Last Night at the LobsterNo American novelist loves the dead-end town quite like Stewart O'Nan. In the 15 books that have poured out of him since 1994, he has visited the snowy, forgotten hamlets of upstate New York, and the bombed-out streets of East Liberty, Pittsburgh. He has twice set novels in those most forgotten metropolises, our prisons. Now O'Nan peers into a suburban Connecticut Red Lobster restaurant on the last night of its operation. Who knew an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet could evoke such mournful, Edward Hopper–ish pathos?
The Good WifeOn a clear winter night in upstate New York, two young men break into a house they believe is empty. It isn't, and within minutes an old woman is dead and the house is in flames. Soon after, the men are caught by the police. Across the county, a phone rings in a darkened bedroom, waking a pregnant woman. It's her husband. He wants her to know that he and his friend have gotten themselves into a little trouble. So Patty Dickerson's old life ends and a strange new one begins.
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 SeasonEarly in 2004, two writers and Red Sox fans, Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King, decided to chronicle the upcoming season, one of the most hotly anticipated in baseball history. They would sit together at Fenway. They would exchange emails. They would write about the games. And, as it happened, they would witness the greatest comeback ever in sports, and the first Red Sox championship in eighty-six years. What began as a Sox-filled summer like any other is now a fan's notes for the ages.
Circus Fire: A True Story of an American TragedyOne of America's most acclaimed novelists turns to nonfiction in this powerful re-creation of the great Hartford circus fire, which took the lives of 167 people and forever changed the city and its people. On July 6, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, the big top of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus caught fire during the middle of the afternoon performance. Nine thousand people were inside. The canvas of the big tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of paraffin and gasoline. In seconds, the big top was burning out of control. Bleacher seats were fronted by steel railings with narrow openings; the main exits were blocked by caged chutes in which leopards and lions, having just performed, raged, maddened by the fire. In re-creating the horrific events of one of America's most cataclysmic civic tragedies, Stewart O'Nan has fashioned both an incomparably gripping narrative and a profound, measured glimpse into the extremes of human behavior under duress. In the madness of the inferno, some like animal trainer May Kovar and the tragic Bill Curlee (who tossed dozens of children to safety over the lion's chute), would act with superhuman bravery. Others, like the sailor who broke a woman's jaw to get past her, would become beasts. The toll of the fire, and its circumstances, haunt Hartford to the present day - the identity of one young victim, known only as Little Miss 1565, remains an enduring mystery and a source of conflict in the city.
The Night CountryAt midnight on Halloween in a cloistered New England suburb, a car carrying five teenagers leaves a winding road and slams into a tree, killing three of them. One escapes unharmed, another suffers severe brain damage. A year later, summoned by the memories of those closest to them, the three who died come back on a last chilling mission among the living.
Wish You Were HereA year after the death of her husband, Henry, Emily Maxwell gathers her family by Lake Chautauqua in western New York for what will be a last vacation at their summer cottage. Joining is her sister-in-law, who silently mourns the sale of the lake house, and a long-lost love. Emily's firebrand daughter, a recovering alcoholic recently separated from her husband, brings her children from Detroit. Emily's son, who has quit his job and mortgaged his future to pursue his art, comes accompanied by his children and his wife, who is secretly heartened to be visiting the house for the last time. Memories of past summers resurface, old rivalries flare up, and love is rekindled and born anew, resulting in a timeless novel drawn, as the best writing often is, from the ebbs and flow of daily life.
Everyday PeopleEveryday People brings together the stories of the people of an African-American Pittsburgh neighborhood during one fateful week in the early fall of 1998. Vibrant, poignant, and brilliantly rendered, Everyday People is a lush, dramatic portrait that vividly captures the experience of the day-to-day struggle that is life in urban America.
A Prayer for the DyingSet in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War,
A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that has gripped the town in a vice of fear and Death. Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed, though he continues to do what he can. Dark, poetic, and chilling,
A Prayer for the Dying makes us consider if it's possible to be a good man in atime of madness.
A World AwayFollowing the fortunes of the Langer family, whose oldest son, Rennie, is missing in action in the Pacific during World War II, Stewart O'Nan brilliantly captures the mood of this lost world and the changing fate of a country aware that when the war ends nothing will ever be the same.
The Speed QueenThe Speed Queen is the gripping story of a twisted love triangle's drug-fueled killing spree across the desert plains, told in the voice of Oklahoma death-row inmate Marjorie Standiford, who is recounting her experiences for a best-selling horror writer researching the murders. It's a chilling, unputdownable crime novel in the tradition of James M. Cain -- a voyage into the dark soul of the American West.
The Names of the DeadAt 34, Larry Markham seems to be going nowhere fast. The only people he can talk to are a group of disabled Vietnam vets whose gut-wrenching stories feed his imagination. Over and over he is brought back to 1968, to the jungles of Southeast Asia where, as a young medic he had to find a way to keep his platoon alive. But now, in the present, a more imminent danger arises, and his struggle to survive a deadly threat forces him to confront the battles that rage within him.
Snow AngelsArthur Parkinson is fourteen during the dreary winter of 1974. Enduring the pain of his parents' divorce, his world is shattered when his beloved former babysitter, Annie, falls victim to a tragic series of events. The interlinking stories of Arthur's unraveling family, and of Annie's fate, form the backdrop of this intimate tale about the price of love and belonging.
In the Walled City: StoriesWinner of the prestigious Drue Heinz Prize in 1993 -- selected by a panel chaired by Tobias Wolff -- Stewart O'Nan's collection
In the Walled City features twelve stories that delve into the lives and souls of an astonishing range of characters, from an old Chinese grocer to a young policeman separated from his family and descending into madness. Intimate and generous, these stories brilliantly illuminate the connections that bind us and the obligations and sorrows of love.
Message Edited by Maria_H on
04-08-2008 03:00 PM
This will be my wife's and my last school vacation...we retire in June......YAHOO !!!!!!
The second book was set in the WWII era with another medic...interesting topic...and I enjoyed it as well. I found that I liked his style of writing and his way of changing locations throughout the books. With two of his books under my belt...I'm looking forward to getting started on our adventure together with his newest book
