Crow Fair: Stories - Hardcover

"McGuane's Montana retains wistful and ironic echoes of the Old West . . . with imagery as sparse and striking as the landscape . . . [These] stories highlight the detachment of young from old, husband from wife, neighbor from neighbor, the dying from life itself . . . [through] many funny, sad, and awful, awfully human moments."
--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Glum, gleeful, brilliant . . . McGuane's stories are about the wacked-out order men and women assign to things, but it's not the true order and merely contributes to a larger confusion that is not far from horror . . . Backdoor irony, you might call it, mixed with black humor."
--John Mort, "Booklist" (starred review)
"A slyly cutting batch of tales from a contemporary master . . . Seventeen stories, straightforward but well-crafted, that cement McGuane's reputation as the finest short story writer of Big Sky country . . . The conflicts throughout this book are age-old . . . but McGuane's clean writing and psychological acuity enliven them all."
--"Kirkus" (starred review)
"A compelling, emotionally charged collection."
--Lawrence Rungren, "Library Journal" (starred review)

"McGuane has both honed the edge of his already sharp tone and, paradoxically, become more sympathetic to the human condition . . . [he] gives us well-rounded women alongside the men, making for a rich and fascinating portrait of Montana -- with hungry bears and fighting trout as wonderful extras."
--Alan Cheuse, NPR
"McGuane's Montana retains wistful and ironic echoes of the Old West . . . with imagery as sparse and striking as the landscape . . . [These] stories highlight the detachment of young from old, husband from wife, neighbor from neighbor, the dying from life itself . . . [through] many funny, sad, and awful, awfully human moments."
--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Glum, gleeful, brilliant . . . McGuane's stories are about the wacked-out order men and women assign to things, but it's not the true order and merely contributes to a larger confusion that is not far from horror . . . Backdoor irony, you might call it, mixed with black humor."
--John Mort, "Booklist" (starred review)
"A slyly cutting batch of tales from a contemporary master . . . Seventeen stories, straightforward but well-crafted, that cement McGuane's reputation as the finest short story writer of Big Sky country . . . The conflicts throughout this book are age-old . . . but McGuane's clean writing and psychological acuity enliven them all."
--"Kirkus" (starred review)
"A compelling, emotionally charged collection."
--Lawrence Rungren, "Library Journal" (starred review)

Mysterious and illuminating . . . [McGuane] alternately pounds, kneads, works and reworks his material, shedding his tears into it and wrenching away, peeling and scraping it off his hands in a fruitless attempt to escape; then, wretched but indefatigable, going back to knead it again. This obsessive labor seems to change the molecular structure of the substance, from clay to a kind of porcelain . . . [McGuane] has honed a kind of bluff Western comedy of masculinity [and] turns muck into art, which takes wing in flights of ingenuity.
Atticus Lish, "The New York Times Book Review"
Dazzling . . . McGuane rustles up some of his best stories yet . . . [and] continues to burnish his reputation with some of his most accomplished fiction to date.
" O Magazine"
One of McGuane s great gifts is the ability to elicit laughter in dark moments or to jolt the reader of an ostensibly comic tale with a knife twist of pathos or tragedy . . . the only thing [the reader] can expect is to be surprised by McGuane s deadpan wit, his hyperactive imagination, and his deep appreciation for the human comedy . . . ["Crow Fair"] serves not merely to make us gape or laugh at man s essential weirdness but also to recognize a bit of it in ourselves.
Stefan Beck, "The Christian Science Monitor"
McGuane has both honed the edge of his already sharp tone and, paradoxically, become more sympathetic to the human condition . . . [he] gives us well-rounded women alongside the men, making for a rich and fascinating portrait of Montana with hungry bears and fighting trout as wonderful extras.
Alan Cheuse, NPR
McGuane s Montana retains wistful and ironic echoes of the Old West . . . with imagery as sparse and striking as the landscape . . . [These] stories highlight the detachment of young from old, husband from wife, neighbor from neighbor, the dying from life itself . . . [through] many funny, sad, and awful, awfully human moments.
"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
Glum, gleeful, brilliant . . . McGuane s stories are about the wacked-out order men and women assign to things, but it s not the true order and merely contributes to a larger confusion that is not far from horror . . . Backdoor irony, you might call it, mixed with black humor.
John Mort, "Booklist" (starred review)
A slyly cutting batch of tales from a contemporary master . . . Seventeen stories, straightforward but well-crafted, that cement McGuane s reputation as the finest short story writer of Big Sky country . . . The conflicts throughout this book are age-old . . . but McGuane s clean writing and psychological acuity enliven them all.
"Kirkus" (starred review)
A compelling, emotionally charged collection.
Lawrence Rungren, "Library Journal" (starred review)"

"Mysterious and illuminating . . . [McGuane] alternately pounds, kneads, works and reworks his material, shedding his tears into it and wrenching away, peeling and scraping it off his hands in a fruitless attempt to escape; then, wretched but indefatigable, going back to knead it again. This obsessive labor seems to change the molecular structure of the substance, from clay to a kind of porcelain . . . [McGuane] has honed a kind of bluff Western comedy of masculinity [and] turns muck into art, which takes wing in flights of ingenuity."
--Atticus Lish, The New York Times Book Review

"Dazzling . . . McGuane rustles up some of his best stories yet . . . [and] continues to burnish his reputation with some of his most accomplished fiction to date."
--O Magazine

"One of McGuane's great gifts is the ability to elicit laughter in dark moments or to jolt the reader of an ostensibly comic tale with a knife twist of pathos or tragedy . . . the only thing [the reader] can expect is to be surprised - by McGuane's deadpan wit, his hyperactive imagination, and his deep appreciation for the human comedy . . . [Crow Fair] serves not merely to make us gape or laugh at man's essential weirdness but also to recognize a bit of it in ourselves."
--Stefan Beck, The Christian Science Monitor

"McGuane has both honed the edge of his already sharp tone and, paradoxically, become more sympathetic to the human condition . . . [he] gives us well-rounded women alongside the men, making for a rich and fascinating portrait of Montana -- with hungry bears and fighting trout as wonderful extras."
--Alan Cheuse, NPR

"McGuane's Montana retains wistful and ironic echoes of the Old West . . . with imagery as sparse and striking as the landscape . . . [These] stories highlight the detachment of young from old, husband from wife, neighbor from neighbor, the dying from life itself . . . [through] many funny, sad, and awful, awfully human moments."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Glum, gleeful, brilliant . . . McGuane's stories are about the wacked-out order men and women assign to things, but it's not the true order and merely contributes to a larger confusion that is not far from horror . . . Backdoor irony, you might call it, mixed with black humor."
--John Mort, Booklist (starred review)

"A slyly cutting batch of tales from a contemporary master . . . Seventeen stories, straightforward but well-crafted, that cement McGuane's reputation as the finest short story writer of Big Sky country . . . The conflicts throughout this book are age-old . . . but McGuane's clean writing and psychological acuity enliven them all."
--Kirkus (starred review)

"A compelling, emotionally charged collection."
--Lawrence Rungren, Library Journal (starred review)