Authentic Accounts As Articulated By Americans (True Tales of American Life - Paul Auster)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	True Tales of American Life - Paul Auster
Date:	22/06/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Each story different, most interesting and easy to read

Disadvantages: The odd 'how did this get published?' here and there

I like structured dancing lessons: learning a routine, building on it each week, adding a bit here, tweaking a bit there. I like development and understanding, neither of which you can get from a single one-off class. It's the same with books. I like chapters, characters, plots and storylines, which is why I usually favour full-length novels over short stories. Therefore, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. Would I like it? Would I even be able to tolerate the style, seeing as the 180 stories were penned by everyday Americans, not published authors? Was the reason it was on sale as an English language book in Germany because no one in the English language world actually wanted to read it? There was only one way to find out, and so I found myself coming home from a shopping trip, this book firmly stowed in my bag. A wasted or well-invested 11 Euros (import price)? Only time would tell.

Paul Auster is the author of several novels and screenplays as well as various works of non-fiction. This book, however, was not written by him. He's merely the editor, and one of the people who came up with the idea: to have people write in to his radio show with their true stories - funny, silly, happy, sad or just plain odd - for him to read and discuss. The idea was so successful that it was decided that a book should be produced so the many, many stories not making it on-air could still be told.

Split into 10 broad categories (animals, objects, families, slapstick, strangers, war, love, death, dreams and meditations) the stories come from all over the United States, from young and old, male and female. The only thing the contributors have in common is that they've a story to tell. Funny stories, heart-wrenching stories, sad stories, happy stories. Stories, in many cases, full of "you couldn't make it up" coincidence. Because life's like that.

If you've ever had a peek at the series, you'll know that in the 'Chicken Soup For The Soul' books you can skip to the back pages and read up on the authors, find out their jobs, their dreams, random details about their families, how to contact them and so on. Not so in this book - each story ends with the contributor's name or initials and a rough location - San Diego, California is the most specific you'll get. This book, it would seem, is more about the stories than the storytellers.

Each story involves the author, or a close friend of relative, but again, this is where the similarities end. They vary in length between half a page and 3 or 4 sides, and in style, some formal, some less so, as if you've chatting with a friend. One thing that struck me, though, was how well-written the majority were. None made you embarrassed for the author (as some appallingly written opinions on this and other sites can) and even the stories that rambled on for a while did so in a way that held your attention. As a review in the Independent said, "This is writing at its very finest - done by a bunch of amateurs." Or as Auster himself once said, "Stories happen to people who can tell them." I like that a lot. It's like a less cheesy version of the oft quoted "Life doesn't give you things you can't handle".

I would say I liked around 85% of the stories in the book. Some were boring, and a few seemed factually inaccurate but, on the whole, most were enjoyable to read. It's helped me change my mind about short stories, and I would recommend it to those after a different read. It's a versatile book too because, since each story is so different, you can read lots in one go without feeling overwhelmed (or queasy as you can get after too much Chicken Soup) but equally, you can read one now, another later, and not need to remember what's happened in the meantime. It's also the sort of book you can re-read several times, because by the end you'd be hard pressed to remember most of the stories from the earlier pages.


** Factfile **

True Tales Of American Life
Edited by Paul Auster
ISBN: 0 571 21463 0
RRP 6.99 GBP, available discounted on Amazon, or from 1p used.

Summary: Stories happen to people who can tell them...