Joseph O'Neill (1) (1964–)

Kurze Inhaltsangabe
Inmitten der Hysterie nach dem 11. September sucht der holländische Bankier Hans van den Broek nach einem neuen Leben in einer erschütterten Stadt. Er ist einsam, lebt verlassen von Frau und Kind unter den exzentrischen Gestalten im legendären Chelsea Hotel. Doch dann lernt er Chuck Ramkissoon kennen, einen dunkelhäutigen Westinder. Chuck ist einer der wenigen, die den amerikanischen Traum noch ungebrochen träumen und ihr Schicksal selbst in die Hand nehmen. Mit ihm macht Hans sich auf, ein ihm gänzlich unbekanntes New York zu entdecken, und eine ungewöhnliche Freundschaft beginnt.… (lisätietoja)

I'd read and rather enjoyed a couple of O'Neill's novels so didn't hesitate to buy this book for a couple of euro. Those novels were written before he moved to the US. These stories seem to have all been written after he did and to all appearances O'Neill's gone native.

iirc (I read it only a couple of weeks ago so it's telling that I need to qualify with that 'iirc') they're most of them aboiut men past first youth and of the sort you might very well enjoy casually conversing with but wouldn't particularly want to know better and who, I guess, are meant to be feeling unfulfilled hope, regret, vague yearning, unexpressed despair over time's passing etc. The standard American literary short story, in other words.

In fairness. ,the first story has a gppd pastiche of a form peculiar I think to Continental writing--O'Neill obviously has a good ear--and is funny albeit in a rather heavy-handed way.

If you're taken with fiction depicting slices of half-lived lives of middle-class American men too stoic/stodgy i.e. too constrained to acknowledge outright their yearning, unhappiness and the like then you oughtn't hesitate to read this because it's more of the same.… (lisätietoja)