A review by briandice
Going for a Beer: Selected Short Fictions by Robert Coover

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.