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massimo73's review against another edition
3.0
Love/hate. I could have easily given this five stars, or one. Three feels right.
Can't recommend. It's far too depressing for that.
Can't recommend. It's far too depressing for that.
tstuppy's review against another edition
4.0
Cool book. Some “story overlap,” where it felt like there were a few drafts of the same concept, but I enjoyed them regardless. Will definitely read some of these stories again
rocketiza's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed his writing style - it was weird though in I thought the books had been written in the 70s but was actually published in the 90s.
jayden_mccomiskie's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this. I found it to be a mix between Don Carpenter and Denis Johnson/ Leonard Gardner.
coffeecrusader's review against another edition
4.0
It's hard to adequately sum up my feelings for this one. A few stories in this collection are among my favorites (the titular story, "The Black Lights," "The White Horse"), then there are some just decent stories, as well as a few stinkers. Jones was a writer who, like a good boxer, found his winning combo and stuck to it. Temporal lobe damage, boxing, sex, Vietnam, those were his trademarks. Sometimes that stuff works better, and sometimes it feels like late additions to stories that really wouldn't be changed by their inclusion.
Still, when he's on, he's brilliant. The best stories in this collection really sing.
Still, when he's on, he's brilliant. The best stories in this collection really sing.
benwasson's review against another edition
4.5
a high-momentum collection of short stories, the best of which are about war and fighting. Jones has a sensitivity that separates him from the Hemingways and Bukowskis of the world, and I’ll be reading more of him soon
slothrop's review against another edition
5.0
Reading this at the conclusion of 2020 was not good for me. Great book, amazing writer, but not a happy read. Sucked all hope from me... in the best way?? Maybe?
wesb's review against another edition
5.0
A lot of reviews call this collection “manly” and make comparisons to Hemingway, Bukowski, et al., but these felt much more sensitive and cerebral than all those. The boxing and war stuff seems to me more like the latent content Jones himself had to work with, but his treatment of this subjects is by no means in-line with the typical Papa Hemingway posturing some reviews lead one to believe.
I think reading a bit about Thom Jones himself helped contextualize some of these stories.
I think reading a bit about Thom Jones himself helped contextualize some of these stories.
crispymerola's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty solid collection suffering from repetitive story elements. Thom gets vulnerable, his prose is absorbing and snappy, his story subjects vary but his characters always pulse with a quiet resilience.
Once-boxers, The Doors, dead fathers (usually by suicide, usually in a mental institution), harried Nam vets, copious references to Nietzsche/Schopenhauer - nearly every story in the collection contains these elements, to the point where some of the shorts felt like inferior versions of others. When Thom clusters three Vietnam stories in the opening of the collection, it's inevitable that I'm going to analyze them in relation to one another - what are they doing differently, what are they doing better?
There are some stories in here that meandered in magical, serendipitous ways (I Want to Live!, A White Horse), and others which spiralled tragically (Unchain My Heart, Mosquitoes, Wipeout). And then, the relative duds. None of Thom's writing is boring, but it's hard to feel much when he leans into his shtick and refuses to budge. All the war stories, 'As of July 6th...', even Rocket Man, to an extent - they felt unsurprising, sitting next to stories which utilized similar themes to greater effect.
Once-boxers, The Doors, dead fathers (usually by suicide, usually in a mental institution), harried Nam vets, copious references to Nietzsche/Schopenhauer - nearly every story in the collection contains these elements, to the point where some of the shorts felt like inferior versions of others. When Thom clusters three Vietnam stories in the opening of the collection, it's inevitable that I'm going to analyze them in relation to one another - what are they doing differently, what are they doing better?
There are some stories in here that meandered in magical, serendipitous ways (I Want to Live!, A White Horse), and others which spiralled tragically (Unchain My Heart, Mosquitoes, Wipeout). And then, the relative duds. None of Thom's writing is boring, but it's hard to feel much when he leans into his shtick and refuses to budge. All the war stories, 'As of July 6th...', even Rocket Man, to an extent - they felt unsurprising, sitting next to stories which utilized similar themes to greater effect.