The Angel on the Roof

Starred review from May 29, 2000
Two-thirds of the 32 stories in this magnificent collection have appeared before, in the four volumes of short fiction Banks has published over the past 25 years; all, including nine new ones, were chosen by the author as representative of work that "did not on rereading make me cringe." Banks is a born short story writer and confesses he loves the form; in many of the entries here, the impact is all the more powerful for the intense concentration he brings to bear on the desperate lives he so often chooses to chronicle. The best of these tales, many of them set in the sad New Hampshire trailer park that was the basis for an entire collection of linked tales, tell of the anguish of parents and children moving apart, of husbands and wives and lovers facing the grim certainty that nothing in their relationships is going to change or improve. "The Burden," about a man's despairing break with his no-good son; "Quality Time," about a daughter realizing she has finally moved away from her father; "Firewood," about a couple trapped by ruined expectations; and "Queen for a Day," about a small boy's efforts to cheer up his failing mother, are almost unbearably poignant, unflinching glimpses into the dark recesses of life, illuminated by Banks's unfailing compassion and steady eye and ear. These stories, like his wintry northern landscapes, are deeply lived in. Yet Banks can be equally evocative of exotic corners of the world, as in "Djinn" and "The Fish," mysterious fables set in Africa and India. Only in such flights as "Indisposed," an imagining of William Hogarth's wife, or "With Che in New Hampshire," in which he mixes myth and actuality, does Banks seem on more tentative ground. But most of the stories strike home swiftly and surely, reminding a reader again and again of the amplitude of the form in the hands of a master.

February 15, 2000
Noted for his scintillating novels, e.g., Continental Drift, Banks here collects 30 years of short fiction and treats us to nine new stories.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2000
Banks originally wanted to be a poet but felt he lacked the Muse. Yet poetic imagery informs the novels for which he is best known as well as the short stories in this collection. Presented here are 31 short fictions; 22 have been in previous collections, and nine are recent and uncollected. All of the earlier stories have been revised, and Banks says sagely of his means of selection, "I chose to include only those that did not on rereading make me cringe with embarrassment." The collection is permeated by a wise sadness, and the brilliant use of language stands out against the hard-living, hard-drinking underclass that generally populates these stories, as it does the novels. Take the most recent, "Lobster Night," set in a roughish upstate New York roadhouse trying to upscale itself a little, where "stories" from the characters (being struck by lightning, a bear attack) set a thematic backdrop for a chain of death-related events that leads to a homicide. A lot goes on in a few pages in all the stories here; this is a master writer at his best. Very highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/00.]--Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2000
Banks, author of such memorable novels as "Rule of the Bone" (1995) and "Cloudsplitter" (1998), is not particularly well known as a short-story writer, but this omnibus collection of his stories displays a formidable talent in the shorter form. Banks creates imaginative but easily accessible plots in such stories as "Djinn," in which a businessman in Africa encounters a surrealistic world, and "The Fish," a parable about how peoples' pilgrimages to visit a fish with purported miraculous powers are seen by the local government (in an unnamed but obviously repressive country) as political opposition. Banks' stories will appeal to a variety of readers, even those not typically comfortable with short stories. His uncomplicated, direct prose style poses no threat to understanding, and even the stories with multiple meanings--the fish parable, for example--are readily accessible. ((Reviewed May 1, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)