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Thom Jones

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Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine: Stories Kindle Edition

by Thom Jones (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 70 ratings

Part of: Faber Stories (29 books)

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The author's world encompasses dilapidated fight arenas, state mental hospitals & chaotic emergency rooms. The inhabitants are his brilliantly etched characters, who battle desperately against fate in a game of life they cannot win but dare not lose. As we approach the end of the century & the millennium, no one writes better or more vividly than Jones does about the personal, private apocalypses we all face in our darkest moments. In one story, a Vietnam vet, a Recon Marine, swims alone across the English Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, & the Bosporus to maintain "the edge" that kept him alive in wartime - & that is all he now has left. In another, a brilliant doctor verges on a breakdown. In the title story, a young amateur fighter stoically endures repetitive beatings because he knows the world of boxing shields & protects him from the even crueler world outside of the ring. A number of these stories have appeared in different forms in the New Yorker, Playboy, & Esquire.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Through two previous collections of short stories, The Pugilist at Rest (1993) and Cold Snap (1995), Jones has built up a reputation as a contemporary master of the form. Quiet little domestic dramas populated by people like you and me are not Jones' interest. He likes loud, nervous characters who are up to their eyeballs in action, not sitting around contemplating the unfairness of utility bills. The title story (and isn't it a great title?) is about a young boxer, Kid Dynamite, whose pummeling in the ring serves to keep the real world at bay. In "I Love You, Sophie Western," high-schooler Frankie Dell has to take care to take his lithium tabs to keep cool, but he still has to perform a very uncool sex act to get the down payment for a car. For "Daddy's Girl," Jones assumes a female voice and point of view in telling a 92-year-old woman's tale about her sisters and their relationship to their abusive, alcoholic father. Doctoring, soldiering--other characters are engaged in other frenetic activities in Jones' funny, busy, delectable stories. Brad Hooper --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

"Thom Jones is the author of two previous short story collections, Cold Snap and The Pugilist at Rest, a National Book Award finalist. His stories, including several in this collection, have appeared in such magazines as the New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, GQ, and Harper's. He lives in Olympia, Washington, with his wife and daughter." --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Twelve stories about the gritty world of gyms, barracks, brothels, and loony bins that Jones (Cold Snap, 1995, etc.) has already staked out as his own. The tough-guy approach in fiction has fallen (partly) out of favor since Hemingways day, but Jones can pull it off with style and without embarrassment. Most of the characters here are decent working-class stiffs who find themselves swamped in a world of mendacitylike Ondine, the Marine sergeant of The Roadrunner, A Run Through the Jungle, and Fields of Purple Forever, who sees action in Vietnam and cannot settle down to peacetime routines afterward. Instead he takes up swimming as both career and pastime, and travels the world to swim across the English Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Bosphorus. Theres another kind of malcontent in 40, Still at Home: Matthew Billis, a depressed middle-aged bachelor who is looked after by his harried mother Margo in their nightmarish suburban home (The rooms textures and color schemes were a fright, like the marriage of Transylvania and Graceland). Tarantula depicts the gradual breakdown of an ambitious graduate student who accepts a high-school post in hopes of becoming headmaster but is driven crazy by the stress of teaching. Daddys Girl consists of an old womans reminiscences about growing up with her two sistersone of whom eventually became a doctor, then converted to Catholicism and lived the life of a missionary and nun. Best by far is the title story, an elegiac portrait of Kid Dynamite, a small-time boxer past his prime who cant bring himself to give up the game that is killing him. Slice of life that will not be to everyones taste, rendered with honest realism (and without nostalgia) by one of our finer stylists. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Library Journal

Whether set in a working-class Chicago suburb, in the jungles of Vietnam, or on the beaches of Hawaii, these stories share a vision of life as nasty, brutish, and, in some cases, short. The title story deals with a Golden Gloves boxer whose struggles with his dying stepfather are more difficult than any he faces in the ring. In "A Run Through the Jungle," a Marine recon unit makes a secret incursion into Cambodia on a mission to assassinate a renowned Viet Cong general. "You Cheated, You Lied" concerns a turbulent and faithless affair between a former amateur boxer and a flighty manic-depressive. By the author of the acclaimed The Pugilist at Rest and Other Stories (LJ 4/15/93), these are harrowing, hard-edged tales of a world where the line between hope and despair, sanity and insanity is thin, indeed.
-?Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

...in some respects his humor is his best punch--it comes out of nowhere and knocks you silly. -- The New York Times Book Review, Dwight Garner --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Amazon.com Review

Welcome back to the world of boot camp, boxing gyms, psych wards, and pharmaceutical highs. Once again, Thom Jones seems less to write fiction than to allow his characters to pour their stories directly into the reader's ear. Here the cast includes some of the usual suspects--jittery fighters, Marines, Vietnam vets--as well as some new but equally quirky voices, from a nebbishy vice principal to a 92-year-old woman. First seen in Jones's debut collection, The Pugilist at Rest, the crack Marine recon team Break On Thru makes several more sorties--most notably in "Fields of Purple Forever," in which the civilian Sergeant Ondine takes up swimming much the same way Odysseus, say, took up sailing: "Ondine a night swimmer and he all over the night. Captain of the night. I swim in the fields of purple. Nothing and no one can harm me forever." "Tarantula" chronicles the rise and fall of John Harold Hammermeister, vice principal of W.E.B. Du Bois High School, where the students fail to be impressed by his caged spider and the frustrated janitors prove his undoing. "My Heroic Mythic Journey" follows the downward career arc of its boxer protagonist, who becomes featherweight champion of the world only to fall for a "bleach-bottle blond with a cheating heart" and a loaded .38. Most winning of all is the elderly narrator of "Daddy's Girl," who manages to preserve her faith even with two dead husbands, countless family tragedies, and eyelids growing up into her eyes: "You have to believe like a little child. Believe it because it's impossible." Only the overlong concluding story, "You Cheated, You Lied," disappoints; as chaotic as the main characters' mood swings, it follows two crazy teenagers in love and off their medication. But this tale is an exception in an otherwise noteworthy collection. Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine only confirms Jones's place as one of the most original American writers at work today. --Mary Park --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Like any good prizefighter, Jones (The Pugilist at Rest) sticks to what he does best, perfects his technique and doesn't waste his energy. The 12 stories in his third collection are as recognizably his as is any champion's style: crazed, damaged, hell-bent characters banging around in a product-strewn American landscape trying in some fashion, in whatever fashion is handy, to feel good. All this is delivered in a voice that is colloquial, tough-guy and well-read. In the title story, Jones goes inside amateur boxing to follow Kid Dynamite, who fights for an innocent glory, but also to impress his girlfriend and, typically, his stepfather. His big moment is having his broken nose noticed by Sonny Liston at a publicity event. Other stories feature a hypochondriac layabout son tormenting his dying mother ("40, Still at Home"); an ambitious but clearly insane assistant principal who keeps a live deadly spider on his desk ("Tarantula"); a Viet Nam vet who endures his harrowing memories of atrocities by covering himself with Vaseline and taking marathon ocean swims. Throughout, Jones's (mostly male) protagonists self-medicate by gulping Xanax, Tylenol, Advil, morphine pills, whiskey, beer, codeine. His world is a scary one, which he renders without judgment or sentiment. What lingers for the reader is the unsettling knowledge that the streets are populated with people who are somehow still alive, survivors still kicking because they don't care about anyone, not even themselves. When, in the final story, two mental patients seem to have found true love, we know better, making the poignancy of their affections all the more moving.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002WAUVNW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; 1st edition (November 11, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 11, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1491 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 312 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,229,859 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,910 in U.S. Short Stories
- #17,818 in Single Authors Short Stories
- #30,277 in Short Stories (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 70 ratings

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4.4 out of 5

70 global ratings

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Karin S. Chenowith

suPERB

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2004

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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.

9 people found this helpful

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Steiner

Jones Hits

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2022

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A quick, strong story by Thom Jones about Kid Dynamite, an aspiring amateur boxer. Like many of his stories, Jones handles the psychology of pain, alienation, and hope with great artistry. Perhaps this one does not sting quite like the "Pugilist at Rest," or "I Want to Live," but it punches.

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M. JEFFREY MCMAHON

Thom Jones Stays On Top of His Game

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 1999

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While the title story seems like a pale revisitation of past themes and characters, the rest of the stories are as compelling as ever. There are two stories, "Tarantula," and "Mouses," which alone are worth the price of the book. The former is a scathing satire about a man full of ugly ambition and ego who sees himself using a poor inner city school as a stepping stone for his career in education. He alienates himself from everyone and is, to the reader's delight, flung from his tower of self-importance. The second story is about a grotesque man with a knot in his spine who becomes obsessed with keeping mice in his home, where he conducts cruel experiements. While the tale is morbid, the narrator's voice is comical enough to compensate for the sheer darkness of the subject matter. Jones succeeds in writing a fable about power. And here lies one of the strengths of Jones' art: By being able to assume the persona of the most extreme personalities, he is uses humor while exploring man's hubris, his cruelty, and his ambition. He ranks with Tobias Wolff as one of my favorite short story writers.

3 people found this helpful

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CVP

extraordinary

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2017

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An extraordinary writer known as "a writer's writer" since he never achieved the popularity that seem feel he deserved. Granted, he was a reply troubled man, but a good man and a good writer. These stories never fail to surprise and delight anyone I've given them to to read. Jones died just tis past year and it's a loss.

4 people found this helpful

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SmokeRaven

knockout

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2017

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varied,powerful, funny, dark, relatable, intense, great book. this is as good as short stories get. just amazing. knocked me out.

2 people found this helpful

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jmk

Brutally good

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2013

Verified Purchase

I would preface my review that this book is not for everyone. Some might find some of the stories a bit unnerving. However, I thought these stories were extremely well-written and entertaining.

2 people found this helpful

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Jayfred

Get it.

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2017

2 of the stories are absolutely wonderful. They make the book worth buying. One story is very good. The others are weak.

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Amazon Customer

Great writing, period.

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

Thom Jones is one of today's best short story writers. For lovers of this form, you'll get a lot to think and feel about. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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ReVuer

Strong Recommendation

Reviewed in Canada on February 12, 2017

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Though,no-nonsense writer with an encyclopedic understanding of narcotics and their effect on the human psyche. Seems like pugilism, narcotics and the Vietnam war were defining influences on him. Not east reading, but remarkably compelling and, sometimes,moving.

MM

I didn't have a photo of a rabbit until now and I certainly won't be giving it away when I pass on this great book to another lu

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

I didn't buy this for myself. I give copies away from time to time. However, a special thank you for the rabbit photo hidden within the pages. I didn't have a photo of a rabbit until now and I certainly won't be giving it away when I pass on this great book to another lucky inconnu.

If it was intentional, well done. If not you should consider leaving a random photo in all the second hand books you send out.

4 people found this helpful

LD

Boxeurs déchus, soldats cramés et autres personnages bons à interner (Nouvellistes américains contemporains 1)

Reviewed in France on May 13, 2012

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Le bandeau de l'édition française ( Sonny Liston était mon ami ) l'annonce fièrement, via la citation du journaliste américanophile Philippe Garnier : "Disons-le d'emblée, Thom Jones est un formidable put*in d'écrivain". Un écrivain formidable, oui, mais qui s'est essentiellement distingué dans la nouvelle, ce qui n'est jamais un curriculum vitae idéal lorsqu'on essaie de faire reconnaître un auteur en France.

Remercions une nouvelle fois la collection Terres d'Amérique chez Albin Michel, non seulement d'éditer souvent des (très) bons textes, mais aussi de ne pas avoir abandonné l'édition de recueils de nouvelles alors qu'ils se vendent très peu chez nous. Rappelons pour mémoire des recueils aussi excellents que The Dead Fish Museum / Le Musée des poissons morts de Charles d'Ambrosio, Among the Missing / Parmi les disparus de Dan Chaon (qui existe aussi en Livre de poche), Brief Encounters with Che Guevara / Brèves rencontres avec Che Guevara de Ben Fountain (également en 10/18). On peut également se reporter aux liens inclus dans mon commentaire sur Vintage America , qui comporte des nouvelles de très bons auteurs maison (Scott Wolven, Benjamin Percy, etc).

Thom Jones n'en est pas à son coup d'essai. Qui était d'ailleurs déjà un coup de maître : The Pugilist at Rest / Le Pugiliste au repos (existe aussi en 10/18). Ce premier recueil date de 1993. Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine date, lui, de 1999. Entre-temps, il y aura eu Cold Snap / Coup de froid, que je n'ai pas lu. C'est dire que les nouvelles de Thom Jones - heureusement que le "h" est là pour le différencier du héros du roman de Fielding ou du chanteur de 'What's New, Pussycat?' - ont mis du temps à nous arriver. Mais là aussi, bravo à Terres d'Amérique de persévérer et de continuer à traduire les recueils de Jones, même s'ils ont déjà plus de dix ans d'âge et s'ils ne rencontrent pas beaucoup d'écho.

Comme dans The Pugilist at Rest, on retrouve les héros (sic) plus ou moins déglingués de Thom Jones. Notons tout de suite, pour ce qu'on en sait, qu'il semble se nourrir abondamment de sa vie et de ses obsessions : lui-même formé chez les Marines à la fin des années 60 - il n'a en revanche pas été envoyé au Vietnam - Jones avait un père boxeur qui est mort dans une institution. Si l'on ajoute que Jones a des crises d'épilepsie et est diabétique comme certains de ses personnages, on a déjà une bonne partie de la panoplie de ce qui leur arrive : quand ils ne sont pas boxeurs ou soldats, ils se retrouvent dans des hôpitaux ou à l'asile, éventuellement au tribunal ou en prison.

La nouvelle qui donne son titre au recueil a pour personnage principal un aspirant boxeur, et de façon assez peu étonnante, elle a en son centre une réflexion sur le succès impossible, ou à tout le moins déjà enfui à peine atteint. Une nouvelle ultérieure, "Mon voyage héroïque, mon voyage mythique", revient sur cette question de façon plus condensée, et en définitive plus satisfaisante. Suivent trois nouvelles se passant au Vietnam, liées entre elles et avec des personnages récurrents, et une quatrième ayant pour protagoniste un ancien combattant. Dans toutes ces nouvelles, plus que l'originalité du sujet - toute relative - c'est la vigueur et la singularité de la langue qui frappent. Elles éclatent finalement encore plus dans les nouvelles suivantes, parmi les plus longues et mes préférées : "Tarentule" et "Des souris". Dans "Tarentule", un proviseur adjoint fraîchement nommé dans un lycée, John Harold Hammermeister, voit sa grande mission éducative, et sa superbe, réduites à néant ou presque après qu'il s'est mis à dos tout le monde (appariteurs, parents d'élèves, etc) et qu'il arrive des bricoles à la tarentule qu'il garde dans son bureau autant qu'à lui-même. Dans "Des souris", un homme ayant installé des pièges pour se débarrasser des souris de son appartement en attrape une. Il finit non seulement par la soigner et la garder, mais aussi par aller lui acheter des compagnes à l'animalerie la plus proche... en les soumettant à des régimes différents! Ces deux nouvelles, qu'on ne peut lire sans avoir un sourire au coin des lèvres, et qui sont même par moments franchement hilarantes, montrent Jones à son meilleur : brillant dans l'humour comme dans l'ironie et le sarcasme, et totalement maître de la langue qu'il utilise, dans la phrase bien torchée ou la vanne bien balancée comme dans la façon plus subtile de susciter l'implicite. On ne peut donc pas ne pas penser à un des maîtres de la nouvelle américaine, Raymond Carver, même si son style fait sans doute plus dans la demi-teinte et si l'insolite naît chez lui de façon plus ouatée, avec des personnages moins marqués de prime abord.

Le reste du recueil est sans doute plus inégal, et aucune des nouvelles suivantes ne me semble atteindre la forme de perfection de ces dernières, même si elles proposent toutes des passages délectables. Il faut préciser que le sexe y est plus présent, que ce soit chez un adolescent dans les vapes ou chez un amoureux qui ne peut s'empêcher de coucher à droite à gauche. Comme pour tout le reste, Jones y va, le tout étant assez cru (mais le plus souvent également amusant, tellement les situations sont gentiment jetées ou les personnages passablement largués).

Au total, comme c'est inévitable, un recueil certes inégal mais dont les meilleures nouvelles sont plus que savoureuses, d'autant que la traduction de Jacqueline Huet et Jean-Pierre Carasso arrive (presque) à restituer les inflexions d'une langue aussi précise qu'idiomatique. Si l'on a le choix, il va de soi qu'il vaut mieux se porter sur l'édition originale, mais on ne peut pas dire que la traduction française démérite. Et je conseille évidemment les autres recueils eux aussi indiqués plus haut, tout aussi réussis dans l'ensemble, à commencer par The Pugilist at Rest.

Quoi qu'il en soit, je conseille d'autant plus les recueils de nouvelles chez Terres d'Amérique que la sélection qu'ils opèrent parmi les nouvellistes américains est sans doute plus drastique que pour les romans - les éditeurs ne sont pas si nombreux à en proposer régulièrement quand il ne s'agit pas de grands noms - et je dois dire que j'ai rarement été déçu par les écrivains qu'ils ont révélés chez nous. Depuis, certains d'entre eux ont donné des romans de grande qualité (ex. Await Your Reply / Cette vie ou une autre pour Dan Chaon), d'autres continuent à exceller dans la forme brève. Toujours est-il que ces écrivains méritent sans doute plus de lecteurs et de reconnaissance qu'ils n'en ont. Pourvu que Terres d'Amérique continue le travail de fond... et que plus de lecteurs choisissent de donner leur chance à des recueils de nouvelles!

P.-S. Que ceux qui vont découvrir le nouvelliste Craig Davidson avec le film de Jacques Audiard, De rouille et d'os - le titre original du recueil, Rust and Bone, avait été traduit au préalable par "Un goût de rouille et d'os" - sachent qu'il partage quelques traits et affinités avec Thom Jones. Je conseille à ceux qui vont le lire et l'apprécier de se porter également sur Jones, écrivain souvent aussi percutant, pour les histoires comme pour le style.

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Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine: Stories Kindle Edition

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