Wild Child and Other Stories
T.C. Boyle has published over 100 short stories and won six O.Henry awards, so it’s fair to expect a lot from his latest collection, Wild Child. Wild Child (released January 21st) contains thirteen short stories in addition to the title novella, a 66-page fictionalized account of the historic “wild boy of Aveyron.” In his New York Times review, author Wells Tower calls the novella “among the most richly realized stories of Boyle’s nearly 40-year adventure”–an assessment other critics seem to agree with. Where Tower and the others disagree, however, is with the collection’s other thirteen stories. While most critics praise Boyle for writing entirely original stories that flirt (purposefully) with the absurd, Tower complains of characters struggling for air within Boyle’s “procrustean plot contraptions.” Mark Rozzo of the LA Times concedes that “there will be some who find Boyle’s palette garish, his characters cartoonish, his narrative fireworks mere antics of a strutting virtuoso,” but Boyle fans know what to expect, and they won’t be disappointed.
“Throughout this dazzling collection [...] Boyle’s stories have a habit of gazing back upon themselves with eyebrows cocked in wonder. And with good reason.” – Mark Rozzo, Los Angeles Times
“In most of these stories, Boyle seems interested in doing little more than hammering together a setup, sporting with it for a page or two, then pinching things off before his characters can spit the bits from their mouths and take things in directions of their own uncalculated choosing.” – Wells Tower, New York Times
“It’s that title story that we keep returning to. It’s a tale about the immutability of inner lives, the kind of intellectual and emotional game that has become Boyle’s preferred sport.” – Jonathan Messinger, Time Out Chicago
“This latest collection from Boyle [shows] off the brilliance of his talent and his imaginative approach to the varied layers and levels of the contemporary American experience.” – Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune
*************
Want to know more about us? Check out “What is Books & Authors and Why Should You Care?
