At the Jim Bridger: Stories - Hardcover

Carlson, Ron

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312286058 ISBN 13: 9780312286057

Publisher: Picador, 2002

Synopsis

“We lean closer and closer, eager to catch every last word.” said The New York Times Book Review. “Bigger, richer, funnier, and more complex than any description of them can convey,” said the San Francisco Chronicle. “Some of the funniest and saddest stories ever to cozy up together,” said the Los Angeles Times. Welcome to the short stories of Ron Carlson, where strange beach towels turn up in your living room; where the ordinary son of a family of geniuses spins a rollicking tale of happiness and disappointment; where a teenaged magician seduces the prettiest girl in his high school and the world, with devastating consequences. Long regarded as one of our finest living short story writers, Ron Carlson triumphantly returns with At the Jim Bridger, nine stories that are epic in scope and confessional in tone; stories that enfold the reader in a world of love and mystery, and make us feel better than just about anything written on the page.

About this title

Review

In his collection At the Jim Bridger, Ron Carlson exhibits an old-fashioned humanity. He not only believes in the self, he believes that it's a good thing. The men and boys in these stories stumble into quietly critical moments that invite them to surrender their integrity. Some succumb, some don't, but the author himself is clearly never in doubt that integrity exists and that it matters. The problem is brought up most explicitly in the exquisite, funny opening story, "Towel Season." Edison is a theoretical engineer who lives with his young family in a chummy suburb. Over the course of one summer--one "towel season"--Edison pursues a slippery engineering problem by day and socializes with his neighbors by night. The other dads all work in applied engineering, and they exert a gentle pressure on Edison to get his head out of the clouds. Normal life tugs at Edison, tempting him. His resistance turns the piece into an oddly resonant love story.

Short-fiction fans have likely bumped into "The Ordinary Son" in one anthology or another. It's the unforgettably comic story of the only nongenius in a family of geniuses: "I was hanging out sitting around my bare room, reading books, the History of This, the History of That, dry stuff, waiting for my genius to kick in." At the Jim Bridger is a convention of just such fascinating, ordinary characters. --Claire Dederer

About the Author

Ron Carlson is the author of two novels and three story collections, including, most recently, The New York Times Notable Book Hotel Eden. His stories have been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, and Harper’s. He lives in Arizona

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312286058
• ISBN 13: 9780312286057
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208