Dead Boys

May 14, 2007
S
et in a Southern California of smoky skies and Neil Young tunes, Lange's fine debut collection takes the so-called normal guy—husband, father, working stiff—and throws a heap of trouble at him. “Bank of America” is the completely believable tale of a regular “John Q,” a house painter who also happens to rob banks with a small-time team of hustlers while still being a good father and husband to his unsuspecting family. “Long Lost” follows a tentative young husband and reluctant proofreader as he copes with the sudden appearance of a boisterous, angry, ex-con half-brother, courtesy of his neglectful father's second wife. In “Culver City,” named after a southeast neighborhood of L.A. where “we're all between jobs or between marriages, between runs of good luck,” the narrator's desperately unhappy waitress girlfriend Shelly hopes the compromising pictures of a famous actor that she steals at a party can fetch a price to change her luck and solidify their relationship. A considered, colloquial understatement marks nearly all of the first-person protagonists over the course of these 12 stories, in a manner that's marvelously effective. Lange's characters are well-intentioned screwups, deeply flawed and utterly convincing.

June 1, 2007
In the dozen heartbreaking stories collected here, Lange homes in on a group of twentysomething slackers living in the markedly less-prosperous suburbs of L.A. These bereft young men dont seem to suffer so much from a lack of ambition as from a surfeit of emotion. Frayed nerves and broken hearts have kept them from realizing even the smallest of dreams; theyre always between jobs or between marriages, between runs of good luck. In the title story, the nameless narrator is beset by a host of worrieshe thinkshis wife is having an affair and that one of his office colleagues is about to commit suicide. Little wonder, then, that he can barely keep his mind on his jobpushing a new brand of yogurt. The yawning divide between his sterile work environment and his chaotic emotions prompts him to remark, Im full to bursting and empty at the same time. Langes slice-of-life scenarios, emotionally wrecked characters, and piercingly funny dialogue make for a powerful combination that recalls the work of Thomas McGuane and Denis Johnson.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)