Reviews

Going For a Beer: Selected Short Fictions by Robert Coover

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

2.0

I thought the first story about a relative to Noah during the time of the Flood was phenomenal. Thereafter a lot of the stories were based around fairy tales and children’s stories; however, they were frequently so esoteric as to be uninteresting.

briandice's review against another edition

5.0

He finds himself sitting in the neighborhood library reading a Coover novel at about the same time that he began to think about going there to look for one. In fact, he has just finished The Public Burning. Perhaps he’ll read a second one, he thinks, a Coover light, as he finishes Briar Rose. There is a young woman sitting not far from him who is not exactly good-looking but good-looking enough, and probably good with the Dewey Decimal system, as indeed she is. Did he finish Spanking the Maid? Can’t remember. What really matters is: Did he enjoy Ghost Town? Or even read it? “I’m looking for a Coover-light,” he tells the comely woman who is also quite homely. “You’ve come to the right place,” she says as she pulls the beer tap handle and fills his glass. “One Silver Bullet, on the house.” He finds himself trying to explain the error when the werewolf to his left points to the glass. “What exactly did you have in mind with that?” He tries to explain. “I’m here for a Coover-light.” The werewolf hands him Gerald’s Party which he has read. “Lighter,” he says. “Why didn’t you say so?” asks the werewolf. His meaty, hairy hands paw through a New Yorker to this page. “Going for a beer is what you’re looking for.” He reads it, has read it. “Would you like another?” asks the werewolf. “No thanks, this one’s gone to my head,” he says as he drives past the neighborhood library and thinks about stopping in, for old time’s sake, to discuss again The Origin of the Brunists with the lovely librarian who is also quite hirsute. So he finishes Noir right as the library is shutting down and he is in his car looking at the full moon through the windshield and he howls out the words to Pinocchio in Venice just as the beautifully monstrous librarian taps on his window and says, “I finally found your Coover-light.” He rolls down the window and she hands him The Colonel’s Daughter. “All this Coover really works up a thirst,” he says. “You’ve come to the right place,” she says as she pulls the beer tap handle and fills his glass.

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

astroneatly's review

challenging dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jjames007's review against another edition

A drunken, fast-forward reminiscence of life...

mimistromauthor's review against another edition

1.0

I couldn't get through this short story collection by Robert Coover. I read 6 of the 30 short stories and found them all to be disgusting, offensive, and confusing.

There was no solid timeline in any of these stories and (as a woman) I found myself insulted. I feel the female characters were only added in to show off their bodies. (Granted, the stories I read were written in the 1960s, but that doesn't give the author the right to treat his woman characters like objects) I am never going to pick up another book by this author again.

kesterbird's review

5.0

I listened to this, rather than reading it. It's almost hard to hear. While much of Coover's writing is dreamlike and distant, this one is hard and close and sharply edged. It still has that element of being not quite real, but in this one that lack of reality is used much like linear perspective might be in an architectural drawing- the fantasy makes it more true, not less.

mercourier's review

I found many of the stories frustrating (due to all the time shifting and various points of view) which I know is the point of his writing. Also ALL of them somehow centered on the male genitalia and it felt like being sexually harassed as I was reading. 

poultrymunitions's review

4.0

the short form at its best.

crazy ideas, fearless devices... short enough to keep from bashing your head open, and long enough to make the point. i loved it.