The lyricism of Dybek's writing is amazing, as are many of the individual stories, and I loved the rhythm of the structure with the longer stories followed by micro-minis. I'd highly recommend it to poets-seeking-fiction--and especially poets looking to start writing fiction--and those with a deep connection to Chicago.

I wanted the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts, however, and it wasn't--not for me on a first read, at least. This is a book that I imagine gets better upon rereading, but there wasn't enough narrative momentum to make me want to reread the whole book. That said, I know for a fact that I will return to some of the stories as models of beautiful writing. The brevity of so many of the stories makes it a great resource for teaching creative writing. ( )

Coast of Chicago consists of fourteen stories. I read "Blight" and "Hot Ice" for the Challenge. While every short story has well rounded and thoughtful characters, it is the city of Chicago that steals the show. It is the largest personality in every story. Everyone describes Dybek's language as "gritty" and I couldn't agree more.
"Blight"
Remembering Chicago in the late 50s.

"Hot Ice"
The legend of the girl frozen in a block of ice ice. ( )

As is usual for a short story collection, some pieces-- "Farwell," "Death of a Right Fielder," etc.-- were much better than others (why did "Hot Ice" get all the notice?). A solid read. ( )

Smoky, atmospheric short and short-short stories. Pet Milk is a standout, while some of the short-shorts left me cold. Dybek has a singular voice, that isn't exactly haunting but is... well, muscular. Overwhelmingly male but not in a swaggering way. ( )

A good collection, maybe even great, but ultimately not quite as good as his more recent I Sailed with Magellan. "Pet Milk," "Hot Ice," and "Blight" are all terrific stories, especially "Pet Milk," which is so fucking achingly beautiful that I can hardly stand it. I had some trouble with the interminable "Nighthawks," a story that seemed gimmicky, something Dybek's stories rarely are. I have to confess that I don't really like stories where none of the characters have names, where they all seem to exist in pronoun land. If you're going to do a story like that, keep it to a page or two, a short short. Some people think Dybek's stuff is too sentimental. I don't know, maybe I'm just an old sap, but I love his writing. He conjures that certain part of Chicago in that certain time perfectly. He owns a part of the world, "fictionally" speaking, and it's perfectly rendered. Nostalgic, maybe, but wonderfully so. ( )