Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Penguin (Non-Classics) (2011), Edition: Original, Paperback, 224 pages
Description
"This collection of wry and witty, dark and perilous contemporary fables and tales is populated by people--and monsters and aliens and animals and inanimate objects--motivated by and grappling with the fears and desires that unite us all."--P. [2] of cover.
User reviews
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
It has been a while since I came across such an inane, non-sensical and boring collection of short stories. Most stories are absurd or complete nonsense. Short sentences result in a staccato reading rhythm. Many stories have an ultra-simplistic beginning, almost like jokes, starting off with "A man
Maybe this style of writing is what you get when you spend the whole day on Twitter and other micro-blog services.
Recommended for idiots.
Now, it is possible that Stories for nighttime and some for the day is a real innovation. Other critics suggest that the short fiction of Ben Loory shares characteristics with the work of Lydia Davis.
In Stories for nighttime and some for the day there are 40 stories on 200 pages, appended with some nonsense before and after. That leaves a mere five pages per story.
In my most concessional mood, I might suggest that the stories of Ben Loory show some affinity to for instance The fairy tales of Charles Perrault. They are very short stories that high-light a particular point. The style of the stories is that of a short fairy tale or, as I suggested before, a joke. However, most of the stories are non-sensical or absurd.
Most stories begin abruptly, introducing unnamed characters simply as "the man" or "the man and the woman." The stories also feature animals and aliens that can talk.
Another feature that adds to the jarring quality of the stories is the mixing register. It is confusing and irritating to see typical colloquial speech patterns integrated into literary dialogue. Although literary dialogue is supposedly a representation of speech, Loory uses these colloquialisms in a way that just does not seem to fit.
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etc" or "The man and the woman, etc".Maybe this style of writing is what you get when you spend the whole day on Twitter and other micro-blog services.
Recommended for idiots.
Now, it is possible that Stories for nighttime and some for the day is a real innovation. Other critics suggest that the short fiction of Ben Loory shares characteristics with the work of Lydia Davis.
In Stories for nighttime and some for the day there are 40 stories on 200 pages, appended with some nonsense before and after. That leaves a mere five pages per story.
In my most concessional mood, I might suggest that the stories of Ben Loory show some affinity to for instance The fairy tales of Charles Perrault. They are very short stories that high-light a particular point. The style of the stories is that of a short fairy tale or, as I suggested before, a joke. However, most of the stories are non-sensical or absurd.
Most stories begin abruptly, introducing unnamed characters simply as "the man" or "the man and the woman." The stories also feature animals and aliens that can talk.
Another feature that adds to the jarring quality of the stories is the mixing register. It is confusing and irritating to see typical colloquial speech patterns integrated into literary dialogue. Although literary dialogue is supposedly a representation of speech, Loory uses these colloquialisms in a way that just does not seem to fit.
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LibraryThing member lauriebrown54
This small book is deceptive looking. It’s slight looking, only 200 pages. The stories are short; some only four pages long. But, oh how this author can make you think in four pages! These tiny gems are all surrealistic. There are walking trees and aliens and severed heads that talk and an
I gobbled these stories up in two nights, unable to stop reading them. Some are funny, some creepy. Some made me go “Huh?” They are all… odd, in a through the looking glass sort of way, and they are mostly all fun to read.
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octopus that lives in an upstairs apartment, collects teaspoons and loves Darjeeling tea. They demand that you suspend disbelief and accept their own internal logic. I gobbled these stories up in two nights, unable to stop reading them. Some are funny, some creepy. Some made me go “Huh?” They are all… odd, in a through the looking glass sort of way, and they are mostly all fun to read.
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LibraryThing member andreablythe
Ben Loory presents a strange and wonderful assortment of short stories. Each one offers simple and clean prose reads like a classic fable or fairy tale, many of them merely a few pages long. There are almost no names in the entire collection, it's always the man, the woman, a girl, a boy, so that
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it could by any woman or any boy. It could be you; it could be me. A man who meets his shadow, a octopus who lives in an apartment in New York, strange malevolent creatures live at the bottom of swimming pools, a fish magically appears in a teapot, and a TV reveals all the possible lives a man could have lived. I read through this collection quickly and eagerly, joyfully engaging in the odd worlds Loory created. Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
An odd and entertaining collection, this assortment of tales kept me off-balance and wandering what would come next. I can't say that I was ever totally enraptured with Loory's short fable-like concoctions, but their short and quirky natures were so fleeting that it never occurred to me to wander
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away or really question the worlds I kept finding myself in. On the whole, they are a strange bunch of stories, and certainly something different if you think you might want to explore some new worlds and fable-like existences. Show Less
LibraryThing member -Eva-
A collection of surreal tales resulting from the author's taking a horror-writing class. These stories aren't horror, though, but produce more of an eerie mood, since there seems to be no limit to what odd things can happen, but their oddity isn't scary per se. The nighttime title is apt since
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about half of the stories take place in dreams, but the waking time in those stories are just as surreal as the dreams, so there isn't a huge rift between the two. This is entertainment rather than anything more profound, but it is a fun collection of flash fiction stories where the only guarantee is that you will not be able to figure out any of the endings in advance. Show Less
LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
Ben Loory's collection of short stories is, surprisingly, accurately portrayed by the cover. As much as I depend on them (old adages be damned), they often lie, depicting some scene or person never to occur or exist within the novel. The ocean, the spaceship and the octopus tentacle are all main
Even before reading the first story, I was charmed by Loory, whose author's note reads: "Here are some stories. I hope you like them." So simple, but completely perfect, because that's what I, as a reader just starting into the book, precisely hope to do. So, you may wonder, did I like the stories? For the most part, yes. The stories are all very short and the writing is deceptively simple. In very few of the stories did I feel like I had a good grasp on what exactly was going on.
Most of the stories are left very open-ended, almost as though the stories are as much about you as they are about the characters in them. This point is borne out by the fact that the characters generally do not have names, referred to only as boy, girl, man, woman, friend, etc. In fact, if I remember correctly, the only characters who receive names are animals: the octopus family in "The Octopus" (along with their likely human landlord, who may be the only human with a name) and the moose (who receives a moniker) "The Man and the Moose." I am not quite sure what to make of this, but it's definitely intriguing.
The universality of the characters combined with the fantasy/magic elements made the stories feel like modern fairy tales or fables or urban legends. The magic was pervasive, subtle and a part of the regular world, which reminded me, in an odd way, of Sarah Addison Allen's novels. Where hers feature a sweet, happy magic, Loory's magic is generally that of something dark and dangerous, although some of the stories included are cute ones (which I fancy are the ones for the day). As an example of what reading the stories is like, I am going to share the shortest story with you.
"Once there was a man who was afraid of his shadow.
Then he met it.
Now he glows in the dark."
Without a doubt, Stories for the Nighttime and some for the day is an interesting read and exceedingly thought-provoking. Every story really is like the one above, in that the meaning is rather unclear and it's up to you to suss it out. I think this would be an excellent title for a book group, as everyone could share their impressions and analyze the themes running through all of the stories to get at the project's aims as a whole. I hope to see more from Ben Loory, especially what kind of a novel he would write.
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aspects of at least one story. Let me also say that I love the cover, from the art to the texture of it. I also like the texture of the paper within (which does the old timey thing where some pages stick out more than others) and the flaps built into the trade paperback. This book is an excellent tactile experience.Even before reading the first story, I was charmed by Loory, whose author's note reads: "Here are some stories. I hope you like them." So simple, but completely perfect, because that's what I, as a reader just starting into the book, precisely hope to do. So, you may wonder, did I like the stories? For the most part, yes. The stories are all very short and the writing is deceptively simple. In very few of the stories did I feel like I had a good grasp on what exactly was going on.
Most of the stories are left very open-ended, almost as though the stories are as much about you as they are about the characters in them. This point is borne out by the fact that the characters generally do not have names, referred to only as boy, girl, man, woman, friend, etc. In fact, if I remember correctly, the only characters who receive names are animals: the octopus family in "The Octopus" (along with their likely human landlord, who may be the only human with a name) and the moose (who receives a moniker) "The Man and the Moose." I am not quite sure what to make of this, but it's definitely intriguing.
The universality of the characters combined with the fantasy/magic elements made the stories feel like modern fairy tales or fables or urban legends. The magic was pervasive, subtle and a part of the regular world, which reminded me, in an odd way, of Sarah Addison Allen's novels. Where hers feature a sweet, happy magic, Loory's magic is generally that of something dark and dangerous, although some of the stories included are cute ones (which I fancy are the ones for the day). As an example of what reading the stories is like, I am going to share the shortest story with you.
"Once there was a man who was afraid of his shadow.
Then he met it.
Now he glows in the dark."
Without a doubt, Stories for the Nighttime and some for the day is an interesting read and exceedingly thought-provoking. Every story really is like the one above, in that the meaning is rather unclear and it's up to you to suss it out. I think this would be an excellent title for a book group, as everyone could share their impressions and analyze the themes running through all of the stories to get at the project's aims as a whole. I hope to see more from Ben Loory, especially what kind of a novel he would write.
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LibraryThing member chrisblocker
Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day: Because it was a much better title than Things That Make You Go Hmmm. At it's heart, that's what Ben Loory's collection is though, stories that make you wonder, think, and occasionally leave you confused.
In simple language and with as few words as
In simple language and with as few words as
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possible, Loory weaves these fables with unnamed characters and a child-like voice. A skydiving moose and a duck that falls in love with a rock, a walking tree and a tv that talks, UFOs, Martians, and an octopus in the city: these are some of the oddities that await the reader. Some of the stories seem to be written for the fun of it; some are more poignant. All of them are a great distraction from the books we read the other 364 days of the year. Yes, Stories for Nighttime... can easily be read in a day; perhaps it would be more pleasurable in smaller doses, however. We could all use a flight through space or a talk with an animal or a canvas on which we can paint our imaginations. Perhaps it's just what we need to start every day. Show Less
LibraryThing member nobodhi
improvisatory and minimalist yet often penetrative & durable.
the story of the octopus for instance is now a favorite.
the story of the octopus for instance is now a favorite.
LibraryThing member breadnbutter
This is my first attempt at reviewing a short story collection. I am a big fan of reading short stories because it isn't daunting at all to just read a couple of pages and have a feeling of completeness. In my opinion, the best short story writer is the great Stephen King. It is hard not to compare
With that being said, it is completely possible that I am a bit bias towards those types of stories. What I loved about Ben Loory's short (and I mean SHORT) stories, are that they are extremely creative. Clever premises, talking animals, aware inanimate objects, and martians all find their place here. The stories had such great set-ups, most with the nice creepy element that I was expecting which did manage to create excitement in that short amount of time. Loory writes short, sweet, and to the point. However the big downfall to this collection is the endings. One of the definitions of fable (and the one I feel was intended when calling these stories fables) is:
a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters
The main issue I have with this is the fact that I couldn't really wheedle out any of the moral lessons that were being portrayed. Unfortunately, I felt that the writing was too esoteric, and the fact that most, of the 39 stories included, ended with me going, "What?", and that's not in a good way. I just didn't get it, plain and simple. I'm sure that there are plenty of others who got something from these stories, but I wasn't one of them.
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other collections to his work, especially if they are being marketed in the paranormal, fantasy, sci fi genre. It doesn't have to be scary like King's, but I feel his are the just the right length and the endings are almost always superb in their shock and awe value.With that being said, it is completely possible that I am a bit bias towards those types of stories. What I loved about Ben Loory's short (and I mean SHORT) stories, are that they are extremely creative. Clever premises, talking animals, aware inanimate objects, and martians all find their place here. The stories had such great set-ups, most with the nice creepy element that I was expecting which did manage to create excitement in that short amount of time. Loory writes short, sweet, and to the point. However the big downfall to this collection is the endings. One of the definitions of fable (and the one I feel was intended when calling these stories fables) is:
a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters
The main issue I have with this is the fact that I couldn't really wheedle out any of the moral lessons that were being portrayed. Unfortunately, I felt that the writing was too esoteric, and the fact that most, of the 39 stories included, ended with me going, "What?", and that's not in a good way. I just didn't get it, plain and simple. I'm sure that there are plenty of others who got something from these stories, but I wasn't one of them.
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LibraryThing member dtn620
I'm not sure how to start this review. Ben's stories are a lot of things, they are imaginative, magical, heartwarming and original. They're stories of love, of exploration, and of moving on and staying put. They are also brief as each one contains only what is necessary to propel the story and
Most importantly these stories beg to be read over and over again.
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enchant the reader. Most importantly these stories beg to be read over and over again.
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LibraryThing member apurdie
Short, fable-like wisps of fantasy/light horror. Good for fans of Etgar Keret.
LibraryThing member mstrust
A collection of short stories. Here, everything is alive and emotional, such as the sea and a house on a cliff who long for each other. Animals talk, aliens exist and people meet through weird circumstances because they were meant to. Some really stuck with me, like "The Octopus", where the nephews
The writing style is extremely minimalist; you'll find very little backstory or character development. And the endings tend to be less about closure, leaving the reader with a feeling that the author was just done with that particular story. It's the unusual, sometimes bizarre, plots the author sets up that I admire.
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come from the sea to visit their city Uncle and remind him what he left behind, or "The Knife Act", about two friends who suddenly decide to form a knife-throwing act and find out the hard way that they have no talent for it.The writing style is extremely minimalist; you'll find very little backstory or character development. And the endings tend to be less about closure, leaving the reader with a feeling that the author was just done with that particular story. It's the unusual, sometimes bizarre, plots the author sets up that I admire.
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LibraryThing member ChristopherSwann
Not only am I going to reread this book immediately, I'm going to select stories for my students to read this year. While there are a handful of stories that are a bit uneven, they are still astonishing. "Post-modern fairy tales" is as good a tag for this book as I've seen, and yet that doesn't
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quite do this collection justice. I'm puzzled, surprised, delighted and annoyed by these stories, sometimes all at once. (The "annoyed" part comes from having to work out what some stories mean, which is another way of saying that perhaps I've gotten lazy when it comes to short stories, or I've gotten too used to hyper-realism in short fiction.) As a reader who enjoys fables and various modern attempts to write them (Isak Dinesen, for one), I thoroughly enjoy Ben Loory's book. Show Less
LibraryThing member reader1009
adult fiction/short stories. I don't generally go for short stories, because I find them too long and not that rewarding, but Loory's collection of ultra short stories and "flash" fiction are like quick punches that can be consumed instantly. Pleasantly surprising.
LibraryThing member jwitt33
I was really looking forward to reading this book because I like short story collections, especially of the fantasy/paranormal/supernatural persuasion, but unfortunately, I don't think it was quite for me. I was left wanting more often than not, not because I didn't get the story, but because it
3/5 stars.
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fell somewhat flat. There were a few very well written stories, and I did enjoy those, I just felt there were too few of these.3/5 stars.
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LibraryThing member daniellnic
Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is a beguiling and thought-provoking collection of short fiction that strays from the beaten path, but is better for following its own rhythm. I haven’t found many collections of short stories that I like, but it was pleasure to read through these, and I
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will do so again. I recommend them not only for short fiction readers but for those who enjoy the meditative quality of art. These stories are open wide to and welcome many interpretations. Show Less
LibraryThing member readingthruthenight
Title: Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day
Author: Ben Loory
Pages: 208
Pub: 2011
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories
Etc: ARC from Netgalley
The Short of It
Clever and odd short fic fun.
The Long of It
This is a collection of oftentimes surreal (an octopus who has slight agoraphobia living downtown) and
For example, in “The Book” a woman freaks out after purchasing a book that ends up having blank pages. She then verbally attacks the author and anyone else who purchases it. Or “The Tree” where a tree decides to get up and explore it’s surroundings, roaming the world.
The Thoughts about It
I cannot capture how odd these stories were. After reading a couple of them, my immediate thought turned to how awesome some would be for my classroom. The majority of the stories are about five pages long, but the depth to them is something fierce. Ooooh and the writing? Wowzers. Is it over the top to say lyrical? Feisty lyrical prose?
The only downside was really more about me rather than the collection. I’m not disciplined enough to read only a couple of short stories at a time, and I think that’s how they probably should be read. Rather, I sorta devoured the whole text in a day or two which led to the stories bleeding into one and another. I also could probably have read them on a different level entirely if I had the patience.
Luckily though, this is a collection that warrants the time to read again and again.
Author: Ben Loory
Pages: 208
Pub: 2011
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories
Etc: ARC from Netgalley
The Short of It
Clever and odd short fic fun.
The Long of It
This is a collection of oftentimes surreal (an octopus who has slight agoraphobia living downtown) and
Show More
oddly unique short stories. Some are relatively harmless, while others have a bite that will tear at your mind. For example, in “The Book” a woman freaks out after purchasing a book that ends up having blank pages. She then verbally attacks the author and anyone else who purchases it. Or “The Tree” where a tree decides to get up and explore it’s surroundings, roaming the world.
The Thoughts about It
I cannot capture how odd these stories were. After reading a couple of them, my immediate thought turned to how awesome some would be for my classroom. The majority of the stories are about five pages long, but the depth to them is something fierce. Ooooh and the writing? Wowzers. Is it over the top to say lyrical? Feisty lyrical prose?
The only downside was really more about me rather than the collection. I’m not disciplined enough to read only a couple of short stories at a time, and I think that’s how they probably should be read. Rather, I sorta devoured the whole text in a day or two which led to the stories bleeding into one and another. I also could probably have read them on a different level entirely if I had the patience.
Luckily though, this is a collection that warrants the time to read again and again.
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LibraryThing member AlbertHolmes
The prose may be deceptively simple, but there's a lot of imagination here.
Language
Original publication date
2011
Physical description
224 p.; 7.64 inches
ISBN
0143119508 / 9780143119500