The Coast of Chicago: Stories

A beautiful and evocative collection of stories that brings the city of Chicago to life. The author is in love with the place of his birth and tells us stories about it that acknowledge its flaws while reveling in its unique qualities. These stories have the sadness of passed childhood and lost innocence. There is also a strange sort of urban magic to it all. One imagines that growing up in such a diverse place would strain the skepticism of any child. Whether its beautiful women frozen in blocks of ice or the haunting image of a kiss taking the L train to find its intended recipient, these words will stay with you for years to come.

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 show more 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. show less

Dybek's slightly ahead of my time and I'm from the North Side, but he still writes of a Chicago that I'm so familiar with--and a Chicago that is gone. This is a city of grit and challenge, hard times and scrabbling by. It's a childhood of rough parochial school teachers and a political system that seemed unfathomable.
There's nothing out of place in these stories and each one brings the reader back to a specific place in time when developing as a child.
It's a wonderous read, even for someone from out of town, for Dybek seizes the universal angst of growing up. I tell everyone about his work.

When I say that Dybek is a beautiful writer, it by no means does his writing justice. There are so many scenes in the book that are described with such beautiful detail that I would hang on every word he wrote. I noticed that he has a collection of poetry out there as well and while I am not a fan of poetry usually, his short story writing isn't far from it. It's magical and the city unfolds as the pages turn by. His stories of childhood and living in the city are spectacular and wonderful.

The best story in the book in my opinion was the one called Nighthawks. He talks about hanging out at either the big library downtown or the Art Institute while he is between jobs and the differences between the two. He ends up at the Nighthawks show more painting by Edward Hopper in the Art Institute and the story that follows is a story of the people within the painting. That painting is my favorite at the Art Institute and I have often wondered about the people in the painting and how they got there. Amazing. And those two little stores were just two within the short story Nighthawks.

I loved this book and have been throwing it at people to read it. show less

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 show more resource for teaching creative writing. show less

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.

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.