Unfortunately, I was unable to get into this title. It just wasn't a good fit for me. Thanks so much for the opportunity to read this title. I will not be posting a review online, in order not to skew the ratings. Thanks for the opportunity to read it.

Michael Knight takes readers to his native Alabama in his collection of short stories, “Eveningland.”

The seven stories are connected in some way. The settings vary from the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to a hurricane, but focus on the interaction of the people rather than on events themselves.

His descriptive passages drew me in, and I could almost visualize the scenes and the people in them. For example, in “Water and Oil” Knight describes 17-year-old Henry Rufus Bragg: “He was handsome but in an unfinished way, especially in summer when the sun freckled his nose and cheeks, blurring his features, a faint constellation half a shade darker than his tan.” In that hot summer, Bragg, as he was called by most, was volunteering to patrol to watch for oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill, and trying to form a relationship with Dana Pint, a girl working at his father’s marina.

Other stories include “Smash and Grab,” “Our Lady of the Roses,” “Jubilee,” “Grand Old Party,” “The King of Dauphin Island” and “Landfall.”

The short story seems to be making a resurgence, and with stories like Knight’s, it’s easy to see why.

Knight is the author of two novels,
two short story collections and a holiday-themed book of novellas. He and has family live in Knoxville, Tenn., where he teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee.

This is a beautifully written book of short stories. Knight really has a way with words. He paints pictures with his descriptions and his characters feelings are palpable. Very enjoyable reading.

As a native Mobilian (from the WRONG kind of Mobile family) with a long history of Gulf Coast hurricanes and fond memories of boat trips to Petite Bois Island, I had the distinct sense that Michael Knight had driven up to California, given me a good talking-to, and dragged me home to remind me what I'm missing.

This collection of seven short stories takes the state of Alabama as its subject and explores everything the place represents.

The prose is beautifully written and the seven tales complement each other very well. The stories are intriguing and engaging in their own right, while each exploring a different component of the state's identity and the characters' lives.

Knight's writing is lyrical and melancholy and I'd definitely read something by him again.

Michael Knight's stories were full of quiet emotion. I felt like the people in the stories were people I knew. The stories sat with me after I had finished reading them, I look forward to reading more of his work.

For ten years, since retirement, we've traveled to the Gulf in February to escape the worst of Michigan's winter at first staying in various motels and eventually renting condos in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama.

My love of reading had fallen by the wayside as I struggled with my kidney failure and the burden of dialysis four times a day. Even on vacation, I found it difficult to concentrate.

As a member, not necessarily in good standing, of Net Galley I am able to read and review books before publication. I'm not high enough in the hierarchy for publishers to want to share their treasures although I have loved the books I've been granted.

Right before we left Orange Beach to come home, I got an e-mail that offered a book of short stories by Michael Knight called Eveningland. The setting was Mobile and the Gulf. I was able to get a copy and started reading.

THE FIRST LINE: "None of this is true. All of this is true."

THE STORY: There are six stories and a novella that may or may not include a satisfactory ending for some readers. The reader is often left to ponder what might happen in the future. One with a real twist is "Smash and Grab". By the time I got to "Landfall", I was so invested in the characters that I was truly concerned on their behalf.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Short stories are not something I tend to choose to read; however, I am almost always won over and that was the case here.

The writing is beautiful and the description of areas around Mobile evocative. I actually prefer untidy endings. They stay with you longer.

Title: Eveningland
Author: MIchael Knight
Genre: Short Stories
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
No. of Pages: 304
Copyright: March 7, 2017
ISBN-10: 0802125972
ISBN-13:978-0802125972

Disclaimer: An advanced reading copy (ARC) of this book was provided to me by Atlantic Monthly Press and Net Galley for an honest review.

Michael Knight is the author of the novels The Typist and Divining Rod, the short story collections Goodnight, Nobody and Dogfight and Other Stories, and the book of novellas The Holiday Season. Knight teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee and lives in Knoxville with his family. Learn more at MichaelKnightFiction.com. (from Amazon)

Thanks for the ARC! I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on March 7, 2017

Eveningland is an excellent collection of related stories, loosely linked by location (Mobile County, Alabama) and time frame. They are also linked by Michael Knight’s gentle humor, his keen power of observation, and his ability to encapsulate lives over the course of just a few pages. And nearly every story has a dog, cementing my belief that dogs always makes a story better.

“Water and Oil” tells the story of a teenage boy who spends his summer on his boat as a volunteer, looking for the remains of an oil spill. The boy takes an interest in an older teenage girl who treats him with the unthinking callousness that is common to attractive young females who reject younger boys. The story draws a nice parallel between life’s disappointments and oil spills, which eventually dissipate and leave the impression that all has returned to normal, when only time will reveal the hidden changes they cause.

“Smash and Grab” is an amusing story about a teenage girl who overpowers a burglar and spends the evening telling him about her teenage woes.

“Our Lady of the Roses” is about an art teacher at a Catholic school who has a crisis after she is told that her art lessons should have a more religious theme. The young woman may need a miracle to pull together the threads of her disordered life.

“Jubilee” is the snapshot of a marriage that has endured without fuss or drama. It’s kind of sweet to imagine that such marriages exist, even if the spouses are settled in their ways and don’t really listen to each other.

In “Grand Old Party,” a man with a shotgun confronts his cheating wife and her lover. The story has an absurdist appeal. Does love make people crazy, or is it crazy to fall in love?

“The King of Dauphin Island” tells of a wealthy man who buys every property on an island that is eroding away to nothingness. The man’s wife has died and the island might be a symbol of how he sees the rest of his life. But the daughters he loves think he’s gone off the deep end, and the man must decide how to remake himself. This is a touching story of grief and dignity and the importance of allowing the people we love to be themselves. The ending is beautifully ironic. This story is a gem.

“Landfall” is another story of a family in crisis as disasters come in bunches. A hurricane that receives a mention in “The King of Dauphin Island” takes center stage in “Landfall.” The story follows siblings who need to deal with the hurricane as well as their mother’s fall and her resulting brain injury. Flashbacks put the family in perspective, while sharp characterization is the story’s strength. The story captures: “The impossibility of living up to the past. The burden of trying. A last chance to measure up.”

RECOMMENDED

In this book, Michael Knight brings us a collection of short stories to give us the flavor of the people and the location of Mobile Alabama. Short summaries of the stories are as follows.

• An elderly man tells us the story "Water and Oil," as he observes his young neighbor suffer through his first crush.
• The story "Smash and Grab" is about a home break-in that goes terribly wrong, with a twist ending.
• An art teacher in a strict Catholic school is at the center of "Our Lady of the Roses," where she looks at her world, and wonders how, or if, she can find relief from that which is suffocating her.
• A 50th birthday for the member of what seems to be the perfect Mobile family is the backdrop of the story "Jubilee."
• In the story "Grand Old Party," a man realizes his wife is having an affair, and he decides to take his shotgun and confront her at her lover's home (told in second person).
• The still grieving and (very) wealthy widower in the story "The King of Dauphin Island" suddenly gets the idea into his head that he can buy Dauphin Island and everything there, until his daughters get wind of the project. The last line of this story connects nicely to…
• "Landfall," which is a story (with a large number of characters) of mostly one family that delves into the events surrounding the approach of a disastrous hurricane.

One thing you might notice about these stories how Knight ends them - or doesn't, for that matter. Don't worry; there won't be any spoilers in this review. However, you should know that not all of Knight's stories include concrete conclusions. To be fair, sometimes that's a positive thing, particularly if the point of the story is to give the reader an outline of a character (or group of characters) life, rather than a conflict they need to overcome. It can give you a feeling that you're witnessing a vignette, which can be very effective. For example, in the story "Jubilee," all of the action takes place prior to the birthday party, focusing on this couple - their relationship with each other and their own places in their world. Just when we're expecting something to happen that would upset this careful balance, Knight ends the story. I found that this worked better when Knight kept his major cast to only 2-3 characters. In those stories, I was easily able to focus my imagination on how things might play out after the conclusion of the text. Knight didn't stick with this format in his story "Landfall," but I have to admit that this made me feel that the many characters twirling around one another was used to parallel the hurricane he placed at the center of the story. However, I also felt that that this left far too many loose ends, which was unnerving for me; but perhaps that was Knight's point.

Another thing that you'll find in this book is Knight's tenderly mellow style of writing that is expressive without being fancy. Knight instills into these stories the type of ambiance that makes you realize just how much he must love Mobile, and how close his personal relationship is with this city. However, it also occurred to me that Knight never allowed these beloved locations to overshadow his characters and their personalities. In fact, with few exceptions, these stories could easily have taken place in any major seaside city (with appropriate changes in specific city-related details, of course).

Of course, I may be wrong about this, since I've never visited Alabama, but I'm not convinced that the universality of these stories was always a good thing. What I mean by that is, when I read fiction I need the author to transport me to those places where I've never been. Unfortunately, Knight didn't succeed in doing that for me with some of these tales. Even so, I still appreciated how sharp of these stories were, and how Knight made his characters so appealing. I also have to say that Knight's using the second person voice in the story "Grand Old Party" was particularly impressive. This is a risky mechanic to employ, because it is so unconventional. Thankfully, Knight pulled this off with perfection, which deserves admiration. In short, although I found a few small things that didn't work for me, Knight really shows he has a mastery of this form, and I can recommend this collection with a strong four stars out of five.

Eveningland is a collection of seven loosely-connected short stories set in Alabama. Each story is unique, but they all share a certain relaxed and melancholy tone. These characters are experiencing the Big Stuff like marriage, love, death, and grief, but their “real” stories are communicated through the sweet and simple little nothings of their daily lives. This is a book of detailed moments that hint at the bigger picture without ever totally revealing it. Every story left me wondering, curious, wanting more.

I had two clear favorites, though. In Jubilee, middle-aged couple Kendra and Dean are comfortable with each other but also disconnected. The story follows them through their tried-and-true married-life routine in the weeks leading up to Dean’s big birthday celebration. I still can’t tell if this one is supposed to be happy or sad…

In Grand Old Party, a man (with his shotgun) follows his wife to her lover’s home intending to blow said lover to bits, but an unexpected Chinese food delivery throws off his game. And then things get weird.

Both stories surprised me by not going anywhere I expected them to. And even then, author Michael Knight still manages to leave just the right amount of ambiguity; the stories offer some closure, but they also leave a lot of room to imagine where it all leads and what it all means. I liked that.

I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting and quick to read. It made me think, and I connected with the characters. But it also wasn’t ever overwhelming with the feelz. This was a great “between books” book–a nice palate cleanser.

This is first time I am reading anything by Michael Knight. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
All the seven stories are set in Alabama.
So deftly written, creates along lasting impact in the reader's mind. Written in slow pace of manner as if lulling into a stupor and taking us there where we can see the fictional characters with our mind's eye.
Each story is amazing. However my favorite is Smash and Grab.
I am glad that I got a chance to read this book.

Eveningland is a beautiful collection of six short stories and one novella that all focus on people who share a certain state of comfort and privilege as well as the state of Alabama in common. The central characters range from seniors to teenagers, but they are all from the right neighborhoods and the right suburbs of Mobile, Alabama. Not that they are the idle rich, the first story features a young man volunteering with the EPA to watch for oil seeping into the river from Deepwater Horizon’s spill and later working for his father’s marina. The last story features a man who inherits his father’s shipyard taking an unfinished but seaworthy boat out to try to avoid Hurricane Raphael.

The first story, Water and Oil, sneaks up on you, quietly charming you. It’s a story told by an old man living on a houseboat watching a high school senior coming of age, finding his first love–the inappropriate and already committed Dana Pint. In the background there is the high drama of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill slowly invading their home waters and destroying, at least for this season, their livelihood. In the forefront, the story is small, young love, mostly unrequited and the bittersweet memories it will leave forever. The contrast is powerful and the languages is quiet and simple which is where it gets its power.

There are a few stories that focus on violence. Smash and Grab is somewhat comic, a burglar taken out by a teenage girl and a toil tank cover. Her matter-of-fact violence and competency hide deeper emotions, her conflict less with the thief than with her father. Grand Old Party is the story of a couple who love each other, but have forgotten to remind each other of that fact. She’s cheating, he’s going to do something about that, something with a gun. It seems he should have thought this out a bit more, first. Our Lady of the Roses tells the story of a elementary school art teacher at a Catholic school and the nun who seems to disapprove of her quite a bit, but really, it’s a story of a woman accommodating, settling, and perhaps, we don’t know for sure, but perhaps, escaping. In The King of Dauphin Island, a recent widower, the sixth richest man in Alabama, pursues a dream until his daughters decide he must be a few bubbles off plumb. Love and grief combine to give no right answer.

The final story is Landfall. There is high drama thanks to Hurricane Raphael heading right their way. Muriel is filling the tubs with water in anticipation of the power being lost and drinking water possibly contaminated by flooding. She slips, hits her head, and drifts in and out of consciousness, imagining her husband Angus still living, her children still young enough to all crawl in with her when they are scared in the night. Meanwhile, her oldest son Angus (Jr) is risking his own life in the midst of the hurricane, trying to save a big ship they are building. Her daughter, Doodle, is sitting anxiously in the hallway while the doctors struggle to save Muriel’s life from the severe concussion and her youngest son, Percy, risks drowning trying to get to the hospital from the distant hunting cabin her husband built years ago. And that’s not to mention her grandchildren. There is so much love in this story, love and exasperation, which go together like eggs and bacon. I love the completeness of the story, down to the dog sniffing in the wind to find his way home.

I picture Michael Knight writing Eveningland several years back, and then spending the next two or three years cutting out half the words. The language is that spare and that elegant. There is such simplicity. Even in the midst of real peril, there is nothing melodramatic. Downright silly things happen, a man with a gun contemplating blowing his brains out during a hurricane, interrupted by a guy covered in mud. But Knight does not have him threaten the man – not even though in that same story, the young man’s father is shaken to his core by nearly killing a neighbor boy who wandered into his house. Knight saw no need to make a direct parallel, his route is simpler, more likely, and feel more true. Again and again, Knight choose anti-drama, the more real choice, the bolder choice. I really loved Eveningland and recommend it to all short story lovers.

Eveningland will be released March 7th. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. I was intrigued by the setting since I was born and raised in Mobile, AL. I moved to Atlanta in 2005 and honestly never looked back. That does not mean I am not cursed with occasional bouts of homesickness for the Port City. Usually, glancing at Facebook political posts is the remedy but the pangs really hit during Mardi Gras season. Nothing makes me long for the city of my birth like cheap plastic beads, moon pies, and serpentine. Luckily, I came across the book Eveningland by Michael Knight. Eveningland is made up of 7 short stories that take place in and around The Azalea City. Knight takes you to Dog River where a young boy finds disappointment in love, to Fairhope for a 50th birthday party, Dauphin Island where a grief-stricken millionaire works to buy up the entire island, and of course, Mobile, where a wealthy art teacher in a Catholic school ponders matters of faith.

This collection of stories put me right back in the middle of the heat and humidity. I could almost see the Spanish Moss hanging from the oak trees over the water. I really enjoyed reading stories set in Alabama that do not include the typical southern stereotypes. These stories reminded me of the Mobile that I grew up in, Catholic schools and all.

Eveningland is a small collection of seven short stories set in contemporary Alabama, a place I've never been. I like fiction that gives me a sense of place, especially when it conveys ordinariness or realness rather than playing on stereotypes or the grandiose. And that's what reading Eveningland felt like, although it is clearly a peek into a substrata of contemporary Alabama. The protagonists tend to be white, middle class and middle aged. Despite this similarity between the characters, each story is distinct. With a couple of notable exceptions, these are not stories of high drama or big emotions, but they feel potent and charged in a way that had me hooked. A couple of stories stand out. Smash and Grab focuses on the dynamic between a burglar and a young woman in one of the houses he breaks into -- it makes for a very clever and tight psychological dance. Another favourite is Landfall which is the last and longest story, focusing on the members of a family as a hurricane sweeps into the area. With few words, Knight gets right into his characters' perspectives, skilfully conveying complex emotional dynamics. This book adds to my new found enjoyment of short stories. I'd be happy to read more books by Knight who I gather has been writing short stories for many years. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Each of these short stories (7 in all) is achingly bland & ultimately forgettable. Taking Mobile, Alabama as their setting feels like the only uniqueness but even that fails to rise even to the level of local color.

A good collection

Story #1 Water and Oil
This is the first story in the book, it begins and is told like an old country song. About a boy and his first love, and his first heart break. His transition into becoming a man, and the inevitability of his future loves and losses.
It was written in a descriptive prose, this was consistent throughout the story. We learn about the boy, through an older man who serves as a narrator for the tale:

'The boy’s name was Henry Rufus Bragg and though he was seventeen years old and would most likely have been offended by my description, there was still enough boy about him that the word remains appropriate. He was handsome but in an unfinished way..... A late bloomer, his mother called him, the last of the model airplane builders, a tender boy, a quiet boy, an odd and earnest boy who, like the keeper of some lost art, memorized old knockknock jokes and repeated them in his head when he was bored.'

I was drawn to the sophisticated style of description. I loved it.

Story #2 Smash and Grab
n this short story we encounter a burglary gone wrong. We learn that Cashdollar is an expert thief, he is quick on his feet and has never had a run in with the law. That is until he is caught by a teenage girl, she knocks him out, and he wakes to find himself taped to a chair, bruised. He learns that she is the daughter of the owner if the house, and she calls the police on Cashdollar. By a weird and surprising turn of events she manipulates the situation for her own benefit.

This story wasn't as descriptive, but it was definitely unpredictable.

Story #3 Our lady of the Roses
A chapter in the life of Hadley, an art teacher at a Catholic school. In some ways, she is lost and confused as ber students. She doesn't necessarily have a plan, and she doesn't so much agree with how religion restricts her curriculum. She's carving her own path in the world, and learns something from a fellow Sister.

Story #4 Jubilee
Kendra and Dean, a middle-aged couple living life, Dean's birthday is fast approaching and Kendra takes care to organise a party for him. Their son will be coming with a date, oh how the years have passed them by. On the night of the party, Dean experiences huge anxiety, everything seems unfamiliar, and everyone seems to be speaking in an unrecognizable language. But they must let the party run its course, see it through to its end.

I liked this story, it really was like a family sharing a small but very important time with a special guest- the reader. It didn't feel like intrusion but, a warm invitation and welcome.

Story #5 A grand old party
A man thinking about shooting his unfaithful wife, or perhaps the man she is with. He gets inside the guy's house, and it goes from there...

Story #6 King of Dauphin island
The story of a man grieving the passing of his wife, while working out the best way to help himself and his daughters find their way, so he heads off to find his way. He sells the house and proceeds to create a new life.

Story #7 Landfall
This story is probably the most complicated to explain, in this book.

There's a family: mother, father, and three kids. Two of the kids have their own kids, Doodle has two girls, and Angus has one boy. Percy is the third child, unmarried and single. The father has passed away, the mother lives alone. She's always crafting chores and tasks to occupy her time, still she mourns her husband's passing.

With a hurricane fast approaching, they all have to get to safety. Relatively easy, except Doodle quickly discovers her mom has suffered a fall in her bathroom which is flooding under a pool of water. She has injured her head severely, and her memory has become impaired. Doodle is alone in figuring out what needs to be done. We then see all the characters try to make the best of such a horrid situation, and deal with it in spite of the unfortunate timing.

With each of these stories, my attention was captured instantly, and looking back on the stories, now, I can say it was also in a cleverly subtle way.

I received this book through NetGalley.

**Review will be published to blog on 05 Mar 2017 at 10:00AM EST**

I chose this book because:

You know that I'm interested in the little things in life, the ordinary life and its complexity. It seems a juxtaposition, but I don’t doubt it for one second. I can’t wait to burn through this collection of stories. Seven stories for the price of one book! Please tell me more about this badass teenage girl; oh gosh I can imagine the stress and things that might come up between a couple hosting a party; the real estate mogul is curious and I wonder if he really is mad or if it’s a scheme.

Upon reading it:

My favourite stories from this collection were “Smash and Grab” and “Water and Oil.” “Smash and Grab” is the story about “a teenaged girl with a taste for violence [who] holds a burglar hostage in her house on New Year’s Eve,” and “Water and Oil” is a story about a teenaged boy who is working at his father’s marina, worries about the leak at an offshore oil rig polluting the marina, and falls in love with one of girls working there (at the marina, not the oil rig; it’s not a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing haha).

The stories are subtle, and conflict is not always at the forefront. They’re ordinary, if you will. I’ve always thought that I was the kind of person who enjoyed the charm of a small town—Stars Hollow, Maycomb, etc.—but maybe I’m not such a small town girl. I found that I personally am drawn to stories that have a little more action going on, which is probably why “Smash and Grab” was one of my favourites, but nonetheless, this was a solid collection.

Knight has a way with words. For some reason, particular instances of personification really stood out to me and made me go, I want to write like that: “nights desperate with stars,” “a memorable tip,” “shifting sands were conspiring to fill in the harbor.”

4.5 Stars rounded up

The seven stories in Eveningland are set in Alabama. Michael Knight clearly knows the ins and outs of his state, the way it draws people in. In the same way his stories draw the reader in. There is a loose connection, links, between the stories, reflections of lives lived along the Gulf Coast, told with the unmistakable essence of those who actually do live there.

Water and Oil – 5 Stars

A lovely and moving coming-of-age story about a young man, still a boy to his father - his concerns about pollution, and love.

An estuary acts as a natural filter. Pollutants are washed downstream on currents or inland on the tide and absorbed by marsh plants, canebrake and cattails sopping up impurities through their roots, leaving the water cleansed. On the surface, eventually, the world returns to normal. Only time reveals how it has been changed. So it was with Henry Bragg.

Smash and Grab – 4 Stars

A break-in, a thief, and an unexpected twist.

At the last house on the left, the one with no security system sign staked on the lawn, no dog in the backyard, Cashdollar elbowed out a pane of glass in the kitchen door and reached through to unlock it from the inside. Though he was ninetynine percent certain that the house was empty – he’d watched the owners leave himself – he paused a moment just across the threshold, listened carefully, heard nothing.

Our Lady of The Roses – 4.5 Stars

A young art teacher, working in a Catholic school, comes to terms with her boyfriend, her life, and what faith means to her.

Later, drinking Shiraz and watching TV at her boyfriend’s house, Hadley said, “If creativity comes from God then isn’t all art religious?


Jubilee – 4.5 Stars

A married couple reflectively prepares to host a party, a gala event celebrating the hesitant-to-celebrate husband’s 50th birthday.

His rush of nerves is passing. He just needs a drink, that’s all. On their wedding day, Dean convinced a bridesmaid to slip Kendra a note. It’s not too later. We can still elope. Kendra held onto it for years. She kept it in a box with tarnished hinges, along with other personal souvenirs—a matchbook, a mateless earring, a ticket stub.


Grand Old Party – 4 Stars

A man who is convinced that his wife has been unfaithful.

Use the barrel to ring the doorbell. This is what a man does when he’s been made a fool.


The King of Dauphin Island – 5 Stars

Marcus Weems, the sixth richest man in the state of Alabama, having lost his wife to cancer, now sets his sights on buying up all the property on Dauphin Island. His daughters seek to have him declared incompetent.

Like the long gone captains of the Confederacy, he stood watch at the edge of Dauphin Island, his old life just out of sight across the water. What he felt in those moments, pelicans skimming the chop, tankers lugging cargo to ports unknown, was not loneliness or loss, as you might expect, nor the weight of tragedy but its opposite, pure lightness, the hole left inside him by Suzette’s death as big and hollow as a zeppelin and just as buoyant, as if the shape of her absence might lift him up and carrying him away.


Landfill – 5 Stars

As a major hurricane hovers near, family members prepare for the eventual landfall. As they face their individual crises, memories emerge.

“Hello, Little Girl,” he said, and she said, “Hey, Big Man,” because that’s what they called each other, just the two of them.

He asked what she was doing and she told him and he took off his Panama hat and reached up into the tree and scooped the butterfly down to her. She liked that her grandfather was the last man in the world who wore a hat to work.

“I’ll bring it right back,” she said, already dashing for the house, holding the hat against her chest to keep the butterfly from escaping. “Let me put him in a jar.”


Pub Date: 7 Mar 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Grove Atlantic / Atlantic Monthly Press