Barry Yourgrau

The best stories are generally the longer ones. A lot of the shorter ones either feel too ridiculous for no reason or just aren't really that interesting. There are quite a few cool ideas though and when he stretches out his development of the ideas and relations between the characters are pretty nice. In general the mood is nice and given that the stories come pretty thick and fast you're never really left stuck on a crappy idea. There's too much that's pretty eh to give it a high score but if you enjoy surreal short fiction (very short sometimes - many of these are about a page long) you'll enjoy reading this. Pretty quick read too.… (plus d'informations)

As the subtitle says, 'One man's struggle to clean up his house and his act'. An engaging and self-deprecating sojourn through Yourgrau's struggle to reverse his incipient hoarding and discover why he can't let go of things. The book is structured as an investigation of hoarding as well as a humorous domestic tale, and is quite engaging, if not entirely helpful to the seeker of advice. As I'm on something of the same quest to divest, it held my interest. In the process, the author reconnects with family and finds out more about his father than he knew to look for. Yourgrau's persona is funny, humble - definitely someone you would like to sit down and have a beer with.

My only Yourgrau reading so far is his fabulous set of short stories [Wearing Dad's Head]. He has also written and appeared in the film of [The Sadness of Sex]. I must look that up.… (plus d'informations)

Oh my lord, what a beautiful work of art. Hilarious, grotesque and poetic. One of those gems I tripped over in a used bookstore. If the cover (not the stupid one with the headless hat), first story, and title didn't sell me immediately (they did), then the last sentence of the author's bio on the back clinched it: "His reading act, performed at all the right Manhattan art haunts and beyond, blends literary stand-up comedy and surreal oedipal drama." WTF? Amazing! Also, the quote from Roy Blount, Jr. is very apropos (I hate that word for some reason, and use it grudgingly): "Reading Barry Yourgrau is addictive, like putting peanuts in your nose and they turn into these spaceships or something." I've gotta find his other two works listed in this book, based solely on their titles: "The Sadness of Sex" and "A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane"… (plus d'informations)

Oh my lord, what a beautiful work of art. Hilarious, grotesque and poetic. One of those gems I tripped over in a used bookstore. If the cover (not the stupid one with the headless hat), first story, and title didn't sell me immediately (they did), then the last sentence of the author's bio on the back clinched it: "His reading act, performed at all the right Manhattan art haunts and beyond, blends literary stand-up comedy and surreal oedipal drama." WTF? Amazing! Also, the quote from Roy Blount, Jr. is very apropos (I hate that word for some reason, and use it grudgingly): "Reading Barry Yourgrau is addictive, like putting peanuts in your nose and they turn into these spaceships or something." I've gotta find his other two works listed in this book, based solely on their titles: "The Sadness of Sex" and "A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane"… (plus d'informations)