Some really boring and overly long stories, which is too bad, since Hannah's best work usually comes through concision. Still, a few great stories mixed in with a lot of fertilizer. Far from his best writing---the man never really made it through the early 80s in terms of his best output. In breaking free of Lish's insane editing, I think Hannah went a little too far into maximalism, where his normally blistering language feels more bloated than electric. ( )

Barry Hannah’s full range of talent is on display in this collection. The stories aren’t all pure masterpieces as in some of the other collections, but there are twenty-three of them and they seem to be a good representation of his short fiction.

Many of the stories are about ageing, regret, and unfulfilled potential. “Rat –faced Auntie” tracks a trombone player’s rise, fall, and eventual embracement of the tragedy of his life. “Slow Times in A Long School” is about the failure of and tragedy of popular high school kids that grow old in an unseemly fashion. In “Upstairs, Mona Bayed for Dong” a man and his wife accept inevitable change and growth, helped by love.

As always, Hannah is the master of the turn of phrase. A man is considered “unable to swim rightly in his life and times.” An old morphine addict “was fascinated by Guns. He was also a foe of dogs everywhere.”

“Bats Out of Hell” is another wonderful collection of Hannah’s short stories. ( )

We read selected stories from this in a Living Writers class back in 1997. Decided to read the whole book. Good subway reading. ( )