A haunting symphony of desire, memory and loss from an American master of fiction
Last Night: Stories
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
'10 mini masterpieces...writing that is bowstring-taut and carries considerable punch.' -- Sunday Times
'Salter is one of the masters of American prose...impeccable mix
of insight and humanity...luxurious, precise, airborne prose.' -- Metro
'Salter is one of the masters of American prose...impeccable mix
of insight and humanity...luxurious, precise, airborne prose.' -- Metro
Book Description
In ten exquisite stories, Salter portrays men and women in their most intimate moments. The title piece, in which a translator assists agonizingly in his wife’s suicide even as he performs a last betrayal, has already been hailed 'a masterpiece, clearly and without question'. ‘He has written three books that everyone should read before they die . . . Last Night is a deeply gratifying reminder of what reading is for’ Independent ‘Breathtaking . . . Salter’s stories are masterpieces of poise and clarity . . . Hugely enjoyable and endlessly stimulating’ Metro , 5-star review ‘There is a steady hum of eroticism beneath his narrative and in the voluptuous restraint of his style. What else can I say? I highly recommend it’ Daily Telegraph 'James Salter is a master of the great American short story . . . Extraordinarily subtle, precise and elegant' The Times
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By MC Thomas
Format:Paperback
James Salter is a quietly legendary figure in American literature, almost an insider secret for those whose stock in trade is the use of words. One has the impression that he is read and admired almost exclusively by other writers. This, his latest book, sees him returning to the form of short stories, his first collection published since the PEN/ Faulkner award winning Dusk and other stories in 1989. Salter has long been regarded a master of sparse, measured and bewilderingly beautiful prose. He can, as was once said, break your heart with a sentence. In interviews, Salter has spoken about the exactitude with which he writes - playing sentences over and over, measuring them against a rigorous internal standard. Yet it is always prose full of immediacy, the time spent choosing fitting words repays the effort not with a weightiness but instead with a clear lightness of touch.
Salter is not the most prolific of writers - having written for short of a half century he has produced only five novels, a collection of short stories and his autobiography (there have also been film scripts). The publication of a new work is something to be greeted with excitement, albeit a rather quiet excitement. It is a shame, then, that Last Night should disappoint.
The stories in Last Night feature characters that are almost exclusively upper middle class, white, East coast Americans. Salter is trying to tell us something about them, and about himself as a part of them. They are intelligent, well schooled, always cultured and knowing. Lives are polite, correct, appearances are important. The marriages portrayed are long standing but never happy - they are artefacts of convention, the romance in them long suffocated.... Read more ›
Salter is not the most prolific of writers - having written for short of a half century he has produced only five novels, a collection of short stories and his autobiography (there have also been film scripts). The publication of a new work is something to be greeted with excitement, albeit a rather quiet excitement. It is a shame, then, that Last Night should disappoint.
The stories in Last Night feature characters that are almost exclusively upper middle class, white, East coast Americans. Salter is trying to tell us something about them, and about himself as a part of them. They are intelligent, well schooled, always cultured and knowing. Lives are polite, correct, appearances are important. The marriages portrayed are long standing but never happy - they are artefacts of convention, the romance in them long suffocated.... Read more ›
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found these short stories pretty much uniformly compelling. Salter's characters are driven by force of circumstance - approaching death, the visit of a former lover offering a second chance, and so on - to reflect on the meanings of their lives - and generally in these stories the roles that love has played in those lives - as a compelling force for good or ill - often a compelling force over just a short period in a long life.
This collection was, for me, much more consistent than Dusk, a further collection of Salter short stories which has some stories just as powerful as these, but where I found the collection more variable.
This collection was, for me, much more consistent than Dusk, a further collection of Salter short stories which has some stories just as powerful as these, but where I found the collection more variable.
Format:Paperback
A superbly original collection. I marvel at Salter's literary imagination and his economical, but lyrical prose. He is extremely sophisticated, nuanced and refined and his writing requires slow and careful reading. This collection is more accessible than his earlier collection entitled "Dusk" and also more satisfying. The title story is quite devastating.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Bob Ventos
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
These stories - mostly of infidelity with unusual twists - have wide-ranging, semi-glamorous settings: the military, LA TV people, Wall Street dealers, literary types, New York high-lifers... People in this comfortable world say, 'He was a poet, of course', and go off 'with a man named Rodriguez who owned some beauty parlours'; in particular, middle-aged men are liable to risk it all for sights like 'the faint trace of bones like pearls that ran down her smooth back'. Smooth female beauty ('Ardis possessed extraordinary skin, luminous and smooth, a skin so pure that to touch it would make one tremble') is everywhere, alongside mild irony ('it had been a while since Adele had married'), judicious similes ('She was a kind of cheap goddess') and poised, weighted and classy paragraphs and dialogue (too long to quote, but just open the book anywhere)... If a good short-story, for me, is easy to get into, makes you inhabit the characters' worlds quickly, surprises you, and ends just at the right time and in the right way, then these fit the template beautifully. Something really subtle and hard-worked is going on, making them so fine that I'll even forgive them their patrician tastefulness. I'd definitely read more by this writer. Any recommendations?
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By pencil
Format:Paperback
Perfect tales in perfect prose; like drops of molten metal, flashing and burning. 'My Lord You': a story that will stay with me forever. Please buy this collection.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 34 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
