurse him through his numbness and suppressed guilt.

Neil Smith is Canadian, so there was a little more french in it than I was prepared for. I should probably learn at least some basic French at some point.

In Neil Smith’s nine stories, average people find themselves in decidedly unusual situations, as the mundane and the fantastic collide. A woman mourning the loss of her husband finds solace in talking to his ashes, entombed in a curling stone. The title story zeroes in on a girl with Fred Hoyle syndrome, whose age expands and contracts like the universe. Bang Crunch creates an extraordinary world inhabited by all-too-human characters, and heralds the arrival of a literary talent with an unfailing, exacting concern for the profundities of our lives. BANG CRUNCH: Stories. Пользовательский отзыв - Kirkus.

This collection of short stories cover a wide range of situations from the slightly ridiculous to the truly tragic. The themes include the widow who keeps her late husband's ashes in a curling stone to which she talks and the death of a premature baby. The narrators are young, old, male and female and even inanimate objects. The author changes his writing style to suit the story. Most contain much dialogue but one, the title story, has none. An enjoyable and interesting collection - ideal to dip in and out.

бесплатно, без регистрации и без смс. An audacious New Face of Fiction debut: nine riveting stories that announce a major writer in the tradition of Yann Martel and Barbara Gowdy. Unexpected humour and tenderness intertwine with loneliness and hopefulness in this remarkable book from an already acclaimed writer. In nine richly varied stories, written in intense, clear-eyed prose, the reader is led into an exploration of the human need for connection, however tenuous or absurd, and at whatever cost.

Authors : Smith, Neil. Product Category : Books. Neil Smith has published widely in Canadian journals and magazines. He has received a number of literary awards, and has been nominated three times for the prestigious Journey Prize. List Price (MSRP) : 1. 9. Bang Crunch is his first story collection.

Boo is the highly anticipated debut novel from one of the most incomparable voices in Canadian literature: Bang Crunch author Neil Smith.

The voyage of Jason and the Argonauts and their hunt for the Golden Fleece is one of the most enduringly popular of all of the Ancient Greek heroic myths. Boo is the highly anticipated debut novel from one of the most incomparable voices in Canadian literature: Bang Crunch author Neil Smith.

Download PDF book format. Formatted Contents Note: Isolettes Green fluorescent protein The B9ers Bang crunch Scrapbook The butterfly box Funny weird or funny ha ha?

Download PDF book format. Choose file format of this book to download: pdf chm txt rtf doc. Download this format book. Bang crunch : stories Neil Smith. Book's title: Bang crunch : stories Neil Smith. Formatted Contents Note: Isolettes Green fluorescent protein The B9ers Bang crunch Scrapbook The butterfly box Funny weird or funny ha ha? Extremities Jaybird. Download now Bang crunch : stories Neil Smith.

Comments: (3)

Feri

I didn't love every story, but Smith pulls off some great experimentation here. If you are into playfulness with POV and a little magical realism, you should check out this collection. It's a quick read with some very memorable risk taking.

Maucage

Like a lot of short story collections, this debut from Montreal writer Smith is a mighty mixed bag. Smith aligns himself with writers like George Saunders -- both are crafters of short stories that are funny and sad, with one foot firmly set in the recognizable world, and the other slightly into the surreal ether. And like Saunders, Smith's stories generally revolve around a peculiar object, trait, or situation. Sometimes this works well, and sometimes it just falls kind of flat.

The opener, "Isolette," is a heartbreaker of loneliness about two unconventional friends who have a baby together. To a certain extent, it might be a mistake to place such an affecting story at the front of the collection, as it sets a very high standard that none of the other stories match. For example, immediately after it comes "Green Florescent Protein," which is a nicely crafted but ultimately conventional story about a teenage boy struggling to admit his attraction to his his best friend. Then comes, "The B9ers," which is perfectly emblematic of the collection as a whole -- also well written, the story is both funny and wan as it follows John Smith (the ultimate benign name) as he founds a support group for people with benign tumors.

The title story is the shortest of the lot, a ten-page ramble about a girl who suffers from an fictional disease which causes her aging process to accelerate, making her a genius at a young age. But once she reaches her theoretical maximum age, the disease reverses, causing her to revert in age -- in other words, it's a Jonathan Lethemy conceptual riff based on the Big Bang theory. "Scrapbook" is fairly forgettable piece about a couple, set in the aftermath of a Virginia Tech type college shooting spree. "The Butterfly Box" is equally forgettable -- although it manages to evoke brief spasms of loneliness from its sparseness.

Despite the conceit of a woman talking to her dead husband's ashes (contained in a curling rock), "Funny Weird or Funny Ha Ha?" is one of the more straightforward and better stories. It revisits the mother of the teenage boy from "Green Florescent Protein" as she comes to terms with her alcoholism. "Extremities" is probably my least favorite story, as it switches back and forth in perspective between a pair of calfskin gloves in a department store and an astronaut's talking foot. Enough said about that one the better... The final story, "Jaybird," is the longest, and totally draws the reader into its unsettling plot. Set amidst Montreal's acting community, it follows an established theater pro as he works with a mentee as part of studio project which is taken in a sinister direction.

The collection tends to rise and fall on the strength of the various stories' premises. These range from well-trodden to totally inventive, but Smith generally uses them well in exploring tenderness, loneliness, humor, tragedy, and farce in equal parts. His prose chops are often able to overcome any narrative weaknesses, however at time it can be a little too crisply controlled, exhibiting too much of the craftsman/technician about it. It' a solid-enough debut, and it would be interesting to see whether or not Smith's style would work in a novel.

JoJoshura

Bang Crunch is Canadian author Neil Smith's debut collection of short stories. It contains nine short stories all about pretty ordinarily average people who find themselves in rather unexpected situations. I didn't know what to expect when I opened up the book, while snuggling up on my sofa, against the cold weather outside with a large mug of tea. What I found between the covers of this slim novel captivated me and left me wanting to read more by this extraordinarily talented author.

These are a few of the introspective stories in Bang Crunch:

"Isolettes" introduces us to a young set of parents dealing with the extremity early birth of their child. The story examines the frailty of the new life, and the struggle the young mother has with finding love for the incubator-bound baby, wrapped in tubes and sensors.

"Green Florescent Protein" is about Max, a teen struggling to cope with several new situations. He recently moved to a new home in Westmont. His mother, a wacky, sober ex-drunk who talks to his father's cremated remains (which are housed inside a curling stone), deciding to give herself a "life overhaul." He also is struggling with a new feeling of attraction that goes past friendship with his closest friend, Ruby-Doo.

"The B9ers" - What happens when a survivor of a benign tumor starts a support group for others in the same situation? The B9ers captures the struggle of a group of people trying to return to normal life after a close call. They don't get the support and sympathy they need, since their tumors were not malignant, but still struggle along after surgery.

"Bang Crunch" - Is a look into the life of a girl with Fred Hoyle's syndrome, which ages her a year a day.

"Scrapbook" - Amy and her boyfriend struggle with the attack on a University German class that ends with the death of eight women. He was one of the survivors of the attack. This story delves into the "what ifs"? Why did this happen? The story also delves into the emotions of guilt and anxiety of being a survivor.

Armchair Interviews says: A debut short-story author to read and be encouraged to write more.

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