The beloved author of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All returns with nine short stories that capture the strange lives of a host of offbeat characters, from a journalist who interviews a legendary cyclone survivor to a cop who catches an undertaker in a nefarious act.
There aren't too many American authors for whom the publication of a new book is a bona fide literary event, but Allan Gurganus is one of them ... The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus is his first book since 2013, and it's more than worth the wait. The collection is Gurganus at his finest: funny, compassionate, and marked by the author's amazing ability to reflect the lightness — and darkness — in the souls of his fascinating characters ... This is a remarkable book, and it proves once again why Gurganus is one of the country's most talented and imaginative writers. Coming after a year where nothing went right, and the world was forced to realize that things might not work out in the end, it's a hopeful tonic.
... easily his strongest book in twenty years ... His work is funny, smutty, voice-driven, and deeply rooted in Southern traditions that it can neither condone nor wholly reject, and it distinguishes itself in part by asking simple yet fraught questions about how narratives function as forms of power ... Despite the odds and sods vibe of the title, the Uncollected Stories has heft and deftness, tonal unity and thematic range.
... wise and funny tales ... If sentiments seem easily derived in a few stories, in the best ones, mysteries...illuminate larger truths about love, loyalty and the persistence of memory. Most of Gurganus' stories are filled with hope ... One hilarious observation or action follows another.
