HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Night in Question: Stories (1996)

by Tobias Wolff

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8911223,741 (3.94)40
One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff's new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist's young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know. A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 40 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
Short story that I was able to read online for free. The main character clearly has no regard for anyone but himself. He is jaded and due to his mundane routine he cannot take anything seriously. Not sure if there is some hidden message, I took it as life being so boring that when something traumatic happens, you don't know how to deal with the curve ball thrown at you. Despite it being short, the story was a good read. ( )
  Koralis | Jul 12, 2022 |
actually just read 'Bullet in the Brain', 29 jul 2020
  lulaa | Jul 29, 2020 |
Flawed and small-minded
turned into lovely moments
more than we deserve. ( )
  Eggpants | Jun 25, 2020 |
Mr. Wolff is known for his short fiction, but this is the first collection of his I have read and it did not disappoint. This was published in 1996 but most of the stories are set in the 60s and 70s. Stories about damaged or flawed people, facing the trials of every day life. There are also a couple of stories set in Vietnam, capturing the boredom, the fear and horror of war. He is a solid writer and good story-teller. I will be seeking out more of his short fiction. ( )
  msf59 | Mar 18, 2018 |
I’ve grown weary of a certain type of fiction. Fiction that presents itself as fiction. Better said, fiction whose language strives (w/o precision) for poetry’s vague enchantments, and whose stories and details are of the kind that fruity old professors speak about in succulent terms, terms like pieces of brownly broiled chicken, these professors smacking their lips maddeningly on nothing but their ideas of something juicy. Somewhere a saucy Shakespearean actor shouts the word, “acting,” pronouncing it “ahkh-teen!” and shakes a soft fist at the audience. Anyway, et cetera. It’s unseemly, this kind of fiction. The fiction I like now is more like non-fiction. Tobias Wolffe’s fiction isn't like this; it's both real and precisely poetic. Wolffe is funny and exacting. He goes after hard detail and doesn’t repeat himself. His stories’ structures are intricate and interesting. He seemed to me to reveal in his stories the basic structure of life, as if opening the hood of an exotic sports car and slowly taking apart the engine, piece by gleaming piece. And he’s very funny, not just haha funny. And he’s wise. I’m certainly going to read him again. ( )
  evamat72 | Mar 31, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Collection of short stories
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff's new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist's young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know. A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.94)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2 7
2.5 2
3 27
3.5 11
4 75
4.5 6
5 39

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,659,292 books! | Top bar: Always visible