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Descent of Man
In seventeen slices of life that defy the expected and launch us into the absurd, T.C. Boyle offers his unique view of the world. A primate-center researcher becomes romantically involved with a chimp; a Norse poet overcomes bard-block; collectors compete to snare the ancient Aztec beer can, Quetzacoatl Lite; and Lassie abandons Timmy for a randy coyote. Dark humor, delirious fantasy, and surreal satire come together in this collection that brilliantly expresses just what the "evolution" of mankind has wrought.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
About the author
T. Coraghessan Boyle
150 books2,871 followersT. Coraghessan Boyle (also known as T.C. Boyle, is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the late 1970s, he has published eighteen novels and twleve collections of short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. He is married with three children. Boyle has been a
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.
He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.
He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
October 11, 2019
This 1979 collection gathers together early work by Boyle, all of it imaginative. Even in a slim volume, there are SO MANY stories (17, to be precise), and they are all so different from each other. Some I loved; some were meh. I was tempted to leave a few unread, but since that would mean I couldn’t count this towards my year total I forced myself through them all, even though it took me nearly nine months. Standouts include “The Champ,” about all-you-can-eat contestants, “Green Hell,” in which a plane crashes in the Amazon and a survivor thinks about turning their ordeal into a reality TV show, and “Quetzalcóatl Lite,” about collectors driven to extremes by their obsession for rare beer cans. Other stories feature Lassie, Chairman Mao and Idi Amin. Settings range from a primate research center to ancient Ireland being pillaged by Norsemen. My three overall favorites were “Bloodfall,” a truly terrifying tale that imagines blood starts to fall from the sky, isolating a group of hippie housemates; “A Women’s Restaurant,” about a man so desperate to join an exclusive club that he decides to go along in drag; and “De Rerum Natura,” in which an inventor comes up with ‘useful’ ideas like a cat that doesn’t have to expel waste (he later does away with the limbs and tail as well, creating “Furballs” that are just fur and purr).
August 28, 2008
I rate this so highly because reading it was such an experience for me. I stumbled upon it in Morgenstern's Booksellers in Bloomington, IN the summer I stayed in town to take classes between junior and senior year of college. I would take the bus to work at Video World and if it got me there early, I would hang out in the bookstore a few storefronts down before work. One day I picked up this book and started to read a story called "A Women's Restaurant." The story is classic T.C. Boyle, complete with a slightly-off but instantly sympathetic main character who, through a series of events that wear on him over time, goes a bit nuts and starts behaving in a totally subversive manner by the end of the story. That's part of what I love about Boyle, he creates these characters who seem to be holding it together on the outside but in reality have a very tenuous grip on themselves -- that they always lose by the end. And instead of just dismissing them as crazy, you have to admit that you understand how they got there. Anyway, the story was funny and dark and unexpected and exceedingly well-written and I was hooked. For the next few weeks I would take the early bus to work and read one short story before clocking in. I don't know why I didn't just buy the book. It could have been that I was broke and it was $10 or so ($10 could get me through an entire weekend when I was in college) or it could have just been that I loved savoring it, doling out one story at a time to myself throughout the hot, slow summer. There wasn't much else to look forward to about going to work at Video World.
I eventually did buy a copy and lent it to a boyfriend I met the year after I graduated. And, that bastard? Never gave it back.
I eventually did buy a copy and lent it to a boyfriend I met the year after I graduated. And, that bastard? Never gave it back.
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November 14, 2020Sehr frühe Kurzgeschichten von T.C. Boyle, aber bereits der dritte Band den ich damit gelesen habe; und eindeutig der mit Abstand schwächste. Was nicht heißen soll das gar keine guten Geschichten dabei wären, im Gegenteil, einige sind sogar ausgesprochen gelungen, die Wikinger-Geschichte „Wir sind die Nordländer“ beispielsweise ist ein großer Spaß, ebenso die absurde Sammler-Satire „Quetzalcoatl Lite“, aber die Trefferquote ist halt weit geringen als in den späteren Bänden. Und die ganz großen Kurzgeschichten-Meisterwerke wie sich in „Schluss mit Cool“ zum Beispiel gleich einige finden lassen, fehlen hier gänzlich. Was besonders in den ziemlich kurzen Geschichten auffällt ist, dass Boyle zwar auch schon damals sehr gute Ideen hatte, es aber recht häufig versäumt hat daraus auch gute Geschichten zu machen. Eine groteske Situation zu beschreiben, ohne dass dann irgendwas Interessantes passiert genügt einfach nicht. Andere Geschichten wiederum, ganz besonders aber „Die große Werkstatt“ sind derart kafkaesk dass man schon fast von einem Plagiat reden muss...
Insgesamt sicher nicht T.C. Boyles bestes Buch (genaugenommen sogar das schwächste dass ich bisher von ihm gelesen habe), aber allein für die nicht wenigen guten Geschichten und den Blick auf seine Anfänge hat sich die Lektüre dann doch gelohnt.
Insgesamt sicher nicht T.C. Boyles bestes Buch (genaugenommen sogar das schwächste dass ich bisher von ihm gelesen habe), aber allein für die nicht wenigen guten Geschichten und den Blick auf seine Anfänge hat sich die Lektüre dann doch gelohnt.
March 6, 2017
Highlights: "Bloodfall," "Dada," "A Woman's Restaurant," "The Extinction Tales," "The Big Garage," "Drowning."
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July 24, 2019Keine Bewertung, weil ich eine Sammlung an Kurzgeschichten immer schwierig zu bewerten finde.
Mir haben die drei hier,
›Ein Frauenrestaurant‹ ;
›Grüne Hölle‹ ;
›Quetzalcoatl Lite‹
am Besten gefallen.
Definitiv ein guter Einstieg in Boyles Schreibstil, da er beweist, wie gut er sich in grundverschiedene Charaktere, Alter & Geschlechter schreiben kann.
Bizarre Satire, verpackt mit einem differenzierten Schreibstil!
Mir haben die drei hier,
›Ein Frauenrestaurant‹ ;
›Grüne Hölle‹ ;
›Quetzalcoatl Lite‹
am Besten gefallen.
Definitiv ein guter Einstieg in Boyles Schreibstil, da er beweist, wie gut er sich in grundverschiedene Charaktere, Alter & Geschlechter schreiben kann.
Bizarre Satire, verpackt mit einem differenzierten Schreibstil!
Read
November 29, 2018It was great loved it. Had a great time. I need to write a paper
October 15, 2016
T.C. Boyle's two collections of the collections of his stories (Volumes 1 & 2) might be desert island books for me! Somehow Stories One was missing two stories from Descent of Man, so I had to get this book separately to read those two (Earth,Moon and Quetzalcoatl Lite). I think all other stories from Boyle are collected in either volume one or two. I love to read a couple of Boyle's stories whenever I have a Boyle craving! But I could also read his entire oeuvre all in a row and then start reading from the beginning again. Boyle is a powerhouse of stories and I think he should be read by all readers. He is one of the smartest writers. He's one of the only writers who consistently uses words I've never seen. It doesn't hurt that I'm a fan of many of his influences. There is not a bad story in this bunch. If a story isn't perfect overall, on a sentence level it is a joy to read anyway. The stories are full, rich, detailed and cover a wide range of cultures, times and places. I especially loved The Big Garage, The Champ, Green Hell, Descent of Man, John Barleycorn Lives, De Rerum Natura, Quetzalcoatl Lite, We Are Norsemen and The Second Swimming. I've heard that even while touring for his new book release, he MUST be writing. It is essential for him to survive as a person. I can't see his writing being bad from that fact alone. He loves writing and I love reading his writing. The early stories are phenomenal here. If his writing gets better from this collection as his writing career progresses (and I'm not sure how it could), I'm in for some amazing writing. I'm a Boyle fan for life.
July 16, 2008
I truly loved every story in this one except the last one, and 16 out of 17 is still an "A" in my book. My second consecutive book of short stories (read, not written - I am not TC Boyle, nor JD Salinger, neither are these 2 men in fact the same man, who is secretly disguised as me), and I really tore through it/devoured it/soaked it up like the summer reading sponge I can sometimes be. This is great, and I highly recommend it. The stories are all loosely themed (the title sums that theme up pretty fairly), and it runs an unexpected gamut (truly hilarious comedy, romance, adventure tales, fantasy, science fiction, arguable horror, and so on). Thoroughly entertaining, and one of those writers who writes a line you wish you had (one of many for me was, "Last night there was a fog, milk in an atomizer."). MAN that's good stuff! Read it. It's lovely. Also, he was about 30 when he wrote all of these (some of his first published works), so that makes me feel better about myself.
May 17, 2023
T.C. Boyle is one of the great short story writers. However, this collection, from 1980, is not one of my favorites. I wasn't always sure, at the conclusion, what I was meant to take from each.
**spoiler alert**
My personal favorites:
-Descent of Man - Jane Good picks an ascending primate as she descends, no longer bathing, hiding fruit all over the house
--Heart of a Champion - a story about Lassie and Timmy; Lassie chooses love of a mongrel rather than risking life and limb for accident-prone Timmy
--A Women's Restaurant - a restaurant that only allows women causes the narrator to obsess about getting inside...at any cost
--The Big Garage - a remote garage takes in helpless drivers with broken down vehicles, and like Hotel California, they are trapped forever in waiting for parts, technicians
**spoiler alert**
My personal favorites:
-Descent of Man - Jane Good picks an ascending primate as she descends, no longer bathing, hiding fruit all over the house
--Heart of a Champion - a story about Lassie and Timmy; Lassie chooses love of a mongrel rather than risking life and limb for accident-prone Timmy
--A Women's Restaurant - a restaurant that only allows women causes the narrator to obsess about getting inside...at any cost
--The Big Garage - a remote garage takes in helpless drivers with broken down vehicles, and like Hotel California, they are trapped forever in waiting for parts, technicians
November 3, 2016
As with so many short story collections there are high points and low points. As a fan on T.C. Boyle I knew that this early collection of stories might be a little different and in that respect I was not disappointed. We had stories of a girl who falls in love with a sign-language speaking primate, a quest for an ancient beer can, as well as a story about survivors of a plane crash in the Amazon. One of my favorite stories was The Girl Restaurant in which a male is obsessed with this concept and tries every possible way to get into the restaurant. But then there are clunkers that do little for me. On the whole it was a good read but unless you are into Boyle and short stories then this might not be the collection for you.
November 20, 2008
This one the first TC book that I read...I love how this collection of short stories starts out..."I was living with a woman who suddenly began to stink!" TC grips you with humor, intelligence, and an unbelievable vocabulary that will have you reaching for a dictionary from time to time. Check him out, his is absolutely worth the read!
October 11, 2011
Boyle certainly has a unique style. He portrays things as they are, perhaps even a bit darker, a bit nastier. And he explores aspects of people that may make us uncomfortable simply because they hit so close to home. Taken together, these stories offer up a view of what exactly makes us human, as opposed to something else.
December 9, 2019
Funny, haunting, surreal. At times, T. C. Boyle is trying a little too hard to be Kafka in these stories. While that aspiration more often than not comes across as flat and awkward, the majority of these stories depict an exceptionally creative imagination linked to an advanced writing ability. “The Second Swimming,” “A Women’s Restaurant,” and “Green Hell” stuck out for me as favorites.
January 5, 2021
I can’t honestly say I understood every story but overall I really enjoyed this collection. I’ve decided to read all TC Boyle’s books in chronological order, one per month until I’m done. There are some I’ve already read and I am looking forward to a few especially. Intersperse these with all of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, and it’s gonna be a good reading year.
January 19, 2008
this was the first short story collection I read by Boyle, and it's the one that got me hooked. It does contain his most outlandish stories, and my favorite is the one where some rich stoner kids in the 70's are having a party in their basement and the sky starts raining blood. Fun and weird.
February 26, 2008
As always, Boyle is amazing. Each story is a nugget of black humor, creeping fear and a certain giddy joy at seeing a cliche destroyed. This is a book where Lassie leaves little Timmy to die and intelligent chimps conduct experiments on men. Clever and imaginative.
May 7, 2008
I enjoyed this collection of short stories. They are very short, but all engaging. Each relates another facet of Boyle's general theme of clashing cultures or opposites coming to relate in some intimate way.
July 9, 2010
Had this on my shelf for a good few years and finally read it. Enjoyed it. It's dark and fun and worth reading if only for 'Big Garage', 'Second Swimming', and 'Extinction Tales'. Definitely want to read more of his stuff in the future.
August 21, 2011
T.C. Boyle penned these as a young man, but it's full of his characteristic sardonic wit. He brings comic and original viewpoints to this mixed bag of characters, themes, settings, and centuries. Most like Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House" of any short story collection I've read.
June 29, 2021
Many of Boyle's themes are nascent in this fascinating first collection. Rereading it makes its influence clear. Some stories are laugh out loud funny, some ineffably sad, some just odd. But it's a great place to start thie journey with this prolific and unique American voice.
October 29, 2014
Reading this book I kept deciding I didn't like it, only to reach a story that won me back. The stories I liked most were Bloodfall, The Second Swimming, The Big Garage, and Green Hell. A few of The Extinction Tales were compact and poignant.
December 21, 2020
Personality in abundance, T.C. Boyle's short stories roil with laughter just below the surface. They are dark absurdism and human insight. They are memorable and new and full of sparkling language. Not for the tepid at heart.
November 8, 2019
I’ve read a couple of T.C. Boyle novels and enjoyed them, so I thought I’d try his short stories. How bad could they be? Well, pretty illegible. They are too weird and he seems to strive to show off his esoteric vocabulary.
Stick to novels, Boyle.
Stick to novels, Boyle.
May 30, 2007
First thing I ever read of TC Boyle, totally fell in love. Such absurd stories told so well. One of my favorite authors.
October 27, 2018
It’s out there. Not really sure what he his message is. Was an interesting walk down a different path.
March 7, 2020
Boyle erzählt grotesk, ironisch, mild unterhaltsam, aber nie vom Hocker reißend, in seiner ersten Kurzgeschichtensammlung. Die Kurzgeschichten sind gelegentlich gelungen parodistisch, viel öfter jedoch öd unrealistisch oder unverständlich und wirr – sie amüsieren nie wie Boyle-Romane wie Wassermusik (1981), The Road to Wellville (1993) oder Grün ist die Hoffnung (1984). An prima Dialoge erinnere ich mich nicht.
Offenbar verfasste Boyle die 17 Geschichten in seiner Zeit als Schreibstudent – und so unausgewogen klingen sie oft auch. Die Stories erschienen in den frühen 70er Jahren und dienten auch als Abschlussarbeit. Wie Boyle auf seiner Webseite betont, schrieb er seinerzeit viele weitere Geschichten, die er bewusst nicht zwischen Buchdeckeln veröffentlichte – sicher eine kluge Entscheidung.
Die Themen:
• Affenpflegerin wird zunehmend selbst äffisch, ihr Affe menschlich, grotesk unrealistisch, aber realistisch klingend erzählt
• Fresswettkampf, inszeniert wie bombastisches Boxen, grotesk unrealistisch, aber realistisch klingend erzählt, erinnert mit der Vorwettkampfstimmung etwas an Hemingways längere Box-Kurzgeschichte; gute Genreparodie
• Vikinger-Barde berichtet in rauh-poetisch-amüsantem Ton von Raubzügen: interessanten Parodie
• Beschreibung eines melodramatischen Lassie-Films mit Junge, treuem Hund und liebem Elternpaar im Hintergrund; voller Gefahren; wieder starke Parodie
• Idi Amin Dada wird zu einem Dada-Kunstfestival eingeladen; belanglos
• Einsamer Mann will unbedingt in Nur-Frauen-Club (eine der schwächsten derjeinigen Geschichten, die ich las)
• Mann strandet nach Autopanne tagelang in bizarrer Pannenhilfsstation (schwach, liest sich wie die Rachestory nach schlechter Pannenhilfeerfahrung)
• Figuren und Liebesleben auf einsamer Insel (schwach)
• Kurztexte über Menschen und Tiere, die durch Menschenhand ausstarben
Ein paar Geschichten konnte ich nur anlesen, dann musste ich schnell weg:
• Es regnet Blut (wörtlich)
• Irgendwas mit Mao und Schwimmen
• Im Dschungel nach Flugzeugabsturz
Die weiteren Geschichten ab Seite 159 von 219 habe ich gar nicht mehr angefangen, weil schon das Bisherige maßlos enttäuschte.
Assoziationen:
Lorrie Moores Kurzgeschichtensammlung Leben ist Glückssache (engl. Self-Help, 1985), die ebenfalls aufdringlich betont originell klingt und m.W. auch als Studienarbeit entstand.
Boyles spätere Kurzgeschichtensammlung Fleischeslust/Without a Hero (1994) enthält ebenfalls bizarr Unrealistisches, u.a. einen US-Safaripark, in dem man beliebig Savannentiere abknallen kann. Nicht anders die viel spätere Boyle-Sammlung The Relive Box.
Offenbar verfasste Boyle die 17 Geschichten in seiner Zeit als Schreibstudent – und so unausgewogen klingen sie oft auch. Die Stories erschienen in den frühen 70er Jahren und dienten auch als Abschlussarbeit. Wie Boyle auf seiner Webseite betont, schrieb er seinerzeit viele weitere Geschichten, die er bewusst nicht zwischen Buchdeckeln veröffentlichte – sicher eine kluge Entscheidung.
Die Themen:
• Affenpflegerin wird zunehmend selbst äffisch, ihr Affe menschlich, grotesk unrealistisch, aber realistisch klingend erzählt
• Fresswettkampf, inszeniert wie bombastisches Boxen, grotesk unrealistisch, aber realistisch klingend erzählt, erinnert mit der Vorwettkampfstimmung etwas an Hemingways längere Box-Kurzgeschichte; gute Genreparodie
• Vikinger-Barde berichtet in rauh-poetisch-amüsantem Ton von Raubzügen: interessanten Parodie
• Beschreibung eines melodramatischen Lassie-Films mit Junge, treuem Hund und liebem Elternpaar im Hintergrund; voller Gefahren; wieder starke Parodie
• Idi Amin Dada wird zu einem Dada-Kunstfestival eingeladen; belanglos
• Einsamer Mann will unbedingt in Nur-Frauen-Club (eine der schwächsten derjeinigen Geschichten, die ich las)
• Mann strandet nach Autopanne tagelang in bizarrer Pannenhilfsstation (schwach, liest sich wie die Rachestory nach schlechter Pannenhilfeerfahrung)
• Figuren und Liebesleben auf einsamer Insel (schwach)
• Kurztexte über Menschen und Tiere, die durch Menschenhand ausstarben
Ein paar Geschichten konnte ich nur anlesen, dann musste ich schnell weg:
• Es regnet Blut (wörtlich)
• Irgendwas mit Mao und Schwimmen
• Im Dschungel nach Flugzeugabsturz
Die weiteren Geschichten ab Seite 159 von 219 habe ich gar nicht mehr angefangen, weil schon das Bisherige maßlos enttäuschte.
Assoziationen:
Lorrie Moores Kurzgeschichtensammlung Leben ist Glückssache (engl. Self-Help, 1985), die ebenfalls aufdringlich betont originell klingt und m.W. auch als Studienarbeit entstand.
Boyles spätere Kurzgeschichtensammlung Fleischeslust/Without a Hero (1994) enthält ebenfalls bizarr Unrealistisches, u.a. einen US-Safaripark, in dem man beliebig Savannentiere abknallen kann. Nicht anders die viel spätere Boyle-Sammlung The Relive Box.
April 16, 2024
This series of short stories shows TC Boyle’s already evidently brilliant talent in his youth. The stories all share a wonderfully ironic view on the characters and their lives, while at the same time not feeling distanced or detached- quite the contrary: the personalities are made so vivid by the astute observation and story telling skill that one always feels like they‘re long-known neighbours. Their decisions, actions, fates, or sometimes all three, are often very grotesque. Probably a deliberate derision of humankind’s self-aggrandising view as the crown of creation (or evolution), as suggested by the title Boyle chose for the collection of stories: „the descent of man“, an allusion to both our primate origins, as well as to the social and moral bankruptcy we have often descended into.
In the book, you will meet (among others), a mammoth-sized world champion in binge-eating, whose ravenous appetite turns out to have all too common beginnings in childhood; a scientist who loses her judgement as to where the dividing lines between her life and that of the primates she studies lie; a Druid who accompanies his Viking brothers on looting expeditions and finds the right verse for every shocking deed; a gentleman who crosses the gender lines in quest of getting up and close with women; and (one of my favorites) a group of Dadaist artist who achieve the feat of having Idi Amin, the horrendous Ugandan dictator, as their main exhibit in a New York convention. Different places, times, circumstances, but every single time, Boyle pulls it off with a very credible narrator voice.
In the book, you will meet (among others), a mammoth-sized world champion in binge-eating, whose ravenous appetite turns out to have all too common beginnings in childhood; a scientist who loses her judgement as to where the dividing lines between her life and that of the primates she studies lie; a Druid who accompanies his Viking brothers on looting expeditions and finds the right verse for every shocking deed; a gentleman who crosses the gender lines in quest of getting up and close with women; and (one of my favorites) a group of Dadaist artist who achieve the feat of having Idi Amin, the horrendous Ugandan dictator, as their main exhibit in a New York convention. Different places, times, circumstances, but every single time, Boyle pulls it off with a very credible narrator voice.
August 12, 2022
Schrecklich 🙂
March 14, 2024
After reading "I Walk Between the Raindrops" by TC Boyle, I was smitten! I'm a huge short story aficionada, so I had to have MOOOOOORE! The bizarre, somewhat familiar yet dream-like or nightmare-like situations were mesmerizing. The archaic, unusual and intricate vocabulary was habit-forming and sent me running to google and dictionary.com repeatedly. The twisted imagination! Death, sex, I'm here for all of it! Not since "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver have I experienced such a tight bond between the animal world's need to reproduce and the human need to mate.
"Descent of Man" from 1979, one of TC's first works, did not disappoint on any of these levels. There were 1 or 2 stories that didn't quite hit the mark for me, but then each reader will have their own favorites.
Boyle will often take some familiar topics such as improbable figures combined into new situations. For example, in the title story "Descent of Man", we are introduced to Jane G (apparently Goodall) and her boyfriend who is dismayed to find her often covered with thick hairs from Konrad, the chimp. The ending is quite shocking, so I will leave it to the dear reader to find out for themselves. In a similar vein we have "I Dated Jane Austen" and "John Barleycorn Lives", the latter filled with Suffragette characters trying to stop drinkers by smashing wooden bars with their axes. The author's endings are never predictable, often eliciting gasps of shock, admiration or both at the conclusion. The only prediction you can make about these stories is....you have no idea how they will end!
Following are some examples of the vocabulary in these stories:
These 2 are from "A Women's Restaurant" where a man is obsessed with trying to get into an all female dining club
"muliebrity"-womanly qualities and "cicisbeo"-escort or lover of a married woman
From "Green Hell" about how people survive after a plane crash is "prognathic"-face with a sticking out jaw (check with your orthodontist for more info)
From the hilarious "We are Norsemen" in which a wimpy Norse poet describes the way "we" are venturing out and pillaging, when all he is doing is writing verse there are "doughty"-archaic word meaning brave and persistent, "susurrate"-to make rustling sounds.
There was a Kafkaesque tale called "The Big Garage" where customers were towed to a shop, seemingly to be trapped forever. Each scenario, characters, dialogue and setting in every story is described in such minute detail that we wonder how one man can have such diverse knowledge of so many different places and slices of society.
However, my favorite story of all of these is "Heart of a Champion" purportedly about Timmy and Lassie from the old TV show. It starts with the fairly standard plot of Timmy getting into a bit of a bind and being rescued by the ever-faithful Lassie in the way we have come to expect. But THEN, the situations just keep escalating and escalating from the highly implausible to the completely RIDICULOUS. If you only have time to read one of these stories, make sure it's this one because you will be guffawing uncontrollably.
In fact, I'd say there were numerous times during "Descent of Man" when I was chortling, snort laughing, tittering or guffawing. Then there were other times where I was devastated by an outcome or fearful or struck by our close connection with our animal ancestors. The stories gave me the full range of intellectual stimulation and emotions. So next I'll move on to his next collection "Greasy Lake" from 1985. Let's see what I think of that one now that I've read his first and last collection and loved both!
"Descent of Man" from 1979, one of TC's first works, did not disappoint on any of these levels. There were 1 or 2 stories that didn't quite hit the mark for me, but then each reader will have their own favorites.
Boyle will often take some familiar topics such as improbable figures combined into new situations. For example, in the title story "Descent of Man", we are introduced to Jane G (apparently Goodall) and her boyfriend who is dismayed to find her often covered with thick hairs from Konrad, the chimp. The ending is quite shocking, so I will leave it to the dear reader to find out for themselves. In a similar vein we have "I Dated Jane Austen" and "John Barleycorn Lives", the latter filled with Suffragette characters trying to stop drinkers by smashing wooden bars with their axes. The author's endings are never predictable, often eliciting gasps of shock, admiration or both at the conclusion. The only prediction you can make about these stories is....you have no idea how they will end!
Following are some examples of the vocabulary in these stories:
These 2 are from "A Women's Restaurant" where a man is obsessed with trying to get into an all female dining club
"muliebrity"-womanly qualities and "cicisbeo"-escort or lover of a married woman
From "Green Hell" about how people survive after a plane crash is "prognathic"-face with a sticking out jaw (check with your orthodontist for more info)
From the hilarious "We are Norsemen" in which a wimpy Norse poet describes the way "we" are venturing out and pillaging, when all he is doing is writing verse there are "doughty"-archaic word meaning brave and persistent, "susurrate"-to make rustling sounds.
There was a Kafkaesque tale called "The Big Garage" where customers were towed to a shop, seemingly to be trapped forever. Each scenario, characters, dialogue and setting in every story is described in such minute detail that we wonder how one man can have such diverse knowledge of so many different places and slices of society.
However, my favorite story of all of these is "Heart of a Champion" purportedly about Timmy and Lassie from the old TV show. It starts with the fairly standard plot of Timmy getting into a bit of a bind and being rescued by the ever-faithful Lassie in the way we have come to expect. But THEN, the situations just keep escalating and escalating from the highly implausible to the completely RIDICULOUS. If you only have time to read one of these stories, make sure it's this one because you will be guffawing uncontrollably.
In fact, I'd say there were numerous times during "Descent of Man" when I was chortling, snort laughing, tittering or guffawing. Then there were other times where I was devastated by an outcome or fearful or struck by our close connection with our animal ancestors. The stories gave me the full range of intellectual stimulation and emotions. So next I'll move on to his next collection "Greasy Lake" from 1985. Let's see what I think of that one now that I've read his first and last collection and loved both!
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