Michael Knight (2) (1969–)

This book is a fantastic collection of short stories beating with the pulse of a place close to my heart, Mobile Bay. The stories don't punch like, say, Flannery O'Connor's would, but they drift dreamily into one another while telling the secrets of those living "lives of quiet desperation." A melancholy mood persists throughout almost the whole collection, maybe at times just wistfulness, but that feeling is strongly countered by adaptation and survival. I heartily recommend this book to show more ease through in the coming, creeping longer evenings of the spring and summer. show less

Michael Knight’s most recent short story collection has everything I love in short stories (and nothing that I don’t). The connection among the stories is loose: they all take place in Alabama (hence the cover), and all explore relationships. Otherwise, they are each their own self-contained beautiful story. With only seven stories in this collection, there is not a dud in the bunch. Two of my favorites: “Smash and Grab” is a startling story of a burglary gone wrong --for the thief, show more that is. And, “Water and Oil” introduces us to a young man who worries about an incoming oil spill, but whose attention is distracted by his attraction to a local waitress. The stories are of varying lengths (another plus in my book) and are full of economical but rich characterization. Highly recommended.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks! show less

The first thing I noticed when I started reading was how smooth the prose was, it immediately put me at ease and I felt that I was in the hands of a masterful author. These stories are set in Alabama, the characters are white and seem to be from the more privileged families of the area. Throughout these stories they come to some kind of understanding with themselves, these are brief glimpses into a particular time, event in their lives.

I loved the first story, Oil and Water, a snapshot of show more teenage angst, reminded me of summers by the Fox River when I was growing up.

Smash and Grab was another favorite, a robbery gone wrong with an unexpected surprise ending.

The third is actually a novella, Landfall, and a family has an expected crisis to deal with just as a hurricane is expected to make land.

Will keep this author on my watch list, he is a superb storyteller and I enjoyed these immensely.

ARC from Netgalley and Atlantic Monthly Press. show less

This story of a young GI typist in occupied Japan just after the war is written beautifully, and Knight creates characters and situations seemingly without effort. He puts historical figures (General MacArthur, MacArthur's son) on the page in such a way that I believe they may have acted this way, done these things, and makes me forget to care that they almost certainly did not. But the novel feels curiously flat, as if nothing that happens to the narrator actually means very much, though show more the things that happen appear significant and the narrator identifies them as such. (I was reminded of Peter Ho Davies's The Welsh Girl, which, though ultimately a very different sort of a book, does some of the same things and has this same curious near-brilliance while failing to be terribly compelling). In the end, I felt I surely must have missed something (in particular, it seemed that a revelation had been promised about a certain incident on a train), and I flipped back looking for the moment that would make it all gel. I didn't find it. I'm still not convinced that this isn't my fault. Guardedly recommended; recommended because the writing here and Knight as a writer generally deserve the recommendation (and because if someone else sees what I missed, this could be a wonderful read), guardedly because the book just wasn't as good as I thought it would be. show less