A review by gabesteller
The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek

4.0

Read this at Paddy’s recommendation in college and reread cuz i now live in the Chicago Neighborhood where most of the stories take place! Mix of memoir-y short stories and flash fiction the former I think works overall better than the latter. In particular dybek is sooo good at building a whole story around arresting, strange, or amusing images, and exploring irrational responses to pain. while pretty different in some ways, this aspect of his style reminds me a lot of the mixing up of memory, fiction, and truth in Tim O Briens work,. They both refract the experience of memory through fiction so well, I’m just really into it.