The Mighty Currawongs

by Brian Doyle

Overview

A collection of headlong tales by Oregon author Brian Doyle—exploring such riveting and peculiar topics as chess in the Levant, tailors who specialize in holes, how to report stigmata to your attending physician, the intense hilarity of basketball, how to have a bitter verbal marital fight in your car, an all-Chinese football team in Australia, soccer and Catholicism, what it's like to be in a ska band, a singing Korean baker, an archbishop who loses his faith between the salad and the entree, genius Girl Scouts who save a radio station, and a baby born from a lake in Illinois. And some other fascinating stories. Really. Trust us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597090520
Publisher:	Red Hen Press
Publication date:	09/26/2016
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland, in Oregon. He is the author of many books of essays, “proems,” and fiction, among them Bin Laden’s Bald Spot (Red Hen Press, 2011). Among honors for his work are the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“With headlong good humor, Brian Doyle—one of America's finest novelists and catchers of brief true stories—now sings short stories in which a cast of oddball searchers and appealing lost souls challenges tradition and skewers pomposity at every turn, from the concrete courts of pick-up basketball to within the Catholic Church that Doyle so clearly loves. And that's only what the book is about . . . Its overarching appeal rises from the richly imagined and beautifully scaped trail of words. Brian Doyle here is a big-hearted, sharp-eyed, penetrating storyteller at the very top of his game.”

—Robin Cody, winner of the Oregon Book Award for Voyage of a Summer Sun

Editorial Reviews

Delightful. . . . A nimble and very funny collection of stories from a writer who clearly values the human condition in all its myriad forms.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“VERDICT Solid and enjoyable reading for those who want well-crafted stories about everyday life.”

—Library Journal

“The Mighty Currawongs . . . roams broadly in subject matter, but always offers joyful, whimsical wordplay and an abiding love for life’s absurd and profound moments[Doyle’s] gift for finding the sublime in even the small and dirty details is alive and gleaming in this short story collection.”

—Shelf Awareness (starred review)

From the Publisher

2016-06-30
A collection of 31 delightful short stories from Doyle (Chicago, 2016, etc.), a prolific writer and editor of Portland Magazine.It’s obvious that the writer loves this medium, and it’s remarkable how much stylistic alchemy and diversity he’s able to invest in a rather slim book. It opens with “A Surf Story,” a terrific little slice-of-life tale about a wealthy retiree who adopts a troubled kid in Hawaii, detailed in the most unromantic prose ever. “This Is the Part Where You Say Something Real” is about an argument between a long-married couple, no more, no less. A number of the stories address matters of faith, as happens with “The Archbishop Loses His Faith,” “The Lutheran Minister’s Daughter,” and “The New Bishop.” The stories are often compassionate toward their subjects, but Doyle also has a sweet sense of humor that can be disarming. In “Dear Mum,” the author achieves a laugh-out-loud moment in the opening sentences: “Good news: all charges were dropped. Bad news: we have to return both police cars.” Others are subtler but still funny, as with the opener, “It began, as many brilliant and complex things begin, in a pub,” from “A Note on Countification.” Doyle offers a pair of brilliant bookends in the companion stories about a young chess player named Elson Habib. Another duet happens in the pages of “The Detours” and “The Lucid Moments,” two stories about being in a band that capture the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of being young and cool. Stories about a tailor who specializes in holes, the title story about an all-Chinese Australian Rules football club in Box Hill, and a pair of very funny Christmas-themed stories round out the collection. A nimble and very funny collection of stories from a writer who clearly values the human condition in all its myriad forms.

Kirkus Reviews