Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine : Stories

Rating:
Summary: Short Fiction
Review: A strong collection of short fiction that is overwhelmed by the anchor: "You Cheated, You Lied." I think that Jones took a superman pill before writing that one. Probably, it is more recent than the other stories. The female lead is mesmerizing. She reminds me of Balzac's young actress, Coralie. Thank God that Jones had the strength of character to keep her alive. A writing coach would have killed her off mercilessly, but the story would have suffered. She is the woman that all the other characters from the other stories need so much. I do not know why Jones choose to bestow her on the somewhat diaphonous Will'am, nor do I care. The story, qua stort story, is nearly perfect.

Rating:
Summary: suPERB
Review: I can't believe this book got some luke-warm readers' reviews here! Well I for one ate it up. I'm very impressed by this writer. He is one of those writers that makes me feel amazed that I am alive while he is actually producing these wonders. My only criticism of this book is a tiny one-- i felt disappointed in "A Run Through the Jungle" when Jones felt it necessary to point out the karmic significance of the fiery death of the road-runner killer. I just felt he should have had a bit more confidence in his readers' abilities to make that connection on their own. But that's it- my only complaint. Other than that- WOW! This book is incredibly well-written and the characters are amazing. Jones is a huge huge talent and i am certain that there will be many many a book report assigned on his work in future high-school/college English classes.

Rating:
Summary: suPERB
Review: I can't believe this book got some luke-warm readers' reviews here! Well I for one ate it up. I'm very impressed by this writer. He is one of those writers that makes me feel amazed that I am alive while he is actually producing these wonders. My only criticism of this book is a tiny one-- i felt disappointed in "A Run Through the Jungle" when Jones felt it necessary to point out the karmic significance of the fiery death of the road-runner killer. I just felt he should have had a bit more confidence in his readers' abilities to make that connection on their own. But that's it- my only complaint. Other than that- WOW! This book is incredibly well-written and the characters are amazing. Jones is a huge huge talent and i am certain that there will be many many a book report assigned on his work in future high-school/college English classes.

Rating:
Summary: From a former Recon Marine--Thom Jones is the bomb!
Review: I found "The Pugilist At Rest" to be the best of his story collections, through and through. Cold Snap has some of my favorite stories, Cold Snap and Dynamite Hands, the middle of the book isn't as strong. This book is a let down from his first two. The opening story is strong, though it isn't as good as "As of July 6..." in The Pugilist, which has the same characters. But it has a great scene with Sonny Liston and some funny lines. Mouses is a good story. He read that at the reading I attended. Tarantula wasn't bad either. But in general, it gets a little too silly and Jones is not in the zone. This downfall of material in the late nineties is similar to Paul Auster, one of my other favorite writers. Hopefully one of them will produce something up to their standard in the near future.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre work from a great writer
Review: If any reader doubts that Thom Jones is the best fiction writer in America, please read the story "Mouses" from "Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine." Put away your agenda drums and your preconceived notions and just read as if you were reading for the first time. It's the best that's out there.

Rating:
Summary: travesty
Review: my title may be said to "say it all"..

Rating:
Summary: Jones' best collection to date
Review: The heavyweight champion of literary fiction just keeps getting better and better, as his third short-story collection attests. Seasoned Jones fans will find it well worth the wait, while newcomers to his sinister, singular universe will find themselves gasping for breath. It's a universe inhabited by characters so unforgettably real that their voices will speak in your dreams. Death and disaster lurk on virtually every page, but so, too, do Jones' humor and heart. If life is a cosmic joke, Thom Jones' stories are its punch lines. After reading him, everyone else is too tame.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The title story and "Fields of Purple Forever," are the only bright spots in this otherwise dreary collection, and even these stories don't work with the power and precision of stories from Jones' previous two collections.

Jones is an author who writes about what he knows. He is a former marine and an ex-boxer, and therefore marines and boxers feature largely in his stories. However, this collection unfortunately shows that this is not a formula with unlimited longevity. His previous two collections of short stories were masterpieces, but in _Sonny Liston_ Jones runs out of gas.

If you appreciated the clever originality and gritty authenticity of _Cold Snap _ and _Pugilist_ you will likely be disappointed with this book.

Rating:
Summary: An original American voice
Review: Thom Jones' stories resist easy classification, and merely recapping the action of even a few does him a disservice. However those unfamiliar with his work will get a strong sense of his story-telling powers simply by reading the title story in this, his latest collection.

That story has the peculiar gem-like perfection of some of Hemingway's best, although I don't mean to suggest that Jones in any way mimicks Hemingway's style, except in the sense that he gains power by leaving details out.

Jones' hardboiled look at a Golden Gloves boxer whose "career" ends shortly after it begins does more than sharply catalog the rounds of training, the fear and exultation in the ring and the physical pain of boxing. It suggests a way of life ending and a new one beginning. Although we leave him late in his teenage years, it's easy to envision the protagonist at 30 on a barstool, hunched over a beer and confiding to a stranger the words of the story's title.

In its unsentimental look at amateur boxing, the story recalls Leonard Gardner's classic "Fat City," but the other stories range far beyond the ring, into mental wards, lonely apartments and grimy film projection booths. This is strong stuff, but Jones rarely hits a false note. "Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine" is a worthy successor to the equally well-done "Cold Snap" and "The Pugilist at Rest."

Rating:
Summary: The third time's a charm.
Review: Thom Jones' third collection continues to raise the bar for honest, brave writing. With fearless gallows humor and pathos, Jones is able to confront life's absurdity and cruelty with an abandon on the page. You hear his characters like you do with few other writers. It's not a fair charge that this is a rehash of old territory because some of the stories were published in journals and magazines at the same time his first collection came out. And, a return trip to places like Aurora, Illinois is welcome! Who else is writing about that place--showing us that the loudest cri-de-coeur will come from the country's heartland? This is Wayne and Garth with some serious hangovers, their next door neighbors who've had too many visits from the repo man. If anything, with newer stories like the title story, "Mouses," "Tarantula," or "Midnight Clear," this collection reveals that Jones has developed more control over his narratives, finding more polished form for his always eloquent and hilarious voices. As always with Jones, your sense of your own humanity expands when you enter his world. Highly recommended!