I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

Gurganus’ prose is astute and witty, “I soon learned Midwesterners have flukes too. They’re simply better at hiding. Everything. They practice Nordic shunning.They know you can kill your neighbor’s soul simply by ignoring it.”

The construction of this passage is such a great example of his brilliance. Not only the hilarious “Nordic shunning” but the sentence structure. How it strings the reader along. Everything. Yes. Someone to study.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review*Found some of the stories to be really good, some super weird. so more of a 3.5 but not horrible, just, weird.

This is a collection of wonderful short stories, many set in Falls, North Carolina. All of the characters felt very real and they were treated with compassion and comprehension. There were many heartbreaking and realistic moments in the lives of ordinary people. As one of the characters said “ain’t people wonderful”, and that is not how I usually feel about people. I listened to the audiobook and the narration by A.T. Chandler and Xe Sands was excellent.

I particularly liked some of the stories. In “The Wish for a Good Young Country Doctor”, a newly graduated doctor goes from savior, to pariah to hero. The understanding family of a man with dementia find a way to ease his retirement in “He’s at the Office”. “Fetch” will kill you with suspense if you like dogs. Xe Sands was absolutely amazing in “The Deluxe $19.95 Walking Tour of Historic Falls(Nc) — Light Lunch Inclusive” in which an elderly tour guide has an outbreak of candor. There really wasn’t a dud in the collection, although I was a little put off by “The Mortician Confesses” about the sexual violation of a corpse. 4.5 stars

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

I can often tell a book by its cover. But don’t let this one fool you. These nine short stories written by the amazing novelist, Allan Gurganus, aren’t boring. Nor are they stuffy.

In fact, they’re quite the opposite.

Despite it being an “anticipated read of 2021,” I was absolutely on my way to passing this one up. And then I acquiesced when I saw a video of Ann Patchett telling her bookstore followers that Allan Gurganus taught her to write. Gosh, I thought. If Ann loves Allan—and she loves this new book by Allan—then I want to love Allan. So I promptly signed up to review the audio version of his latest work, “The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus.”

Throughout the collection, I found myself surprised, amused and horrified—and often in the same story. My absolute favorite essay, narrated by the award-winning Xe Sands, is wittily named “The deluxe $19.95 walking tour of Historic Falls (NC) - Light Lunch Inclusive.” It is everything that’s both right and wrong about living in the South. And it’s told through the eyes of a proper Southern docent who, after having several mini strokes has—shall we say—“fleeting” decorum.

I also very much appreciated “The Mortician Confesses” and “Fetch” read by the actor, A.T. Chandler. I’m fairly certain that I was shocked and gasping out loud during both essays.

It’s because Allan Gurganus fills every sentence with such brilliant and detailed descriptions that this is not an audiobook that you play while multitasking. You will miss too much of the good stuff. Instead, it’s a book that requires a quiet, uninterrupted country drive on a 70-degree, cloudless day—sans kids or pets or a talkative spouse.

Chandler and Sands deliver extremely authentic characterizations and show their versatility of portraying such uniquely crafted characters. I’m unsure if I would have had the same emotional connection to these stories if I were to have read the print version. But we’ll never know…

At any rate, I’m going to keep taking book referrals from Patchett because, after listening to these essays, I promptly purchased four other Gurganus novels so I could devour more of his genius. And, yes, I went old-school and got the print versions.

Special thanks to HighBridge Audio for a copy of the audio recording, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

This terrific collection wins you over with breathtaking prose, and then seals your love with a heaping dose of humanity. Gurganus wastes no words, putting so much description and warmth into every intentional syllable, it is not flashy language, but it will swallow you up like a weighted blanket.

I have spent much of the early part of 2020 reading Marilynne Robinson and other books that let you fully into the hearts of people in middle America, and this story collection does the same thing for the South. I think there is some drop-off in quality in the last couple stories, but not enough to detract from this being a 5-star outing.

As far as narrators, the male voice with its deep baritone is the perfect voice for these stories. It felt like you were sitting around a fire on a rural estate hearing the latest yarn. The female narrator did not fit as well.