Eveningland: Stories

By Michael Knight

Michael Knight is more than a master of the short story. He knows the true pace of life and does not cheat it, all the while offering whopping entertainment.”Barry Hannah

Long considered a master of the form and an essential voice in American fiction, Michael Knight’s stories have been lauded by writers such Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Gilbert, Barry Hannah, and Richard Bausch. Now, with Eveningland he returns to the form that launched his career, delivering an arresting collection of interlinked stories set among the right kind of Mobile family” in the years preceding a devastating hurricane.

Grappling with dramas both epic and personal, from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the unspeakable misgivings of contentment,” Eveningland captures with crystalline poeticism and perfect authenticity of place the ways in which ordinary life astounds us with its complexity. A teenaged girl with a taste for violence holds a burglar hostage in her house on New Year’s Eve; a middle aged couple examines the intricacies of their marriage as they prepare to throw a party; and a real estate mogul in the throes of grief buys up all the property on an island only to be accused of madness by his daughters. These stories, told with economy and precision, infused with humor and pathos, excavate brilliantly the latent desires and motivations that drive life forward.

Eveningland is a luminous collection from a writer of the first rank.”(Esquire)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Release date: Mar 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9780802189370

Reviews for Eveningland

[achedglin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a fantastic collection of short stories beating with the pulse of a place close to my heart, Mobile Bay. The stories don't punch like, say, Flannery O'Connor's would, but they drift dreamily into one another while telling the secrets of those living "lives of quiet desperation." A melancholy mood persists throughout almost the whole collection, maybe at times just wistfulness, but that feeling is strongly countered by adaptation and survival. I heartily recommend this book to ease through in the coming, creeper longer evenings of the spring and summer.

[carmenmilligan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really, really wanted to like this book. An entire book of short stories from my home state was so compelling that I downloaded it immediately. The first story was engaging and I was enjoying it ... until the end. Then the second, third, fourth ... I began to see a pattern. The stories proved to be compelling and drew me in, but the endings of almost all of the stories in this collection were so abrupt as to be disappointing. There was so much more to be investigated, more story to be told, additional nuances to be explored. To be left flat at the end of each story left me feeling that the author had reached his word quota and had to end the story suddenly.This one is not recommended. However, if you are looking for an excellent book of short stories, I recommend "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu. Many thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first thing I noticed when I started reading was how smooth the prose was, it immediately put me at ease and I felt that I was in the hands of a masterful author. These stories are set in Alabama, the characters are white and seem to be from the more privileged families of the area. Throughout these stories they come to some kind of understanding with themselves, these are brief glimpses into a particular time, event in their lives.I loved the first story, Oil and Water, a snapshot of teenage angst, reminded me of summers by the Fox River when I was growing up.Smash and Grab was another favorite, a robbery gone wrong with an unexpected surprise ending. The third is actually a novella, Landfall, and a family has an expected crisis to deal with just as a hurricane is expected to make land. Will keep this author on my watch list, he is a superb storyteller and I enjoyed these immensely.ARC from Netgalley and Atlantic Monthly Press.

[hagelstein_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stories and a novella set in and around Mobile, Alabama. In “Water and Oil” a teenage boy’s loss of innocence and sudden awareness of the harshness of life coincide with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A strange dynamic occurs between a college student home for the holidays and the burglar who breaks into her father’s home during a New Year’s Eve burglary in “Smash and Grab.” In “Our Lady of the Roses” a young art teacher contends with changes in her life. In “Jubilee” a successful, genteel, perhaps perfect, couple live their lives in the week leading up to the husband’s fiftieth birthday, with accompanying elaborate party. The novella, “Landfall” tracks a family as a hurricane approaches Mobile.Marked by the south, this collection presents people that could be real, with real problems. “Marcus Weems was the sixth richest man in the state of Alabama but he lost his wife to cancer like everybody else.”